Howard David Johnson's works have been published all over the world. With a background in traditional media including oils, pastels & colored pencils, he 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 and is always experimenting, sometimes re-working existing pictures in various different media such as * Oil paintings * Acrylic Paintings * Prismacolor Paintings * Drawings * Chalk & Oil Pastel Paintings * Photography * Digital Artistry & Mixed Media * Who is A merican Illustrator Howard David Johnson? In David's invitation to the Florence Biennale Contemporary Art Exhibition, (a partner in the United Nations' Dialog among Nations), UN Secretary General Kofi Anon wrote him: "Artists have a special role to play in the global struggle for peace. At their best, artists speak not only to people; they speak for them. Art is a weapon against ignorance and hatred and an agent of public awareness... Art opens new doors for learning, understanding, and peace among nations." A Traditional style portrait of the artist. [Photo by his 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. info@howarddavidjohnson.com CLICK ON THESE LINKS OR E-MAIL FOR THE JOHNSON GALLERIES' VARIOUS BUSINESS SERVICES: Thank You For Visiting the Norse Myths and Legends Art Page of Howard David Johnson... ***** This Art Gallery has been honored by more than 25 million 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, Estonia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Malta, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Slovak Republic, 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, Sudan, 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 Darussalam, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Chagos Islands, The Republic of Maldives, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, 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, Northern Mariana Islands, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Grenada, Ecuador, Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, Honduras, Mexico, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon, San Marino, Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Polynesia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burundi, and my home, The Great Free State of Idaho (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... "Lo there, do I see my father- Lo there do I see my mother and my sister and my brothers - Lo there I do see the line of my people back to the beginning - Lo they do call to me - they bid me to take my place among them - in the hallowed halls of Valhalla - where the brave shall live forever!" ~ Reconstruction of a Viking Funeral Prayer



Primary Sources: [Norse Mythology] THE EDDAS ~ The Poetic Edda & The Prose Edda ~ Eddic Manuscripts / Manuscripts of Snorra Edda

Translations into English / Individual Eddic Poems THE SAGAS ~ Icelandic Sagas and Thættir Fornaldarsögur & Riddarasögur Artistic Acknowledgements: These Mythic Art creations take their inspiration from the realistic paintings of the old masters just as the film West Side Story came from Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, who in turn copied it from Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Our shared cultural heritage, great works of art, literature, music and drama, cinema, folk tales and fairy tales are all drawn upon again and again by the creators of new works. These works in the public domain are both a catalyst and a wellspring for creativity and innovation. Where would Walt Disney be without the Brothers Grimm Hans Christian Anderson, or Victor Hugo? Where would Aaron Copeland have been without American folk music? Or Thomas Nast's Santa Claus without traditional images of Father Christmas? Pablo Picasso without aboriginal African art? Public domain appropriators, one and all. When America was formed, copyright law was created to promote the public creativity and had 14 year terms to reward the creators, but now with 100 plus year terms very little is currently allowed to enter into the public domain and its preservation is of the utmost urgency to our future cultural well-being. In keeping with art tradition and etiquette following the exhibit , I mention some of the artists and writers that have influenced me the most; William Bouguereau, John William Waterhouse, Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, Edmund Blair Leighton, Howard Pyle, Arthur Rackham, Arthur Hughes, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Viktor Vasnetsov, Jean Auguste Ingres, Anthony Van Dyke, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Wallace Wood, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Ray Harryhausen, H.G. Wells, Gustave Moreau, William Morris, Henry David Thoreau, Will Durant, The Pre- Raphaelites, The Symbolists, et al.

Thank You For Visiting the Paintings of Norse Myths and Legends Art Gallery of Howard David Johnson... for essays and articles scroll down... All these pieces of art and the text are legally copyrighted and were registered with the U.S. Library of Congress Office of Copyright by the author, Howard David Johnson All rights reserved worldwide. ***** LIMITED EDITION [of a maximum 1,000 prints per image] PRINT-ON-DEMAND Each inspected, hand signed and numbered by the artist! Gorgeous Quality Printing! For a LIMITED time and a LIMITED print run most of the illustrations in Johnson's vast portfolio are now available! Free Shipping and Handling on all orders! A numbered certificate of authenticity is included. CHECK OUT WITH thejohnsongalleries@gmail.com Sized to fit standard frames! 20x16 inches [508x406mm] & 14x11 inches [356x280 mm] Poster Size Art Reprints! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS The Johnson Galleries now prints these "in-house" with our new state of the art Epson 7890 oversize printer on Epson 200 year premium photo paper and canvas with Epson inks! 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. T he 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. H is 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 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. S ince 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. ***** All paintings, pictures, & text (c) 2004-1 4 Howard David Johnson All rights reserved Thank You for Visiting the Paintings of Norse Mythology Art Gallery 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 absttactions. 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 MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME..." (A Brief essay dealing with attitudes toward Traditional Realistic Paintings, Pastels, Colored Pencils and Art Numérique ) "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 S nobbism 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. I n 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." C onsider 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". ) A rt 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. The Rebirth of Realism More thoughts on realistic art yesterday and today by the artist A rt 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 T he 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. N one 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. E arly 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. T he 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 ***** A.K.A. Teutonic Mythology - Nordic Mythology - Scandinavian Mythology - Norse Myths - Myths of the Vikings - Legends of the Aesir and the J ö tung Educational Multi-Media Mythic Art Galleries ARCHIVAL REPRINTS LICENSES CUSTOM B OOK COVERS ORIGINAL ART ART INSTRUCTION ART BOOKS Thank You For Visiting the Norse Myths and Legends Art page of Howard David Johnson... *****