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Who is American Illustrator Howard David Johnson?
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Howard David Johnson
is a contemporary visual artist and photographer with a background in
the natural sciences and history. He works in a wide variety of media
ranging from traditional oils, pastels and others to cutting edge
digital media. After a lifetime of drawing and painting, Howard David
Johnson'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. His illustrations have appeared in every major bookstore and
gameshop chain in America as well as magazines and educational texts
around the world.
Some
of his more prestigious clients have included the University of Texas,
the Book of the Month Club, Paramount Studios, PBS TV, Adobe Photoshop
Auto FX, and J Walter Thompson Advertising. Licenses to print his
existing work are available at surprisingly affordable prices. Oil
Paintings, Colored pencils, Pastels, Mixed media, and Digital art can
also be commissioned for select projects - Click on commission new art
below... Working in a variety of traditional and cutting edge digital
media he offers his customers a variety of options and more than thirty
years of experience.
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| As a commercial illustrator HDJ has
not only used the computer but has been involved in the development of
imaging software. He delivers the rights to these custom made copyright
free illustrations and old fashioned customer service when he does
work-for-hire. On his existing works license offers start as low as
$100.00 |
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info@howarddavidjohnson.com
Your
business, letters, & links are always welcome.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
"Those who are enamoured of practice without
science are like a pilot who goes into a ship without rudder or compass
and never has any certainty where he is going. Practice should always
be based upon a sound knowledge of theory, of which perspective is the
guide and gateway, and without it nothing can be done well in any kind
of painting."
| Howard David Johnson is a
contemporary visual artist and photographer with a background in |
| the natural sciences and
history. He works in a wide variety of media ranging from traditional |
| oils, pastels and others
to cutting edge digital media. He loves mixing media. This site
features |
| examples of his Realistic
Art, including illustration, photography, experimentalism, and fine art. |
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The various galleries linked to by the
icons above show many examples of His Realistic Art, and are grouped by
theme rather than media. There are also sample illustrations from
his upcoming books on Celtic Myth and Legend and World Myth &
Legend. Since boyhood he has passionately copied the old masters.
To create his work, he usually starts with a thematic concept
followed by a rough realistic pencil sketch, then followed by his
photography, often traveling to find suitable scenes and locations and
then working in his Photography studio with live models from his
sketches. He then assembles a variety of elements which are realistic
and original. As a boy he dedicated his life to art in 1960. From
1965- 1999 he used xeroxes and tracings to make his preliminary photo
montages. This is patterned after the manner used by Maxfield
Parrish and other 19th century notables. Beginning with a tracing, he
then draws or paints from these complex original Computer Photo
Montages. Many of these are on display on this web and slated for
future completion in a variety of realistic traditional art media. As
this happens, the finished work is substituted in the exhibit.
Recently he shot hundreds of aerial photos of clouds at marvelous
angles and perspectives and also looking down on the mighty mountains,
rivers, and deserts of the American west while flying from Texas to
Oregon and back for dynamic source material for realistic flying scenes
in upcoming paintings , drawings, and pictures.
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His favourite medium for realistic
art was 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. In the last 35 plus
years he has also mastered Oils, Pastels, Acrylics, Watercolors, Inks,
Scratchboard, Gouache, Photography, and lately the highly controversial
digital media, which has become the new favorite . As a commercial
illustrator Johnson has not only used the computer to create art but
has been involved in the development of computer imaging software for
Adobe Photoshop. Working in a realistic style inspired by classic
illustrators HDJ 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 Numérique ) 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.
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Since 1972 when he began his career as a scientific illustrator for the
University of Texas he has earned his living 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... HDJ'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 some 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 the rights to these custom made copyright
free illustrations and old fashioned customer service when he does
work-for-hire. He loves to paint custom oil paintings and accepts
commissions with down payments starting at one thousand dollars. On his
existing works his low cost license offers start at only 100 dollars.
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Bonus Section:
Personal Opinion Essays on Realistic Art yesterday and today
by the artist.
In
addition to his mastery of traditional media, Howard David Johnson now
combines drawing, painting, photography, and digital media with more
than thirty years of experience in these fields to create his Realistic
Art Numérique in 21st century paintings and pictures.
Did you know the Greek word "Photography" means "Painting with Light"?
Today with the advent of computers it truly lives up to it's name. Due
to developments in Art and Technology, a broader definition of painting
is needed than that which is found in common usage.
Announcing
Art Numérica -an exciting merger of traditional visual art
and cutting edge technology... a new art form for the twenty- first
century... Art Numérica is not limited to realistic art but also offers
limitless horizons for everything from cartoons to abstractions. It
is the most dramatic development in the visual arts since the
Renaissance. In the words of Al Jolson in the movie world's first
talking picture" You ain't seen nothin' yet!"
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Essay One: "THE MORE
THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME..."
(A Brief essay dealing with attitudes toward
Traditional Realistic Paintings, Pastels, Colored Pencils and Art
Numérica )
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"Painting,
in art, the action of laying colour on a surface, or the representation
of objects by this means. Considered one of the fine arts"
~Encyclopaedia
Britannica.
"Painting. noun. 1.) The act or employment of laying on colors or
paints. 2.) The art of forming figures or objects in colors on canvas
or any other surface, or the art of representing to the eye by means of
figures and colors any object; the work of an illustrator or painter.
3.) A picture; a likeness or resemblance in shape or colors. 4.) Colors
laid on. 5.) Delineation that raises a vivid image in the mind; as in
word painting.
~ Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language
Pastel, Acrylics, and Colored Pencils combined
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Snobbism in the arts is nothing new. Some people will tell you
that oils are the only valid medium for realistic paintings. That
Colored Pencil, Digital, and other Realistic Painting and Drawing Media
are not valid for "real" art. Young artists, Don't let them
bother you. Their forerunners used to condemn Pastels before they
gained acceptance and called them "crayons" when Johann Alexander
Thiele (1685-1752) invented them. Mercilessly disrespectful
art critics of the time could not stop the Experimentalists no matter
how viciously they attacked and derided them. "Crayon-painting" as it
was called in England was practiced early on by persecuted pioneers in
Switzerland and many other nations. What a debt we owe to these master
artists who refused to knuckle under to the pressure of those
short-sighted critics during those historic and experimental times. It
took until 1870 with the founding of the "Societe` Des Pastellistes" in
France that respect came at last to these heroic & immortal
visual artists.
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In England
the liberation of the Pastellists from slight regard and undeserved
disrespect came with the first exhibition of "The Pastel Society" at
the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880. Pastel Painters like Mary Cassat
and others from America and other nations forever silenced the
snobs with their masterworks and gained recognition at long last for
Thiele's invention as a valid art medium. I am persuaded that history
will repeat itself. Like Pastels, I believe these wonderful new
colored pencils and even Digital Realistic Art Media will one day
receive the recognition they deserve as powerful mediums of artistic
expression just as pastel paintings did. What is your definition of
art? Have you thought about it?
Mine is: "anything that makes you feel or think."
Consider dancing... it can be a little skip in
the step or rise to the level of the incomparable Russian Ballet. Did
you know that just the materials alone for a single oil painting cost
up to a thousand dollars these days? Even paying the artist less than
minimum wage no one but the super rich can afford them anymore.
Something's got to give. Realistic paintings in oil have been highly
prized for centuries and the appeal and following of realistic art is
undiminished to this day. Oil paintings featuring Abstract Art and
Realistic Art are generally the most treasured form of all the visual
art media and with good reason. But snobbish art critics favoring
abstract art have declared that realistic paintings, or
illustrations are not art for a century. With so many
representationalist paintings by so many immortal master artists
hanging in the Louvre, the Hermitage, and the British Museum and others
I think the disrespect for realistic illustrators that dominated the
20th century is academically ridiculous as well as vain and intolerant,
insisting theirs is the only valid opinion. What is your
definition of Art? I believe almost any form of human expression
can be raised to the level of "high art" especially visual art
and Realistic illustration...
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The detail reveals Realistic art and abstract art combined
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By my own definition of art, which is: "anything that
makes you feel or think" most abstract paintings are not "real art" to
me personally, because abstract
paintings usually neither make me feel or think, usually focusing
obsessively on technique and avoiding any coherent content. I usually
draw a complete blank mentally and emotionally when I look at them. In
1979 the Houston Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed a triptych of 3
giant paintings they paid fifty thousand dollars for-
three blank white canvasses entitled "untitled". Then there was "The
incredible new artistic Genius" with an I.Q. of 62 ...Congo the
chimpanzee with his gala New York art exhibition...an elaborate prank
played on the Snobbish American Art critics about a generation ago by
research scientists in the field of primatology. Imagine how upset they
were when he created one of his "ingenious masterpieces" right before
their eyes.
( My Source for this is the Time Life Science
Library volume entitled "The Primates". )
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Art education has been
almost completely removed from American Schools as a result of
generations of this kind of fabulous nonsense contributing to
America's cultural illiteracy crisis. Now, the works of Leonardo Da
Vinci, Michaelangelo, and other notables are being removed from school
libraries. After generations of this, most American college
graduates today cannot name even one living visual artist, abstract or
realistic.
There is no way that mandating more math, requiring more reading, or
scheduling more science will replace what we have lost as a
culture.
What is your definition of Art?
~HDJ
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| Note: Abstract Paintings by Congo the Chimpanzee outsold
Warhol and Renoir by over 25,000 dollars in June 2005 at a London art
auction. Born in 1954, Congo created more than 400 drawings and
paintings between the ages of two and four. He died in 1964 of
tuberculosis. There is no precedent for this kind of sale. |
Essay
Two : The Rebirth of Realism
More
thoughts on realistic art yesterday and today by the artist
Art History has entered a new era with the birth of Art Numérique, or
digital art media in the 21st century. Artists never stop exploring
with mediums. Artists have been developing techniques, experimenting
with different tools since at least twenty- five thousand years ago,
when the first artist picked up a charred stick and scratched a picture
out on the wall of his cave. You'd think everything would have been
tried by now, but it hasn't. Exploring new mediums this very day is
just as exciting, just as full of freshness and newness as it ever was.
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Photography, Drawing, Painting and Art
Numérica combined
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The creation of Realistic art has
been the goal of most artists since the dawn of civilization.
Realistic art was the pride of ancient Greece. The world's greatest
museums are full of realistic art. Realistic art WAS art until the
advent of the abstract expressionist movement in the twentieth century.
The coming of the camera in the nineteenth century changed realistic
art forever. Suddenly, realistic art was not the only way to create
realism in portraits and historical records. The work of the realistic
artist was suddenly made into an expensive luxury. The political power
of the realistic artist was broken and they were no longer an
indispensable member of society. Hostility to the creators of
realistic art goes back to ancient times and the jealousy of advisers
to the Pharaohs and others who were not able to spend as much time with
their rulers as their portraitists. Although with the aid
of photographs, realistic art achieved levels of excellence undreamed
of, the realistic art movement of the late nineteenth century was short. |
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None of these people earning their living
creating realistic art could compete with the speed and low cost of
photographic portraiture. Determined to survive, great realistic
artists like Pablo Picasso ingeniously turned inward and began to
explore things that could not be photographed in a new school of art,
abstract expressionism. The day of the fine art superstars had arrived.
It was now largely just a hobby to abstract and realistic artists
alike. Illustration, because of advances in printing technology enabled
an elite few to earn a living with their realistic art. These
illustrators working in realistic art media were condemned and
ridiculed in much the same way Europe's great symphonic composers were
condemned for working in motion pictures after fleeing the nazis during
World War Two. The rift between realistic and abstract art grew wider
and wider. The universities and key media usually sided with the
abstract camp and derided anyone working in any realistic art media
declaring boldly that realistic art was not "real" art. Immortal giants
of realistic art such as Maxfield Parrish were mistreated their entire
lives. They were accused of selling out for creating beautiful pieces
of realistic fine art to earn a living. The attitude that the true
artist must suffer and starve and die in poverty became a rule. There
were the Abstract art superstars, the professional realistic
illustrators, and the hobbyists who, although cut off from gainful
employment and social influence still recognized their artistic gifts
as a calling rather than a profession. |
Early abstract art masters proved
themselves as realistic artists before delving into realms of the
intangible. They had to do this at that time to prove themselves
because of the challenges they faced from the establishment for going
against the status quo. In the latter part of the 20th century,
realistic artists like HDJ were challenged to do abstract art to prove
themselves as shown in the example above (Deirdre of the sorrows).
Later realistic art training was abandoned in most schools and things
like splattering paint in fits of rage were deemed more than
enough. By the end of the 20th century something as destructive and
ridiculous as nailing a pack of cigarettes to a shoe was considered
fine art but not realistic paintings. Fashions in art have often been
as silly as fashions in ladies hats. As the century drew to a
close, many people had had enough. The realistic revolt was at hand.
The rebirth of realism was fueled by the advent of the digital era.
Now, for the first time in almost two centuries, an artist or
illustrator could earn a decent living again with his realistic art.
This is historic. Realistic art is not going to go away, especially now
that photography has truly merged with traditional realistic visual
art. Photography comes from the Greek words meaning "painting with
light". Now with the advent of digital media the capability of
realistic art has become almost limitless, truly, "painting with
light". The merger of all the world's art forms to realize the
potential of motion pictures has come now to still realistic art media.
This website for example, combines music, prose, poetry, photography
and traditional realistic art media to create an experience beyond
merely looking at realistic paintings.
The twenty- first century is already seeing a
new renaissance in the arts because of the world wide web. There has
never been anything like it. Abstract art, computer art, photographic
art, and realistic art are continuing to be separate schools of art but
are also blending to create exciting new horizons. Although Digital art
does offer completely new horizons to the artist in the 21st century it
does not mean the end of our time honored art traditions. Instead, it
offers additional ways to keep these traditions and schools of
thought fresh and alive. ~ HDJ
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This
Art Gallery has been
honored by more than 25,000,000
Unique Visitors
from the
Four
Corners of the Earth
My
Friends from around the world thus far :
England, Canada,
Scotland, Wales, Ireland,
Germany, France,
Monaco, Andorra, Italy, The Vatican
City State,
Greece, Macedonia, Cyprus, Turkey,
Belgium, Denmark,
The Faroe Islands, Greenland, Yugoslavia,
Macedonia, Croatia,
The Czech Republic, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Slovakia,
Slovenia, Luxembourg, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary,
Bulgaria,
Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Romania,
Spain, The Russian Federation,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova,
Malta, Iceland, Finland, Norway,
Netherlands,
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Portugal,
Albania, Armenia, Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Gibraltar,
Israel,
Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Libya,
Mali, Algeria,
Niger, Saudi Arabia, Oman, The United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Qatar, Yemen, Iraq, Iran,
Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon, Morocco, Ethiopia,
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The Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya,
Angola, Ghana, The Ivory Coast,
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan,
Nigeria, Namibia, Uganda, Kenya,
Eritrea,
Tanzania, Botswana, Malawi, Senegal, Djibouti,
Cameroon,
Chad, Gambia, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Lesotho, South Africa,
Seychelles, Viet Nam, Japan, South Korea,
China, Hong Kong, Macau,
Mongolia, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar,
Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Nuie, New
Zealand, Fiji,
Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, American
Samoa, Australia,
Micronesia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, The Heard
and McDonald Islands,
The Philippines, Guam, Palau, Cocos Island, The Kingdom of
Tonga,
Malaysia, Brunei Darussalem, India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chagos Islands, The Republic
of Maldives,
Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Tadjikistan, Nepal, Indonesia,
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay,
Brazil, Peru,
Aruba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana,
Aruba,
The Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and
Barbuda, Barbados,
The Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, The Netherlands
Antilles, Panama, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Grenada,
Ecuador,
Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Bermuda, Cuba,
Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cayman
Islands, Anguilla, The
Bahamas, Honduras,
Mexico,
Madagascar, Central African Republic, Gabon,
San Marino, Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla,
Azerbaidjan, Burkina Faso, Equatorial
Guinea, Mauritania, Burundi, and my
home, The Great Free State of
Idaho (USA)...
If
your home is not listed here please
e-mail and tell us where you're from...
info@howarddavidjohnson.com
We love
hearing from you! Your business, letters & links are
always welcome. E-mail for courteous service...
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FREE ART LESSONS
&
PAID PERSONAL INSTRUCTION
HDJ
has four pages of free art lesson previews. Click on The Bride for
links to them. After you have seen them, if you would like to still
learn more of HDJ's design motifs and further details of his art
techniques personal instruction is available for $199.00 U.S. dollars (
$20.00 per lesson ) for one of his in depth ten lesson correspondence
courses in college level beginning, intermediate, or advanced drawing,
painting, photography, or $1,000 for the digital media course.
Click
on The Bride of Frankenstein for more...
(
These lessons are jam packed with unpublished huge - easy to study
11x17 images by the artist)
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info@howarddavidjohnson.com
Your
business, letters, & links are always welcome.
*****
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Click Here for free Dragon Wallpaper
Music by
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( 1840-
1893) - "Swan Lake"
Thank
you for visiting the Dragons, Dragons, and more Dragons fantasy art
gallery of Howard David Johnson
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