Dave Johnson is a comic book artist known for his cover work. For Image Comics he has worked on titles including Erik Larsen's SuperPatriot and Robert Kirkman's Invincible. For DC Comics he has provided covers to titles such as Detective Comics and the DC/Vertigo book 100 Bullets, for which he won the 2002 Eisner Award for Best Cover Artist. His Marvel Comics work includes covers for Deadpool.[1] He has also done some writing, as on Batman: Black and White #6 and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #194.
In 2022 he was among the three dozen contributors to the benefit book Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Early life
editDave Johnson was born in Pittsburgh, and moved to Georgia as a child. He has an older sister. He discovered comics as a child, but subsequently lost interest in them. His interest in the medium was renewed in the late 1970s, beginning with Chris Claremont and John Byrne's run on The Uncanny X-Men. Johnson has named Byrne and Michael Golden as two of his main influences. Johnson studied painting at the Art Institute of Atlanta, but ultimately became more interested in illustration,[2] specifically on the ability to instantly convey information in a single image, explaining at WonderCon in 2009, "[With] billboards, you have five seconds to deliver a message." Applying this idea to comics covers, he said, "You're walking down the aisle (at your comic shop), and the simpler the design, and the brighter and bolder the covers, the better an idea it is. You say 'Batman,' and get the whole message at once."[3] He created a portfolio of work and sent it to various Comic companies.[2]
Career
editHe started working at a studio called Gaijin Studios in Atlanta. It had several well known artists based there, including Adam Hughes, Brian Stelfreeze,[2] Cully Hammer and Jason Pearson.[4]
In 2002 Johnson was awarded the 2002 Eisner Award for Best Cover Artist for his work on the DC Comics book Detective Comics and the DC/Vertigo book 100 Bullets.[5] He had published covers for Detective Comics for a two-year long run.[6]
In April 2022, Johnson was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Johnson would provide one of the covers to the softcover version of the book.[7][8]
Johnson created the poster for the American TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Afterlife".[9]
Bibliography
editSome of the comic work he was published;
DC
edit- Superman #709 (May 2011) (cover only)
Marvel
edit- Fury: My War Gone By (2012-2013) - covers
Dark Horse Comics
edit- Bloodhound Volume 2: Crowbar Medicine (2013)[10]
- Dark Horse Presents #23 (21 )[11]
- James Bond 007 #1 (cover A Regular)
- Kabuki Library Volume 4 by David Mack
- Dead Inside #1 (cover) (written by John Arcudi) (2016)[12]
Caliber Press
edit- Negative Burn #12 - "14.2.99" (1994) [13]
- Elementals: The Natural Order
Technique and materials
editWhen doing covers, Johnson prefers to think out all of his preliminary work for a week before rendering his ideas within an hour. He does not like presenting editors with a large number of cover ideas, preferring instead to deliver the final products. When painting, Johnson begins by applying the darkest pigments, before layering on lighter colors with acrylic, saying, "I'm trying to be less opaque and more brushy. I'm a terrible painter; it's a pure accident that it comes out as good as it does." When doing painted covers, he prefers do so fully, without completing a substantial amount of the image digital, although he does employ a digital greywash technique for layering.[3]
References
edit- ^ "CGC Welcomes Comic Book Illustrator Dave Johnson for a Private Signing Event". Certified Guaranty Company. June 24, 2021. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Cover Artist Extraordinaire Dave Johnson Talks Shop at NYCC 2011". The Comic Archive. youtube.com. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ a b "WC: Dave Johnson - The Thinking Man's Cover Artist". CBR.com. February 28, 2009. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ Kur, Maciej (12 June 2015). "Interview: Dave Johnson". gothamwdeszczu.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- ^ "2002 EISNER AWARD WINNERS". ICv2. August 13, 2022. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ Khouri, Andy (21 April 2011). "The Detective Comics covers of Dave Johnson, Art". comicsalliance.com. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
- ^ Kaplan, Rebecca O. (April 18, 2022). "ZOOP launches benefit anthology COMICS FOR UKRAINE: SUNFLOWER SEEDS". The Beat. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ Brooke, David (April 18, 2022). "'Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds' to benefit Ukrainian refugees". AIPT. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ Towers, Andrea (April 2, 2015). "Loyalties are divided in new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. art: Exclusive". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
- ^ Dan Jolley Bloodhound Volume 2: Crowbar Medicine, p. 4, at Google Books
- ^ Dan Jolley, Denis Medri, Fred Van Lente, Geoffrey Thorne, Jason Wordie, Mike Baron, Peter Hogan, Shannon Wheeler and Simon Roy [1], p. 2, at Google Books
- ^ "INTERVIEW: JOHN ARCUDI ON DARK HORSE'S DEAD INSIDE". westfieldcomics.com. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
- ^ George Khoury The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore, p. 206, at Google Books
External links
edit
- Dave Johnson at DC Comics.
- Dave Johnson at Comic Art Fans Gallery
- Yates, Andy (15 March 2017). "Comics Illustrator of the Week: Dave Johnson". Illustration AGe.