Ken Riley's work has appeared in Reader's Digest, The Saturday Evening Post and Life. Along with being a well known illustrator, he is considered to be one of the best painters of the American West. Riley is a charter member of the National Academy of Western Art and is a member of the Cowboy Artists of America. Born in Missouri, Riley studied under Thomas Hart Benton and at the Kansas City Art Institute. He later came to New York where he studied with Dunn at the Grand Central School. Riley's most famouse illustrations are those he did for C. S. Forester's "Captain Hornblower" stories in the Saturday Evening Post