 He spent the next eleven years in New York working as a freelance artist until he signed an exclusive contact with "Cosmopolitan" in 1938 to illustrate mystery and detective stories.In 1939, Evans moved from New York City to a Revolutionary War-era farmhouse (which he named "Old Hemlock") in Preston County, West Virginia, the better to pursue his love of hunting.He continued to provide illustrations under contract to "Cosmopolitan".