Contemporary American Fantastic Art
Historical, Religious and Mythological Photorealism
Howard David Johnson is an American photorealist illustrator and painter most noted for historical, religious and mythological art. He works in a wide variety of mixed media ranging from oil on canvas to digital media. Though he paints in a realistic vein, he creates a world of folklore and mythical characters combining his traditional style and methods with contemporary digital techniques. Specializing in archetypal and idealized iconic imagery, he is a classically trained artist who is particularly influenced by the greatest illustrators of the late nineteenth century and the artists of the Preraphaelite period. Because most artists are trained to be openly hostile or dismissive to Classical realistic painting art tradition and are only taught the tenets of Abstraction and Expressionism, he founded the Brandywine School of Illustative Art to teach Classical roots.