Richard Johnson Illustrator, Artist and Designer

Tokyo 2020 - Spirit of Competition

Illustration designs for a collaborative exhibition and symposium between The University of Joshibi, Japan & The University of Loughborough, UK. Reflecting upon the major themes of the Olympic movement, bringing sport and arts into a symbiotic union.

Migration, Free as a Bird

International Centre for the Picture Book in Society (ICPBS). BIBIANA, the International House of Art for Children in Bratislava, Slovakia

Part of an exhibition to draw attention to the plight of thousands of children and their families who are, as a result of oppressive regimes, violence or poverty, forced to migrate to safer places in the world.

Wind in the Willows

Published by Usborne Children's Books

AOI Gold Award Winner, Images 36. Written by Kenneth Grahame, I tried to visualise moments of quiet tension and dramatic action from the story. My ambition was to try to capture some of the atmosphere, humour and the sense of place in Grahame's world, combining a partly realistic and partly stylised body of work.

Circus, Circus!

Published by Crocodile Creek

Imagery developed for a range of Children's giftware, including a floor jigsaw puzzle.

Harrods Christmas food packaging design. Christmas robot factory and helper Elves prepare sweet treats and candies. Richard Johnson Illustrator

Advent Calendar, Biscuit Tin, Sweets Packaging, Gingerbread man, Christmas Tree, Santa Wobble Tin, Chocolate Packaging. Richard Johnson illustrator.

Harrods Christmas Food Hall. Richard Johnson illustrator.

Harrods Candy Factory

Harrods of London

Christmas Food Hall, Point of Sale and Packaging illustration. My design for the Christmas Candy Factory illustration was loosely based on the shape of the Harrods building itself. I wanted to bring the building to life, so I decided to characterise the factory as a giant Christmas robot. Other bespoke designs for the range included giant Gingerbread men, Christmas Tree packaging and a Father Christmas shaped wobble tin.

Nursery Rhymes

Usborne Publishing

Illustrations I created for a collection of classic Nursery Rhymes. The book contains double page spread and vignette designs.

Two little mice in the big city, they're surrounded by traffic, buses, motorcycles and smoke. Worms eye view perspective, looking up at the skyscrapers. Richard Johnson Illustrator

Green Troll laughing under the stone bridge. Pants on washing line as brown goat runs over the bridge. Richard Johnson Illustrator

Animal Stories for Bedtime

Published by Usborne Children's Books

Illustrations for a 96 page Children's Book including, 'The Elephant’s Nose', 'The Musicians of Bremen' and 'The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse'. Each story had a full page plate artwork and a number of smaller vignettes.

A boy in a red sailing boat. He sails through a stormy sea into calmer waters. Richard Johnson Illustrator

Examples of advertising illustration, Boy in boat, stormy sea. Richard Johnson illustrator.

Journey Forward

DUDNYK Advertising Agency U.S, for Erwinaze

Advertisement campaign for a pharmaceutical company. Poster, brochure and company website. My brief was to create an image to advertise a chemotherapy program that treats children who have acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Pinocchio Cover Artwork. Geppetto puts the finishing touches to Pinocchio, the wooden boy, in his workshop. Richard Johnson Illustrator

Pinocchio

Templar Publishing

Pop-Up Children's Book with Sound Effects, written by Carlo Collodi / Anita Ganeri. I really enjoyed the challenge of designing illustrations that compliment the paper engineering and mechanics of the book, whilst also visualling and pacing the story.

My Grandpa's Amazing Inventions

Templar Publishing

28 page Children's Picture Book. Written and illustarted, the story follows a child and her Grandfather on an adventure of imagination as they decide upon what would be the perfect invention.

Rocket Bus to the Moon. Old people's day out. Picnic on the Moon. Children making moon castles. Richard Johnson illustrator.

Yellow Octopus Submarine. Grandpa's Amazing Inventions. Deep sea diving, fish and shells. Richard Johnson illustrator.

Who?

Spider Magazine, U.S

Illustration for a Children's magazine. 'Who?', written by Amy Imbody. Who is it walking down in the wood? (snap of a twig, crackle of leaves). The cat in my lap perks up his ears, and turns his head to see if he sees the flick of a tail, a hoof, a paw, twitch of a whisker, feathery wing...