Realistic Art Technique & Style: Howard David Johnson on Classical & Representational Art with Essays and Links to Admission Free Art Galleries - some of the deepest secrets of Realistic Art Technique with emphasis on Art Theory revealed. 

Newly Updated! ~ but first a very Brief Biography of the artist:

Howard David Johnson was born in Germany in the mid-fifties. The son of an American Career Air Force officer and College Professor, he grew up traveling and living on military bases around the world. He was most influenced by the art and culture in the Mediterranean & Central Europe. Drawing and painting every available moment of his childhood while experiencing the old world, he worked with any and all art mediums he could get his hands on. 

A portrait of HDJ as a young man (1982 photo)	He devoted his life to art  at the age of six in spite of stubborn opposition from his parents, who insisted that earning a living as an artist was absolutely impossible. David responded by working even harder, hoping to earn their respect and approval. His mother worried that practicing with such passion and driving motivation ( 4 - 12 hours most days ) was sure to hurt him in the long run. His Mother, Louise, a talented artist herself, always encouraged him and never missed an opportunity to take him along to a site or a museum to acquaint him with his Old World Traditional spiritual and cultural heritage along the way. Although he loved the travel, he is a seventh generation Texan, and was thrilled to finally come back home to Texas at the age of 14.     Inspired by genealogical novels of American authors, Johnson has gone after the roots of his Anglo-Saxon Heritage (Scots-Irish and Germanic) and found, that although neglected, it is a rich heritage indeed- and that there are many other worthwhile cultural and spiritual heritages to share, explore, celebrate and preserve through the arts.
He is a of direct line ancestor of Mary, Queen of Scots, of  Robert the Bruce & the elder William Brewster ( the preacher on the Mayflower ). His mother, an author & genealogist has documented his lineage for the Sons of the American Revolution, The Sons of the Republic of Texas, The Sons of the Confederate Veterans and other American religious and  patriotic organizations.      His passions include his family and philosophy, art and education. He is also an avid outdoorsman and committed to good citizenship. He passed this on by working twelve years with inner city lower income youth as a Boy Scout Master and Commissioner. His hobbies include reading classic literature, art, and history books, as well as collecting films and music. David & his beloved wife Virginia (also descended from Mary, Queen of Scots ) have been married since 1982. He lives a reclusive lifestyle in the Treasure Valley of Idaho.	As a boy exploring Roman ruins in North Africa (1965 photo)
Who is American Illustrator Howard David Johnson? Howard David Johnson is a contemporary realistic artist and photographer with a background in the natural sciences and history. David works in a wide variety of mixed media ranging from oil on canvas to digital media.  After a lifetime of drawing and painting, David's Traditional Realistic Art was exhibited in the British Museum in London in 1996, ( 3 years before he got his first computer ) as well as numerous American ones since, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. David's realistic illustrations have made appearances in every major bookstore and game shop chain in America as well as magazines and educational texts around the world. He earns his living taking on select commissions, selling prints and licenses to publish his works and teaching art. He works in a wide variety of mixed media ranging from oil on canvas to digital media. David's realistic illustrations have made appearances in every major bookstore and game shop chain in America as well as magazines and educational texts around the world.

Some of David's more prestigious clients have included the University of Texas, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England, The Australian Mint, The National Geographic Society, Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, MGM Studios, Warner Brothers Home Video, ABC/Disney, CBS TV, PBS TV, The History Channel, Enslow Educational Publishers, Adobe Photoshop, Auto FX, Tree-Free Greeting, Verizon wireless, Apple IPOD, Penguin, Doubleday (Now Random House), Harlequin Top Historical Romances, and the History Book of the Month Club, as well as appearing in periodical publications like Popular Photography and the Wall Street Journal.   After a lifetime of drawing and painting, David's Traditional Art was exhibited in the British Museum in London in 1996, ( 3 years before he got his first computer ) as well as numerous American ones since, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Working in a variety of media David offers his customers a variety of options and more than three decades of experience. As an illustrator he has not only used the computer but has been involved in the development and marketing of software for Adobe Photoshop. Digital art, Colored pencils, Pastels, Mixed media, & also Oil Paintings can also be commissioned for select projects.Digital illustration projects start at $500.U.S. and group rates are available. David delivers custom made copyright free illustrations & old fashioned customer service when he does work-for-hire. To publish existing pieces of his realistic art, David sells licenses starting at only $99.USD. 

Just below are examples of "Prismacolor Paintings" AKA Colored Pencils on Bristol Board:

     Below is an Example of an illustration rendered in his three favorite mediums for comparison...

Mixed Media including digital	Prismacolor colored pencils on paper	Oil Painting on Canvas

"Valkyrie Maiden", "Atalanta" and "Hagar and the Angel in the Wilderness" (2010-17 in Mixed Media including oils, 2D and 3D digital)

"Ezekiel's Vision" ,"The Resurrection of Christ "MMX  and "Into the Lake of Fire" MMX (all Mixed Media)

  There is a school of thought that seems to think that a caveman’s beating on a hollow log with a stick is automatically superior to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony performed by the world’s finest symphony orchestra because less technology is involved. I do not subscribe to this kind of thinking. Personally I LOVE computers! First of all, there’s the freedom from fear! The undo button is empowering and liberating! More importantly, publishing customers can't afford to pay me for old-fashioned traditional methods like oil on canvas. I can do them, and do them well, but no one but millionaire art collectors can afford to pay even poverty level hourly rates for all that time. The masters often took a year for a single painting. With digital media I can create pieces that look very nice for very nice prices and with blazing speed. The publishing industry is not noted for its patience. In the early days of my art career, mailing traditional media originals was scary at best, but now they can be scanned and shipped without risk. Also in my early days adding canvas space to a work in progress was as impossible as growing a second head... but now it is so easy I usually don't even charge extra to adapt them if its just skies or landscapes! Re-dos and revisions were financially catastrophic! No wonder the starving artist became a stereotype! Before the internet, I struggled to find customers in Austin Texas, now nearly every nation on Earth has visited my website! This was beyond my wildest imaginings as a boy. What an amazing era we live in! I love it!!!

~ Howard David Johnson

"Mathematics is the alphabet with which GOD wrote the Universe" ~ Galileo

     Centralize the figure on or near the frame's base & tie it in to the top of the frame as well to give it a sense of importance. Note the sketch book on the floor with the preliminary drawing the model is using as a guide. See the Digital media page for more on this next stage... the digital photo montage...

     The whole of the dynamic action is contained in a vertical slab, contrasted by negative space. He then assembles a variety of elements which are realistic and original and works from it in a similar manner Maxfield Parrish & other classic illustrators have used since the advent of photography in the 19th century.

 David uses Classical Greek Geometry to design all his paintings, drawings, beginning with his photographs and his digital illustrations.  His Art classes teach more of these Geometric motifs. In Daniel in the Lion's Den, The solid base of the triangle implies stability, power and strength. In this case, spiritual strength.

 'The Defense of Reorke's Drift' above features the inverted triangle design which has a completely different effect! It portrays dynamic action! Action coming right out at you or right down at you with force or with speed! A great concept for composing dramatic movement, action and especially combat.

 "Pandora's Box" was rendered in nearly every media: First a sketch, then a photo, then a collage, then a Prismacolor Painting, Then finally rendered as an oil painting. (above) Painting dozens of layers of Transparent glazes of Oil  on Canvas. Only David's finest work is ever rendered in oil.

" My art is divided into two groups; personal work partially copying the old masters and professional illustration applying these lessons to create totally original works. As a student of fine art, copying is a great way to learn and create fine art, but as a professional illustrator things are very different... I start more often with a specific written request. This is the exact OPPOSITE approach to creating a picture from copying something that's there. Research comes first. In the case of the Greek Heroes to your left, there were no accurate sources available in the public domain to copy correct Greek armour and weapons in combat poses from. 

Illustration is much harder, usually starting with a description...  

   Mostly I found images of effeminate men, wearing nothing but a robe over the shoulder and the wrong helmets. Finding history books at the library with the accurate helmets, shield designs, weapons, and armour was essential to get an accurate depiction of a Greek Hoplite.   

      All the library had were stiff museum poses of anything. I hit the research jackpot with some very simplistic flat line drawings of great authentic Greek shield designs. All the elements must be found, gathered and assembled to create the dramatic action scene the client wanted. Next comes the layout. This is where the mathematics and geometric design come into the creative process. My wife took a picture of me nearly 20 years ago in a pose reminiscent of a Frank Frazetta or Norman Rockwell painting. Naturally, in these cases I go to great lengths to make sure that my work looks nothing whatsoever like it's various inspirations and sources except in flavor and spirit. Of course, the characteristic old master's painting feel to the background most of my illustrations have was requested, and the picture was to have the look and feel of a Howard Pyle painting.

 'The Little People' (above left) employs Acrylic paints over a base of Colored Pencil & Soft Pastel on #400 Strathmore Bristol Board. For these complex illustrations he uses photographs to create preliminary digital photo montages, then if they are good enough, He renders them in various forms of traditional media on either paper or canvas.  

     He departs from realism sometimes for line art in colored pencil, and more often he loves mixing media. Employed also here with pencils are acrylics and soft pastels. ( Note the use of the Golden Ratio ( L = w + 1/2 w ) in the design dividing the layout of the picture. )

   The pastels are so fugitive, the original is in danger of being destroyed even before it is finished, so HDJ mixes acrylic transparentizing medium to seal and protect the finished image. Acrylic Transparentizing Medium is normally used to make acrylics transparent.

He mixes the transparentizing medium in with the soft pastels and applies it with a brush with a stabbing, twisting motion... creating abstract art designs within the solid colors of the image and built up mixed media textures as inspired by the writings of Pablo Picasso.

It is not so much the skill at shading with colored pencil (above) or even with brush, camera or computer, but it is the mathematics in the design, the commitment to research, and the use of archetypal imagery that make Johnson's style & technique distinctive in the world of realistic art.

Enter a world of Beauty and Imagination...

INDEX of GALLERIES ~ LINKS to LARGER ART  

The Realistic and Fantastic Art Galleries of American Illustrator Howard David Johnson

Click on these Fun Educational Realistic Art Gallery link icons  for Two-fisted Tales of VALOR & Frontline Combat featuring Legendary Warriors of History, Knights and ladies of Arthurian Legend, Celtic, Nordic, Asian and Olympian gods & monsters, unicorns, dragons, fairies... and more!

King Arthur	Legends of History	Greek Mythology	Norse Mythology	Fantasy Art	Celtic Mythology	Religions of the World	Asian Mythology	Angel Art	Spartan Warriors	Fairy Paintings	Mythic women
Mermaid Art	History Part Two	Digital Techniques	History of Dragons	Pencil Portraits I	Studio Photography	Colored Pencils II	Art Instruction	Realistic Paintings	Pre-Raphaelite Art	Legendary Women	Warrior Women
The Art of War	Mythic Creatures	About Realistic Art	Art of  Res Publica	Beautiful Women	Art NuVeau	Fantasy Pin ups	Fairy Lore	Flower Fairies	The Seven Wonders	Science Fiction Art	Lady of Shallot
Catholic Art	Art of the Bible	Symbolist Art	Surrealist Art	Commercial Art	Business Center	Style & Technique	Biographical	Paintings in Oils	Russian Mythology	Classic Fairy Tales	Art Link Exchange

All these pieces of art and the text are legally copyrighted and were registered with the U.S. Library of Congress Office of Copyright by the author, Howard David Johnson All rights reserved worldwide. Permission for many academic or non-commercial uses is freely and legally available by simply contacting the author via e-mail or visiting www.howarddavidjohnson.com/permission.htm

    His favorite medium for realistic art has long been colored pencil because of the high speed and low expense, and people began expressing difficulty in telling his colored pencil drawing from photographs in the early 1980's.  (right) In the last 35 plus years he has also mastered Oils, Pastels, Acrylics, Watercolors, Inks, Scratch board, Gouache, Photography, and has fallen in love with the highly controversial digital media. Working in a realistic style inspired by classic illustrators David is deeply rooted and grounded in the Greco-Roman artistic tradition, Feeling that with realistic art, the human form is the ultimate arena for artistic expression. His lifelong dream came true when his Traditional Realistic Art was exhibited in the British Museum in London England in 1996. His mixed media has also been displayed in numerous other ones since such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Having achieved international acclaim as a traditional visual artist he discovered digital media ( Art Numérica ) in 1999. Because of his passion for realistic art and photography he elected to embrace it and joyfully be a part of this historic era in the visual arts as a 21st century realistic visual artist.

     since 1974 when he began his art career as a scientific illustrator for the University of Texas he has earned his living in a variety of ways including illustrating all kinds of books, magazines, CD covers, and all sorts of games, greeting cards, calendars, portraits, murals and the like with his contemporary realistic art... David's Realistic Art has appeared in every major bookstore chain and fantasy gaming shop in The United States and has been used in educational texts and magazines all over the world. This site features realistic paintings & pictures for the twenty-first Century including oil paintings, as well as lots of other exciting media such as colored pencil drawings, pastel paintings, acrylic paintings, gouache paintings, watercolor paintings, and pencil drawings, and also featuring studio,  field, & aerial photography,  digital painting and photo-montage and all these media mixed in an assortment of experimental combinations...Working in a wide variety of media to create his realistic art he offers his customers a host of payment and product options. He delivers custom made copyright free illustrations and old fashioned customer service when he does work-for-hire.

      David accepts select commissions to paint custom oil paintings with down payments starting at only one thousand dollars.  Other media, like colored pencils or digital are of course far less expensive. He grants permission for most educational purposes simply for the asking. To use his existing realistic art works outside the classroom he offers low cost license offers starting around $99.USD.

Use the  e-mail links above or below to contact him...

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