Originally intending to be a mathematician, in 1925 while attending the University of Illinois, Joseph Harry Anderson discovered a talent and love for drawing and painting.

By 1937 he was working on national advertising campaigns and doing work for several major magazines; the names of his clients were American Airlines, American Magazine, Buster Brown Shoes, Coca-Cola, Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Cream of Wheat, Esso, Ford, Good Housekeeping, Humble Oil, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, Ladies' Home Journal, Massachusetts Mutual, Ovaltine, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post, Woman's Home Companion, Wyeth and others.

[3] In 1938, Anderson married Ruth Young Huebel, a girl who worked in his building and posed for him on one occasion.

He painted approximately 300 religious-themed illustrations for Review and Herald Publishing Association at near minimum wage.

He painted a large oil mural of Jesus ordaining his apostles for the church's pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair.