Oklahoma-born Willis had a distinguished career in magazine illustration. His clients included Collier's, Redbook, and The Saturday Evening Post, and his association with Esquire made him one of that magazine's earliest entries in its ultimately vain attempt to create a new Petty or VargaWillis, the final successor to Earl Mac Pherson in the Brown & Bigelow 'Sketchbook' series, is perhaps the last major pin-up artist and the only one truly reflecting the sexual revolution.