Original Studio Photography and Colored Pencil Portraits:

Volume Drawings in Prismacolors by Howard David Johnson

Admission free Colored Pencil Portrait Art Gallery

 

"The original muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, each of whom presided over a different art or science. Today they are known as sources of inspiration or the spirit or power regarded as inspiring and watching over poets, musicians, and artists. These are intimate and previously unpublished personal portraits of the muses who continue to inspire me in my professional illustrations and paintings, and are not for sale. These are not commissions, these are the works I do for relaxation, for my own pleasure and the enjoyment of the model's loved ones and families."

"There is no greater compliment to the photo-realist than disbelief." ~H.D.J.

Jessica - (Right Portrait #4) (Left Portrait #4 close-up) Rendered in Prismacolors with Ebony pencil lowlights on Windsor & Newton Cotman 140 lb. Water Color Paper .

Blair -ooo2 media: burnt umber, sepia, and yellow ochre, crimson lake, & salmon Colored Pencil on smooth bristol board...

Tonya -ooo1 media: Salmon, light salmon, red, white and blue Colored pencils with Ebony pencil darks polished with tissue and smudged with blending stumps on exact vellum bristol board... Tonya was the muse who first influenced HDJ to begin doing fairy paintings and other forms of faerie art in the first place.

Above are Tonya (left) & Paige ( right), who, along with Carmen were the muses who inspired him most in the 1990's. Both girls were rendered in Colored pencils in 1994 from photographs he took in his studio. It has always been his custom to shoot portraits for the models when they pose in his photographic studio for his illustrative drawings , paintings & digital art. Most of these colored pencil portraits are still unpublished.

Here is Ann rendered in Prismacolors (left) and Kimber, rendered in Ebony pencils (right). Both are on exact vellum bristol board. "Just for fun I filtered this photograph with a watercolor filter in Photoshop before I rendered it.  I never dreamed all those years that I slaved to get my drawings as realistic as photographs that the day would come when Kimber would  ask me if I could make it LESS realistic so that her friends could tell it was really a pencil drawing. There is no greater compliment to a photo-realist than disbelief." ~HDJ 

Carmen rendered in Colored Pencils. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall"- there is a certain magic when a beautiful woman stands in front of her mirror."I first met her when my little albino ferret got lost. A knock came at the front door and there was our little lost ferret in the arms of Carmen, soon to be one of my most inspiring, beautiful and dramatically versatile models."~hdj 

Here are the fabulous sisters, Paige and Blair, both rendered in Colored pencils with soft pastel added for effect. Keep scrolling down for a large pastel painting with abstractions of Blair. You can see photographic portraits of all these models on this page at the Studio Photography gallery via the gallery links below.

"Aphrodite's Child" (MMIV) was rendered with Prismacolor Colored Pencils on #400 Strathmore Bristol Board

"Helen of Troy" (MMIV)& "The Oracle" (MMVI)  - Prismacolor Colored Pencils on #400 Strathmore Bristol Board 

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Jessica - 0003  - media: Prismacolors and Spectracolors with Ebony pencil lowlights on Windsor & Newton Cotman 140 lb. Water Color Paper . Background heightened with pastels. Even with nothing but pencil and paper the use of original photography as a source makes this mixed media. See Johnson's Photographic artistry page for his newly updated exhibit of photographic portraits, some used here.

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Taking it to the next level... Combining Portraits and Illustration to create Fine Art...

"HELEN of TROY" was rendered in Prismacolor Colored Pencils... a 'Prismacolor Painting' if you will - because this kind of picture is not at all what comes to mind when people hear the word 'drawing'. These relatively new soft oil and wax pencils are not the first Dry Painting Medium: the term 'Pastel Paintings' originated in the 17th century. These Paintings also employ the used of Prismacolors liquifed with solvents and applied with brush...

"Moon goddess Diana" 2008 16"x 12" (Mixed media including colored pencils and acrylic)

      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. 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.   

A Traditional style portrait of the artist. [Photo by his son Erich.]

   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.

You can e-mail for more details at: 

info@howarddavidjohnson.com

Your business, letters and links are always welcome!

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