Chuck Richards has a double life. By day, he’s an associate professor of art and design. By night, he’s a writer and illustrator who is working on his own children’s book.

To explain the second part of his life, Richards will give a free lecture called “Publishing a Children’s Book” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Brunnier Art Museum.

Richards’s book, titled “George Jablewski’s Gigantic Jungle Gym” is about “a boy whose father builds a jungle gym in the backyard,” he says. “The father is playful, very active and inventive and sees things in his daily life to inspire him. He keeps adding more and the jungle gym starts to get bigger and bigger until it’s absurdly huge.”

Richards says he identifies most with the creative father because they’re both obsessed with an ongoing project.

Richards says he had multiple inspirations for the book.

“Part of the motivation came from my kids,” he said. “They always brought home picture books – some of which were excellent, some not so excellent.”

Richards says he was inspired by the outstanding work and reassured by books of a lesser quality, thinking “If this book got published, I could publish my own work.”

He actually began to draw the pictures for his book when he assigned a project to his students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. The project involved drawing a series of pictures that formed a narrative.

“I decided to do the assignment myself to think through the process,” Richards says.

After making those colored-pencil drawings, Richards says he began making additional pages and sending samples of his work to publishers. Though his work has not been accepted by any of them yet, he says their editorial comments are helpful in shaping his work.

Richards also says he has critics closer to home: his two children.

“They’re pretty interesting critics of it because they see it every day in my studio and they’re not as quickly impressed.”

Richards says he’s been working on the book for three and a half years and estimates that he has another year to go.

“Some drawings take three to four weeks, but the most difficult took three and a half months.”

Research for the book’s jungle-themed drawings came from a wide variety of places, Richards says, from Web sites on treehouses to books on African tribal costumes.

“Most student artists are focused on the end product,” he says. “For me, the act of making is its own reward. I’d like to encourage them to live in the moment and see that as the goal of my lecture.”

Rachel Hamton, communication specialist with the Brunnier Museum, says Richards is a professionally trained studio artist who has been drawing and painting for the past 20 years.

The lecture will be supplemented by Richards’ sense of humor, says Matthew DeLay, curator of the university museums.

“He’s a funny guy and you can see how he puts his passion into his work,” DeLay says.

DeLay says the lecture could be interesting to many students, including those in art and design, English, education and family studies.