While he was in Wilmington, Shrader played the cello in the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra. Later in his life, he abandoned illustration, became a landscape ainter, and was appointed Dean of the Los Angeles County Art Institute, from which he retired in 1948.
As an illustrator Shrader specialized in Western subjects. In addition to his magazine illustration, he did work for the publishing firms of Harper and Bros. Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Stern and Co., and Duffield and Co.