Born in Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th Century, the prolific illustrator Rudolph Belarski dropped out of school at the age of 12 and spent the next ten years working in the coal mines.  During this time, he studied mail-order art courses at night from the International Correspondence School, Inc. of Scranton, PA.  In 1922, he moved to New York City and studied at the Pratt Institute.  Upon graduating in 1926, he taught at Pratt for 5 years.  He started his career as a cover artist in 1935 and worked regularly until 1960, painting covers for both pulp magazines and paperback books.  His greatest work may have been done during World War II, when he served with the USO and drew thousands of portrait sketches of hospitalized veterans in New York and London.

A small sampling of his pulp work can be found below.