Welcome to The Johnson Studios Business Center. Offering Licensing of Existing Art Work, Custom Original Illustration, Sale of Original Art and Art Instruction...
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At very reasonable prices... Newly Updated for 2012! |
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Commercial Illustrations for a wide variety of uses... Licenses for all kinds of Book Covers, Illustrations, Calendars, Poster Art, Ads, Candles & Greeting Card Art starting at $99. US for individuals and $350. US for businesses. Read on for details or e-mail now for courteous and speedy service! info@howarddavidjohnson.com Thank you for Visiting... Your business, letters, & links are always welcome. |
Fast Delivery! These 12' to 20" tall 300 dpi digital masters are in TIFF professional printing format.
This page offers information on how to quickly and easily license my Illustrations. To work out each license on a sliding scale - depending on volume and type of use. Please let me know which images you'd like to use and Where and how you want to use them - you know - posters or book covers or greeting cards or etc and the size of print run and length of term the license will cover. Licenses for publishing are available and exact prices are calculated for each customer depending on specific use and time period. For example, I wouldn't charge a struggling writer self publishing one edition the same as a lifetime license to a major distributor to sell prints. With this information I can quote you a license for use price right away.
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Modifying existing work to fit a cover's need for Extra Space...
My images can be easily modified to be used as book covers and accommodate analog printing cutoffs by adding more edge space along the sides and extra room at the top for lettering at no extra charge. It's quick and easy with today's powerful digital media!

Licensing existing art is a very inexpensive way to get a striking cover, starting at only $99.USD...

Examples of cover illustrations for historical romance novels (above) and finished book covers (below)...

David works from writer's notes to faithfully realize their visions when he does all new custom cover art...

And he also sells licenses for cover art using existing pieces like these which were easily adapted...

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 300 DPI PRINTING MASTER FILES ARE AVAILABLE by SPEEDY DOWNLOAD or on CD or DVD ROM DISK FOR ALL HIS REALISTIC ART COVER FORMATTING IS ALSO AVAILABLE E-MAIL FOR COURTEOUS & SPEEDY SERVICE |
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These 12' to 20" tall 300 dpi digital masters are in TIFF professional printing format. My illustrations are available for a wide variety of publishing uses at competitive prices. I usually deliver art on CD-Rom or DVD-Rom Disks ready to take to the printers. Exact prices for licenses are calculated for each customer depending on specific use and time period. I have a sliding scale for license pricing depending on scale of use and potential for profit. When I get details of how you want to use them, I can quickly set a price that's right for our deal. As I said, I wouldn't charge a struggling writer self publishing one small edition the same price as a lifetime license to a major distributor to sell prints. |
To work out each license on a sliding scale depending on volume and type of use I need clues how to nail the exact price down. Please let me know which images you'd like to use and where and how you want to use them - you know - posters or book covers or greeting cards or etc and things like the size of print run, length of term the license will cover (or even estimated profits). There is a $99. U.S.D. minimum order. (This is my lowest price - the Educational or non-profit use discount) With this specific info we'll be able to quickly make you up a custom price based upon your specific usage, term, and scale. It’s very quick and simple- I get a check up front and you get a written signed and dated license and a CD Rom Disk with large high-resolution art shipped to you via U.S.P.S. Priority mail the same day. You need sign nothing but the check and not even that if you send a money order or electronic payment. |
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E-MAIL FOR COURTEOUS AND SPEEDY SERVICE !
FAST DELIVERY !!! ALL LICENSE ORDERS SHIPPED VIA U. S. P. S. PRIORITY MAIL'S SPEEDY 2-3 DAY SERVICE WITH DELIVERY CONFIRMATION

Click on the Icons to visit the thematic Art galleries...
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. ***** |
Who is Artist and Photographer Howard David Johnson?
A portrait of the artist in his painting studio as he is today. This September 2009 photo was taken by his youngest son Erich. |
Howard David Johnson is a contemporary
realistic artist and photographer with
a background in the natural sciences and history. After a lifetime of drawing and painting,
David works in a wide variety of mixed media ranging from
oil on canvas
to digital media.
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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NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS |
Custom Commercial Art: Howard David Johnson's realistic illustration services; He can illustrate nearly anything the mind can conceive - from Legend & Fantasy to pin-up girls or Romance covers. A few thumbnail examples of his commercial art in book and magazine covers, calendars, cards, games, as well as fantasy & historical illustrations are displayed below... they link to galleries rather than single large images...
Thank You For Visiting The Commercial Art page of Howard David Johnson...

"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."
| 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. |
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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. |
His favourite medium for realistic art used to be 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 Numérica ) . 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. 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 Numérica ) 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. |
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Thank you for visiting the commercial art page of Howard David Johnson...
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 Numérica 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!"
The Rebirth of Realism
Thoughts on realistic art yesterday and today by the artist
Art History has entered a new era with the birth of Art Numérica, 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 Numérica 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
*****
What's YOUR definition of Art?
"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
This Website has been honored by more than 25,000,000 Unique Visitors
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I believe that's every nation on Earth but if your home is not listed here please e-mail and tell us where you're from...
info@howarddavidjohnson.com
NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS
Thank you for Visiting... Your business, letters, & links are always welcome.
*****
Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( 1840- 1893) - "Swan Lake"
All these images & text are legally copyrighted & were registered with the U.S. Library of Congress Office of Copyright in 2010 by the author, Howard David Johnson All rights reserved worldwide. Permission for many legal non-commercial uses is freely available by simply contacting the author or visiting www.howarddavidjohnson.com/permission.htm
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ON SALE NOW from BRANDYWINE PRESS!
These beautifully printed 11" x 8.5" 64 page hardcover and trade paperback versions feature 48 full page interior plates in full color starting at only $14.99 USD. Less than the price of a single poster! Featuring Realistic Mythological and Fairy Art created in a style inspired by Classic Illustrators by American Artist & Photographer Howard David Johnson. And new for 2012 - our GIANT sized 48 x 35 cm 12 month Angel Art Calendar!
NEW REPRINTS! LICENSES CUSTOM BOOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS and CALENDARS