Willard Alfred Downes, was born in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1908, and grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
He began his professional career as a commercial illustrator and a fine arts painter.
He was hired to help paint billboards for Columbia, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers studios in Atlantic City and Philadelphia.
His illustrations appeared in magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Good Housekeeping, and Colliers.
He drew portraits of Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Spencer Tracy, Tallulah Brockman Bankhead, Donald Crisp, and Miriam Hopkins, among others.