His father, Ivan Charushin, encouraged his early artistic efforts and his love of nature and hunting, all of which played a role in his development as an illustrator and writer.

[1] 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).

[4] At the same time, Charushin began writing and illustrating his own children's books, including "Little Beasties" ("Zveryata"), "Mishka," and "Wolf Cub" ("Volchishko").

In an essay he wrote about his work for the magazine, "Children's Literature," in 1935, Charushin stated that "More than anything else, I love to depict young animals, touching in their helplessness and interesting, because within them one can already see signs of the full-grown beast.

Perhaps his most significant artistic work during those years in Kirov was a mural for a factory kindergarten and the foyer of the local House of Pioneers and Schoolchildren.