Captain Art Henrikson was discharged from MacDill Army Air Field in Tampa in March 1946. He and Lois moved back to Chicago. He completed his final quarter at Northwestern University and received his bachelor's degree in June 1946.  He is a freelance cartoonist drawing at home in this 1948 photo.

Art and Lois welcomed daughter Diane in 1952. Art earned his living selling cartoons on a freelance basis and creating advertising copy for Snips magazine. He also gave chalk talks to school assemblies and clubs. Lois was his secretary, accountant and marketing manager. 

The family moved to northwest suburban Des Plaines in 1955. Art and Lois welcomed two more daughters in the next seven years. With persistence, Art became the editorial cartoonist for the Des Plaines Journal and Rockford Newspapers, Inc., in addition to drawing for the Henrikson Illinois Cartoon Service, which distributed syndicated cartoons to 40 daily and weekly newspapers statewide. In 1969, he became the full-time editorial cartoonist for The Daily Herald and remained in this position until his retirement in 1991. 

In the 2000s, Art drew humorous weekly cartoons for The Scribbler in the Brandon Times, and he sold many cartoons to Woman's World magazine. Art also drew and emailed humorous Artoons weekly to family and friends until his final illness in 2012.

Art's cartoons were published regularly from 1972 to 2002 in Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year. As a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), he was fortunate to meet and draw caricatures of several Presidents: JFK, LBJ, and Richard Nixon.