|
|
Realms of the Mind Revisited |
![]() |
![]() Science Fiction and Fantasy Artwork; surrealistic Illustrations depicting Fantastic and futuristic fantasy Worlds, filled with heroes and beautiful maidens, gods and monsters... all in a style inspired by classic illustrators. |
||
Science Fiction and Fantasy Illustration Gallery
Gorgeous Poster Size Reprints are Now Available!
NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS
Howard David Johnson has spent a lifetime creating his Realistic Fantasy Illustrations in Paintings and Pictures ... Please be patient while the images are loading ...
Enter a world of imagination...

"FUTURE EARTH" MMXII and "STARGATE" MMXII illustrations for a novel with a very Arthur C. Clarke look to things

"The Destruction of the Dinosaurs" MMXII and "Shakelton Crater Moon Base" MMXII What a crying shame a moon base is still Science Fiction this far into the 21st Century

"The Orion Observatory" MMXII I have always loved landscapes, a recent contract gave me a chance to do planetscapes- I want to do MORE Science-Fiction!
|
"Back to the Stone Age" and "Raven of Atlantis" (above) were created as book covers for Fantasy Adventure novels and the traditional images just below were commissioned for card games...
|
||
|
Surrealism is a literary and artistic movement launched in 1924 by the French poet Andre' Breton proclaiming the radical transformation of all existing social, scientific, and philosophical values through the total liberation of the subconscious. Salvador Dali's name has become synonymous with surrealism. His subconscious mind saw things that should be rigid were limp or melting and reflected it in his work with a sense of horror. Melting things are not always surrealistic and surrealism is potentially as vast as the human psyche. Everyone has different things enslaved in their subconscious mind. The monsters and beauty goddesses shackled in Johnson's subconscious mind run free in his art. David loves to do custom Fantasy book covers like the one to your right, especially to help emerging writers. Publishing calls for a different shape than traditional picture framing. Many of David's Fantasy Art posters can be modified to add more space at the top with Adobe Photoshop (tm) Software. In the early days of David's career adding canvas space was as impossible as growing a second head... |
|
|
|
"If you've never seen the Lon Chaney Sr. Phantom of the Opera you're really missing out. The immortal classic silent film masterpiece provided the inspiration for this piece. Speaking of "Classics"...
"Tales of Asgard" from Nordic Mythology
"The Protector of the Forest" MMX from German Fairy Tales and "Baba Yaga" MMX from Russia.
|
||
![]() "The Sleeping Beauty" MMX |
"Snow White and the poisoned Apple" (MMX)
|
|
"The Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White" are based on the stories in "The Fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm" which was first published under the title, "The German Book of Popular Stories" as they themselves did not write any of them.
"The Dragon Níðhöggr" MMXI (above left) In Norse myth, "the tearer of corpses" is a gigantic and monstrous serpent-like creature that gnaws continually at the deepest root of the World Tree, threatening to destroy it. "Into the Lake of Fire" MMX (above right) In the sacred Hebrew texts the Serpent or Dragon was the source of sin and death, a conception adopted by the New Testament and so passed into Christianity... in this one we see the devil, "that old serpent", the most beautiful of God's angels being cast in the lake of Fire. (From Revelation 20) by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. I think the ugly portrayals of him are inaccurate, he comes as a beautiful angel of Light, deceiving and seducing whom he will...
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
"Classic Myths and Legends never fail to captivate my imagination and can be great fantasy illustrations with all their gods and monsters, not to mention all the beautiful ladies."
|
||
|
"Atalanta" [left MMX] was the daughter of Hades and grew up in the wilderness. Once, Artemis, goddess of the Hunt (AKA Diana) was forgotten at sacrifice by King Oineus, and became furious and sent a wild boar that terrorized men, cattle and prevented crops from being planted. Atalanta joined many famous heroes on the hunt. Many of the men were angry that a woman was joining the hunt and several of the men were killed before Atalanta was the first to hit the boar and draw blood.
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
| AMAZON WARRIORS from ancient myth and legend were among the few fantasy warrior women of traditional folklore
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
Where would Fantasy Art be without Dragons and Trolls?
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
" My favorite fantasy illustration themes have always been the two-fisted tales of fantastic adventure in the heroic tradition and the classic fairy tale..."
|
||
![]() |
|
|
|
"...the true measure of a fantasy artist is not the subject matter or the technique , but is always the amount of "magic" in the air ...and whether the picture tells a story..." ~HDJ
|
||
|
|
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
|
||
![]() |
![]() |
|
|
|
||
|
Dragons were usually seen as a power of evil, and the slaying of a dragon the crowning achievement of heroes. Siegfried, Siegmund, Beowulf, Arthur, Tristram, and even Lancelot the "beau Ideal" of Medieval chivalry were all dragon slayers..
Thank you for visiting the Fantasy Illustration page of Howard David Johnson ... All images copyright 1993 - 2011 Howard David Johnson All rights reserved.
|
||

| 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 - 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. On his existing works license offers start as low as $100.00 |
|
NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS info@howarddavidjohnson.com Thank you for Visiting... Your business, letters, & links are always welcome. *****
|
By Popular Demand! So many have written asking how to tell the various media apart~ But friends! That's JUST my point! Left Digital Montage, Center: Prismacolor Painting, Right Oil on canvas With
a background in traditional media including oils, pastels & colored
pencils, Howard David Johnson embraces leading edge digital media in the
creation of his depictions of fantasy, folklore, mythology, legend,
religion, and heroic history. He
works
in and mixes a wide variety of media * Oil paintings * Acrylic Paintings * Prismacolor
Paintings * Drawings * Chalk & Oil Pastel Paintings * Photography * Digital Artistry & Mixed Media * This 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 :
"Lilly Evans" (above)
MMXI Was created in Mixed Media including Oils, 3D studio Max and Adobe
Photoshop.
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... |
||||||||||
NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS
info@howarddavidjohnson.com
Thank you for Visiting... Your business, letters, & links are always welcome.
*****

If you'd like to have permission to use some of these images CLICK HERE

Thank you for visiting the Fantasy Illustration Gallery of Howard David Johnson ...
All images copyright 1993 - 2012 Howard David Johnson All rights reserved.