Arnie Levin was born in Brooklyn in 1938, studied commercial art at Miami Technical High School, and entered the Marines, serving in the Mojave Desert. He studied at the Art Students League in New York and became animation director for Electra Studio, designing, directing, and producing animation until the early 1970s. Discovered by Lee Lorenz, Levin began creating the cartoons and cover art for which he is known. He teaches at the School of Visual Arts, C. W. Post at Long Island University, and the Pratt Institute, Manhattan.