Robert Bender graduated with honors from Syracuse University where he studied illustration. He moved to New York City and worked as an illustrator of magazines and newspapers for six years. He continued to experiment with new techniques, and he enjoyed illustrating a children's story written by his girlfriend, Christina, who later became his wife. He has written and illustrated six children's titles, and he has illustrated four titles written by other authors. His most recently published title is Never Eat Anything That Moves.

Robert Bender experimented with various painting methods, and he uses stencil brushes to apply vinyl paint to acetate, which is backed with black paper. His artwork has darkly outlined images filled with softly blended colors. He lives on a farm in Stillwater, Pennsylvania, where he can hear lots of "moo's" and "moo, A-H-H-H-CHOO's."