Who is Artist and Photographer Howard David Johnson?
 |
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.
*****
|
|
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 |
RPG fans! If you'd like to have permission to
use some of these images
free
CLICK HERE
|
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. |
 |
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. |
His favourite medium for realistic art is 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 the highly controversial digital media ( Art Numérique
)
. 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.
|
 |
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.
|
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!"
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 ) |
"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 |
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. 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...
|
The detail reveals
Realistic art and abstract art combined |
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, 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
***** |
|
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.
Photography, Drawing, Painting and
Art Numérique combined |
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. |
|
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
***** |
|
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, 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...
|
|
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) |
 |
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 |
