Illustration

I have been a professional illustrator for twenty years. I have worked on book illustrations, comic series, graphic novels, medical illustrations, medical imaging, maps, icons, designs, marketing material, and more. I was a professional illustrator for the Prince Valiant Comic strip from 1999 to 2001. My illustrations were published in the strip in 350 papers around the world. Additionally, my illustrations have been published in medical journals, websites, magazines, and many social media platforms.

Design

I have worked for hundreds of clients including Costco, Grantham University, Bogus Basin, Dayspring, Yellowstone Partners, and hundreds more web, print, and multimedia clients. I have many years of experience developing and directing branding campaigns, internet marketing, animation, package design, and video projects.

Dragonstone Chronicles

Dragonstone Chronicles is a joint project I am working on with Em Hart. It began as a creative excerise for us a few years ago and has become an exciting full blown creative project. We have 150,000 words of volume one completed and now in the exhastive editing phase. We are planning a graphic novel for the series, and hundreds and hundreds of illustrations already completed with plans for several years of exciting work ahead.

Oil Paintings

These oil paintings are executed with museum grade materials and preparation. These are paintings that will last for hundreds of years and actually continue to improve with age as the oil bound pigments cure over time and become more and more translucent to light.

Arches National Park

This is one of my favorite places to paint. The fins, cliffs, and arches create an infinite array of compositions. I love when the sun is low at dawn and dusk. This deepens the hues within the rocks and draws out the form with dramatic shadows.

Canyonlands National Park

I have been riding the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands on my bicycle for fifteen years. I feel as if my soul is part of these red rock formations and someday my ashes will be.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks

These are additional places that inspire me and my paintings. The color palette is different from the desert and allows for many different moods and compositions.

Plein Air Painting

I love to get out and paint from nature. Every camping trip is a business trip for me as I am always seeing the world in flat shapes and pieces of paint.

Professor of Art

I have worked with excellent students as a professor of digital illustration and drawing at Rowan University in New Jersey. I have also taught college level entrepreneurship and small business capstone at Idaho State University in the College of Business.

The Creative Process

I often paint outdoors in plein air when I can. I also do small color studies and photos that I take back to my studio for larger works.

John's Studio

I like to have many paintings and drawing projects going at the same time. This allows me to step away from one for a while and then come back with fresh eyes.

I enjoy spending time in my studio after work when my kids are working on homework. They pop into my studio and often have good ideas or critiques of my projects. Their fresh perspective is sometimes just the thing for a new idea or troubled composition.

Studio Assistant

I often receive help and useful critiques from my seven year old daughter. She loves to set up and work on creative projects in the studio. She is an endless supply of creativity.

Underpainting

For my studio paintings I begin with a drawing and underpainting of the composition followed by thicker colors and layers. I use plein air references combined with photography for working up the final composition.

This method of working has also affected by digital productions where I often have hundreds of layers of colors, media, lines, and value to produce the look and feel of my final work.

Research

Of course I get out for as much on site research as possible. I love to be outdoors studying the red rocks of southern Utah.

Artist Statement

I believe visual art is the ultimate form of communication. To take abstract lines, symbols, and values and transform them into work that touches our emotions and tells us a good story is what being human is all about. Illustration abounds in every aspect of business, entertainment, and visual communication. A good illustrator is a good business person, a good presenter, a good communicator. In a world dominated by visual media, illustration and visual communication should be required coursework for all. It is equally important to be literate in visual communication as it is in written language and public speaking.

In my fine art, I seem to be irresistably drawn to the light, hues, and shapes of the red rock deserts of southern Utah. The eroded forms are sculptural and timeless. When I am in the presence of such places, I am forced to see the world from the earth's timeline and not my puny human one. I realize that I am only a small blip and I always feel small when I am in their presence. The landscape will endure and continue its slow and beautiful transformation long after we humans have passed away.

Each artwork I create is a journey for me, one that I hope passes on to the viewer when they see my work.

About

John loves to paint, draw, design, create, invent, and write. He is an avid cyclist and runner. He loves to camp with his family and be outdoors as much as possible.

Education

BFA from the Lyme Academy in Painting, and an MFA from the University of Michigan in Medical Illustration. In addition John has studied anatomy at Yale Medical School and the University of Connecticut.

Biography

John has artwork in collections across the United States and in a New England Museum. John was a professor of Art and Computer Art at Rowan University. He has also started several business ventures in technology, design, and marketing. He has illustrated the Prince Valiant comic strip, many medical proceedures, books, concepts, covers, posters, and ideas. He has presented on creativity and entrepreneurship in presentations around the country as well at at TED. He is a creative thinker and problem solver. He loves to teach and has taught art and other subjects at every level from first grade to graduate school.

Contact

jph (at) johnhart (dot) net

 
Address:
5835 Hidden Springs
Boise, ID 83714
United States