JLJillustrates
Joshua L Johnson is an illustrative artist originally from Pittsburg, Kansas. Combining the attention to detail of fine art with the story telling of illustration, he works to produce unique pieces that are both engaging and well designed.
The JLJ Story
Josh grew up drawing and painting with his beloved grandmother, Elm. This combined with his family’s love of movies and the arts inspired him to become a creator at an early age.
While he decided to study music education in college, art and movies continued to be his passion. Moving to Austin, TX out of college, Josh started his career teaching music at a private academy. This allowed him to use his education while pursuing his passion on the side, starting JLJillustrates with his wife, Bekah in 2015. During this time, Josh was mainly focused on hand drawn illustration and specifically poster art like these.
When a job opportunity took them to San Juan, Puerto Rico in the fall of 2016, Josh elected to put his teaching career on hold and focus solely on developing his artistic skills. He used a relatively isolated three years to develop a signature style by continuous reading and in-depth personal study of contemporary, modern, and romantic artists such as: AJ Casson, Gustav Klimt, Ramon Casas, Ignacio Zuloaga, Jose Maria Lopez Mezquita, Lotte Laserstein, Mike Mignola, Nicholas Uribe, Tomer Nauka, William Orpen, Rich Kelly and John Singer Sargent. These studies expanded not only the mediums he worked with to oils and full digital illustration but also subjects such as still lifes, landscapes, and portraiture.
Now, on any given day you can find Josh continue to work in his home studio or exploring their new home town, Atlanta! Current items in the work include: custom movie poster commissions (Ocean’s 11, Inglorious Basterds, Step Brothers, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), and more! Check out @velociwrapper for most current updates and goings-on.
Currently Josh resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife Bekah, their daughter Ira, and their dog Pigeon.
Josh, Pigeon, and Bekah