Schoonover became part of what would be known as the
Brandywine School when he opted to study art rather than ministry. A prolific contributor to books and magazines during the early twentieth century, the so-called "Golden Age of Illustration", he illustrated stories as diverse as Clarence Mulford's
Hopalong Cassidy stories and
Edgar Rice Burroughs's
A Princess of Mars. In 1918 and 1919, he produced a series of paintings along with
Gayle Porter Hoskins illustrating the American forces in
World War I for a series of souvenir prints published in the
Ladies Home Journal. Over the course of his career, he made more than 5,000 paintings, many of which were influenced by his travels and the people he met. Jones said, "When I learned that Mr. Blakeslee would consider selling the painting to the right buyer, I felt it was essential to bring this piece back to its rightful home in Tennessee and have the painting here on Veterans Day 11-11-11". ==Death and legacy==