Denise J Howard

Denise Howard grew up on a Missouri farm surrounded by animals and nature, drawing constantly. She earned a BA in Art and a BS in Math/Computer Science concurrently from Truman State University, and later an MS in Computer Science from Ohio State University, focused on computer graphics. She worked for several Silicon Valley companies, was one of the developers of iPhoto at Apple, and earned movie credits on Antz and the Academy Award-winnning Shrek at PDI/Dreamworks. Software engineering left little time or energy for creating art for 25+ years. Finally the urge to return to her art became too strong to ignore, so she committed to it as a second career and soon received local, national and international recognition and awards for her realist colored pencil and graphite work. Her art, and articles by and about her, have been published in several books and magazines, and she is popular as a workshop presenter. She is the author of 101 Textures in Colored Pencil (Walter Foster Publishing, 2017) and a co-author of The Complete Book of Textures for Artists (Walter Foster Publishing, 2020). She is a Ten-Year Merit Signature Member of the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA), for which she is also the president. She is a Gold Signature Member of the United Kingdom Colored Pencil Society (UKCPS). She lives in Santa Clara, California with her husband, two cats, and a garden full of native plants and hummingbirds.

Artist Statement

In a world filled with high tech gadgets and apps, I find traditional art materials more satisfying to use. The tactile, deliberate properties of paper, graphite, and colored pencil allow me to capture fine details and subtle colors. I aim to engage the viewer in a longer, closer look to learn my subject’s story or visual metaphor so they will remember it the next time they encounter it in life and appreciate more of the world around them. I am a realist, but I take liberties to create my vision of the scene.

A 2021 Article About Me and My Work

My Tree of Witness won Third Place in Artists Network's Strokes of Genius 13. Scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to read my story.


An Independent Art Blogger's Perspective

Jan Looper is a professional art blogger who publishes The Art Scene in Silicon Valley.  In April 2013 she profiled me and my work on her blog.  Here is a link to it, an independent perspective on my work and philosophy.


My Blog

Follow along on my art journey via my Wordpress blog.