Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Bill Anton became a western painter, especially of the lifestyle of cowboys. He first traveled West at age seven. He attended Loyola University in Chicago and then transferred to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, majoring in English. He settled in Arizona, and his wife, Peggy, supported him while he established his career as an artist.

He was inspired with western painting when he attended a Cowboy Artist of American Exhibition in the late 1970s at the Phoenix Art Museum. In 1982, he turned to art full time, and visiting ranches in Flagstaff and Prescott, he rode in roundups and learned to work with cattle. He also developed a love of plein-air painting and was much inspired by ...