 After graduation from the academy, Charushin started to work as an illustrator under the guidance of Vladimir Lebedev, who was at that time the artistic director of the children's literature department at the Leningrad offices of Gosizdat (the Soviet government publishing house).The first book with his illustrations, "Murzik" by Vitaly Valentinovich Bianki (1928) was a success that led to invitations to illustrate many more books by, among others, Samuil Marshak, Korney Chukovsky, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, Mikhail Prishvin, Vladimir Arsenyev and Alexander Vvedensky.At the same time, Charushin began writing and illustrating his own children's books, including "Little Beasties" ("Zveryata"), "Mishka," and "Wolf Cub" ("Volchishko").