Erin Johnson, Artist / Musician / Filmmaker
Erin Johnson is a multi-talented content creator, artist and musical performer, a special visionary among MALIBUGIVES Sponsored Artists. To help support Erin's work, contact us or donate.
Erin is a multimedia artist, writer, music video director, video editor, script consultant and recording artist at the piano/keyboards.
We had a special opportunity to interview Erin about his creative endeavors.
Describe your creative background and influences.
I started drawing from a young age, the kid who just kept going, rather than shelving art as ‘child’s play’, having encouragement from my elders. Realizing very early on the infinitude of the blank page as the basis for entire universes of creation, I’m constantly inspired. Musically, I took classical piano lessons from age 9-13 and began honing my lead improvisational skills with professional rock musicians 3x my age in my teens. In that era, I professionally penciled and inked graphic novel backgrounds and characters during my teens, further honing my techniques.
My influences include a wide spectrum from The Beatles, David Lynch, Hitchcock, Lionel Hampton, Stan Lee, Frazetta, Bosch, Kubrick, and so many more!
My art portfolio landed me an offer to attend the prestigious Ringling College of Art & Design. I was eventually awarded multiple scholarships & grants, enabling me to earn the first Bachelors Degree in my family. While there, I honed my digital and traditional art skills for visual development, digital film and more. After graduation, I created murals, video production for clients like The Dali (Salvador Dali Museum) and dove deeper into digital painting, Zbrush, and my film and entertainment IP content projects.
Where are you from and what brought you to California?
Shortly after I graduated, a number of people in the music and film industry urged me to relocate to CA. It was time for me to trust my intuition and answer California’s call, in order to be in the heart of the entertainment industry. I packed up and headed across the country as soon as I could, finally arriving in LA on a warm Christmas Eve.
What is special about Malibu to you?
Malibu is special to me for it’s natural environment, diverse terrain, and the sense that anything creative can happen here. It’s an excellent and diverse community that is more than meets the eye. Before and after the fire, I took hundreds of photos with my Canon 7D. It also has a biome all its own, Point Dume is pretty windy.
How do you come up with your ideas?
All my life people have described me as “creative”, and are often surprised with and entranced by the content I come up with. Some say everything has been done before, though I don’t think so. While everyone is inspired by something and one can riff off their influences, not everything has been done.
Ideas come from everywhere for me, scenes, a play on words, a simple piano line develops into a whole song. I keep paper and a writing utensil near my bed. Sometimes I have lucid dreams which are entire opening sequences of shows, or episodes, complete with titles, voice overs and theme music. I like to daydream, and impressions or character nuances, names or scenarios will pop into my head.Scenes, atmospheres come naturally to me, and filling out the details of a scene can be rapid fire idea-wise. It’s all flexible. I don’t force ideas. They can be nurtured and evolve at the right moments. It’s serendipitous.
What are your goals and visions for your creative work?
I love mutually beneficial collaborations, and am currently focused on getting the right eyes on my original content/works.
I am fond of creating work which illuminates the mind, inspires and uplifts humanity and the natural world. It is important for an artist to follow genuine inspiration, rather than current trends. Creating things which are universal and timeless is a goal, and I am always learning, growing and pushing my abilities to new levels.
We look forward to seeing more of Erin's evolution and growth as an artist and original creative voice. He is an exceptional talent and visionary, who is rare to encounter.
Erin's art portfolio and music can be found at the links below: