This Art Gallery has been honored by more than 35,000,000 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,   Eritrea,   Liberia,   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 Texas (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...

Symbolist Art

Classic Fairy Tales

Greek Mythology

Digital Techniques

History of Dragons

The Seven Wonders

  The Legends of History (below right)- Educational multi-media art galleries exploring the Myths & Legends  of the ancient world & War & Civilization; The Outline of History through realistic art, prose, & essay... An introduction to legendary Spartan Warriors ( below left) and legendary women (below center)

 Click on The World's Great Religions (below left)- An educational multi-media art gallery embracing religious tolerance and exploring the world's great religions and their impact on war and civilization through realistic art, prose, and essay...

Mystery, Babylon, the Great -The  Deesse et chimere Icon (above center) Links to a Symbolist art gallery featuring an astonishing disclosure about the Beast (Chimera) from the book of Revelation and and more Apocalyptic Prophecies...  and Click on our new Angel Art Gallery (above right)

Classical Mythology; Greek & Roman Myths: Click on the image above for Realistic Illustrations & introductions to the legendary gods of Olympus, The Greek Heroes, Homer's The Iliad, Helen of Troy & The Trojan Horse, Jason & the Argonauts & much more...

A portrait of the artist in his painting studio as he is today. This September 2009 photo was taken by his youngest son Erich.

   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. 

     Some of his more prestigious clients have included the National Geographic Society, the University of Texas, the University of Cambridge in England, Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, PBS TV, Enslow Educational Publishers, Adobe Photoshop, Auto FX,  Doubleday, the History Book of the Month Club, & J Walter Thompson Advertising, just to name a few.  Working in a variety of media David offers his customers a variety of options and more than three decades of experience. As a realistic 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.USD. 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.

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COMMISSIONS AND SOME PIECES OF ORIGINAL ART ARE AVAILABLE:

Many pieces are currently available, mostly 11x14-13x16 inch Prismacolor Paintings (like Helen of Troy) and pencil portraits (like Arriba #2) followed in number by Acrylic, Prismacolor and pastel mixed media all on #400 Strathmore Bristol Board ranging from $700.00-$1400. 00 USD and Oil Paintings on canvas ranging from $1999.00 - 10,000.00 USD.  Pieces that have never been rendered in oil can be commissioned in 16x20 inch size on canvas for 50% down and delivered in under 90 days with signed certificates of authenticity aka legal documents pledging never to render it in that size and media again to ensure premium collectability and investment potential.

David can also do a completely new picture designed in digital media (for more on this visit his digital media page) and when we approve the photo-montage, he uses it as reference to render it in oil on canvas. No surprises.  Existing Artwork is shipped very well protected and go out to you immediately via Fed Ex or USPS Express mail upon receipt of payment at our expense. All new creations cost a bit more depending on what is involved. All new creations and rendering photo montages into art on paper are a LOT of fun with e-mail attachments and digital cameras.  

  POSTER ART     ART BOOKS    PUBLISHING LICENSES    BOOK COVERS    BUY ORIGINAL ART     ART INSTRUCTION  

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Gorgeous Quality High Resolution files for All kinds of Commercial Publishing!

 Books Cards Posters Magazines CDs DVDs Videos & more are available at very reasonable rates.

COMMERCIAL SIZE 20 x 16 inch 300 DPI PRINTING MASTER FILES ARE AVAILABLE on CD or DVD ROM DISK FOR ALL HIS REALISTIC ART - ANALOG OR DIGITAL COVER FORMATTING IS ALSO AVAILABLE 

E-MAIL FOR COURTEOUS &  SPEEDY SERVICE

info@howarddavidjohnson.com

STYLE and TECHNIQUE

"Those who are enamored 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."

Finding and training the right models is the hard part, then Photography, Mathematical Design and Digital Composition all come before the image is transferred to paper or canvas and rendered in mixed media ( including prismacolor pencils, oils, acrylics, and or many other traditional art media).

     The various galleries linked to by the icons above show many examples of  David's Realistic Art, and are grouped by theme rather than media. There are also sample illustrations from his books on Fairy Art and Mythology. Since boyhood David has studied and copied the old masters.

         To create his art works David begins with a concept followed by a realistic sketch, researching and traveling to find scenes and locations. Photography comes next. Working in his Analog Photography Studio with live models he follows up with a digitally assembled photo montage in the computer, combining original and old realistic elements to create a new work. 

          As a boy David dedicated his life to art in 1960. From 1965- 1999 he used xeroxes and tracings to make his preliminary montages. This is patterned after  the manner used by Maxfield Parrish and other 19th century notables. Beginning with a tracing, David 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 traditional realistic art media. As this happens, his finished work is substituted in the exhibit. (See the about the artist gallery link above for more details.)  

    David has built up an enormous library of original source photos to use in his realistic art.  For decades David has sought out the most beautiful models and brought them in for sessions in his analog photography studio.

Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( 1840- 1893) - "Swan Lake"

All  realistic art - paintings, pictures, & text  (c) 2014 Howard David Johnson All rights reserved

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Essay Section: Philosophy, Art, & Art Philosophy Personal Opinion Essays on Realistic Art yesterday and today by the artist.    Howard David Johnson is an outspoken proponent of mechanical aids to visual art. Unlike the opponents of mechanical aids, David's mission is not to prove his talent but to help preserve our vanishing Western cultural heritage. In addition to his mastery of the traditional drawing and painting media, now combines drawing, painting, photography, and digital media with more than thirty years of experience in these fields to create his Realistic 'Art Numerica' 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.   Introducing Art Numerica- an exciting merger of traditional visual art and cutting edge technology... a new art form for the twenty- first century... Art Numerica 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.  "The Legendary King Arthur" MMX (As opposed to the historical King Arthur)

ON REALISTIC ART: 

Personal Opinion Essays on Realistic Art yesterday and today by the artist.

"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

What is YOUR definition of ART?

Essay one: On Realistic Art: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME...

( A Brief essay dealing with attitudes toward Realistic Art and prior developments in technology in history)

      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.

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.

    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".)

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, Michelangelo, 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? ~.H.D.J.

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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.

But how do all these new Realistic Art media fit in with formal definitions of Art? 

       Art ( noun ) [ Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ars (stem art-). ] 1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. 2. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty; specifically, the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. 3. The product of these activities; human works of beauty, collectively. 4. High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. 5. Any field or category of art, such as painting, music, ballet, or literature. 6. A non-scientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts. 7. a. A system of principles and methods employed in the performances of a set of activities: the art of building. b. A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: pursuing the baker's art. 8. A specific skill in adept performance, conceived as requiring the exercise of intuitive faculties that cannot be learned solely by study: the art of writing letters. 9. a. Usually plural.  Artful devices; stratagems; tricks. b. Artfulness; contrivance; cunning. 10. In printing: Illustrative material as distinguished from text.

~ The American Heritage College Dictionary of the English Language

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Special note: 21st century professional art critics are not repeating these mistakes of history and are blessing and encouraging artistic excellence in all styles and mediums, even including today's digital media. To them I say: Bravo! If only our world leaders could learn from the mistakes of the past as you have.

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Essay Two

Realistic Art : The Rebirth of Realism in the 21st Century

More thoughts on realistic art yesterday and today by the artist

"Snow White and the poisoned Apple" (MMX Mixed Media)

   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 Lady Kriemhilde' rendered in Prismacolor pencils )

      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.

~ Howard David Johnson MMII

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David has four pages of free art lessons & offers paid private instruction too. For more information, click on the link above ( an oil pastel rendering of Mary Shelly's  Bride of Frankenstien  )