Who is American Illustrator Howard David Johnson?
| He is a contemporary realistic visual artist and teacher with a background in the natural sciences |
| and history, he works in a wide variety of realistic art media ranging from traditional oils, pastels and |
| others to cutting edge digital media. He loves mixing media. His web gallery features many examples |
| of his Artwork, including traditional illustration, portraiture, photography, experimentalism, and fine art |
~ a Brief Biography of the artist
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A traditional-style portrait of the artist as he is today (photo by son Erich)
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EARLY LIFE and MOTIVATIONS Howard David Johnson was born in Mötsch, in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany near the now closed Bitburg Air Force Base on September 2, 1954. The son of an American Career Air Force officer and College Professor, he grew up traveling and living on military bases around the world, inspired and influenced by the art, architecture 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. He devoted his life to art at the age of six in spite of stubborn opposition from his father, who insisted that earning a living as an artist was absolutely impossible. This dynamic conflict shaped his life and forged his driving motivation. 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 father feared he would end up like both of their namesake, David's great uncle Howard who fought in nearly every island combat against the Japanese in the Pacific War. Howard came home a war hero and his heart's desire was to be an illustrator and when he found a tough job market instead, took his own life. David's father never told him the real reason for his violent opposition to an art career until later in life, and upon hearing this, David began using his full name, Howard David Johnson.
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EDUCATION & FAMILY HISTORY |
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He attended the College of Fine Art at the University of Texas in Austin where he met his wife and settled down. Inspired by the genealogical novels of American authors, Johnson has gone after the "roots" of his Anglo-Celtic Heritage (Scots-Irish and Germanic) and found, that, although much neglected and now endangered it is a rich heritage indeed - and that there are many other cultural and spiritual heritages to share, explore, celebrate and preserve through the visual 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 internationally renowned genealogical expert and historical author 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 religious and patriotic organizations of which she held various offices in their female counterparts. |
As a boy exploring Roman ruins of Leptis Magna near Tripoli Libya, in North Africa (1965 photo by his mother Louise) |
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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. He earns his living selling licenses to publish his works and taking on select commissions in various kinds of media, retailing archival reprints of his work and teaching art at the Brandywine School which he founded in 1996. David & his beloved wife Virginia, (also descended from Mary, Queen of Scots) is also a teacher and visual artist. He lives a reclusive lifestyle in The Treasure Valley in Idaho and also has two grown sons, Erich who is also a University of Texas graduate and certified teacher and Christian, both talented artists and photographers in their own right. Currently David is expanding his catalogue of illustrations of our Western Cultural heritage, including mythology, folklore, religion and the legends of history in mixed media and oils on canvas.
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A portrait of the artist as a young man (1982 photo) |
A LIFE WITH ILLUSTRATION
Howard David Johnson the illustrator has a solid background in the natural sciences and history, beginning his career as a scientific illustrator for the University of Texas at Austin School of Paleontology in 1974. He works in a wide variety of mixed media ranging from oil on canvas to digital media. After a lifetime of drawing and painting, his Traditional Media Art was exhibited in the British Museum in London in 1996, as well as numerous American ones since, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His illustrations have made appearances in most of the major bookstores and game shop chains in America as well as in libraries, educational texts and magazines 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, MGM, Warner Brothers Home Video, ABC/ Disney, Paramount Studios, Universal Studios, CBS TV, PBS TV, The History Channel, Enslow Educational Publishers, Adobe Photoshop, Auto FX, Tree-Free Greeting, Verizon wireless, Apple IPOD, Doubleday (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 just to name a few. https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577426072268788062.html |
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Working in a variety of media he offers his customers a variety of options and more than three decades of experience. As an illustrator David has not only used the computer but has been involved in the development and marketing of software for Adobe Photoshop. His illustrations have reached the four corners of the Earth, gracing books, magazines, motion pictures and television shows, cards, candles, coins, record albums, video, board and card games, and have been used for posters, calendars, murals, large marble statues and miniatures as well as appearing on thousands of websites. His website gets millions of hits collectively from every country on Earth. He started the Brandywine School and began teaching the tenets of classical realism in 1996 because he saw so much evidence that Academia had abandoned them. He has had over a thousand students enroll. Digital art, Colored pencils, Pastels, Mixed media, and also Oil Paintings can be commissioned for select projects and he is easy to contact. He delivers these custom made copyright free illustrations and old fashioned customer service very quickly when he does work-for-hire. To publish his existing works licenses start at only $100.00 with same day delivery via the internet and his gallery also sells premium archival quality reprints. ***** by Virginia Solomon Johnson et al
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"Faerie Guardians" (above left) is an illustration from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream and is rendered in oil on canvas. "Pandora's Box" - Oil on canvas.
"Sleeping Beauty" (above right) is from the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and is also rendered in oil on panel.
"Ezekiel's Vision" MMX (left) "The Lamb of GOD" and "The Angels of Forgiveness" MMX (right) were rendered in mixed Media
"Valkyrie Maiden" (above left) is an illustration from Norse Mythology in digital mixed media and is inspired by Van Dyck. "The Coming of Brunhilde" is an illustration more inspired by the Ring Cycle
a series of four operas in the 1860's by Richard Wagner; The song of the Nibelung:The Rhiengold, The Valkyrie, Sigfried, and The Twilight of the gods.
