Kerry G. Johnson is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Alf ...

and

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. He specializes in caricatures but has created cartoons, illustrations and news graphic work (maps,

information graphics Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and " graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...

, feature page design) in his career in news and publication design.

Early life and education

He was born in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, Tennessee on September 30, 1966. He attended

Hillsboro Comprehensive High School Hillsboro High School is a comprehensive high school in Nashville, Tennessee. Established in 1939, the school is one of fifteen high schools in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. The school offers the IB Diploma Programme. History Hillsboro ...

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in downtown Columbus, CCA ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in Columbus, Ohio. Johnson is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. He currently resides in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

with his wife, Tawanda W. Johnson, a public relations executive along with their daughter and son.

Career

In 2005, he illustrated a coloring book for the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

about famous physicists. In 2005, he designed the official logo for the

. In May 2008, he debuted his

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

, Harambee Hills. Harambee Hills is a diverse webcomic that follows the life observations of Gerard and those of his modern African-American family, co-workers and wacky neighbors of Harambee Hills, a fictional suburban neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. The webcomic’s characters often provide commentary on pop culture, entertainment, sports and top news stories. He is the co-creator of the science-based teen superhero SPECTRA. Spectra, the main character, is also the mascot for Laserfest 2010, a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of the laser. In 2011, Johnson worked with writer Rebecca Thompson and published their third comic book, ''Spectra, The Original Laserfest'' ''Superhero,'' for the PhysicsCentral.com web site. In 2012, he worked with author Nicolle Brazil and illustrated the book ''You Can't Move an Elephant in One Day''. In August 2018, he was interviewed by

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera' ...

regarding the 50th birthday of ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and he provided commentary on the status of modern-day African-American cartoonists.

Johnson's Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson caricature

In April 2022, Kerry G. Johnson designed a digital

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...

illustration honoring Judge

Ketanji Brown Jackson Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson ( ; born September 14, 1970) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25, 20 ...

and her historic confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The popular caricature by the artist became widely shared and reproduced on the internet. Kerry G. Johnson retains the copyright to the artwork © 2022 - All Rights Reserved

List of contributions

His cartoons, illustrations and information graphics have appeared in these newspapers: *The

Nashville Banner The ''Nashville Banner'' is a defunct daily newspaper of Nashville, Tennessee, United States, which published from April 10, 1876 until February 20, 1998. The ''Banner'' was published each Monday through Friday afternoon (as well as Saturdays unti ...

(defunct newspaper) *Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) *North Hills News Record (Warrendale, PA) *Valley News Dispatch (Tarentum, PA) *

New Pittsburgh Courier The ''New Pittsburgh Courier'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned by Real Times. The newspaper is named after the original ''Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was ...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Although it transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, it rem ...

*Greensburg Tribune-Review *

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

*The Baltimore Examiner
The Los Angeles Times
*

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

*N.Y. Newsday *APS News

*The Muskegon Tribune (Michigan) Additionally, his work has appeared in magazines, web sites and other national media outlets including 60 Minutes, USA Today, KRT (Knight-Ridder Tribune Graphics) (closed), and Gannett News Service.

Awards and honors

Kerry G. Johnson has won over 20 Awards for his work in graphic design and illustration including: *2012, Graphic Design Magazine (GD USA) Award for InHouse Design *2010,

Glyph Comics Awards The Glyph Comics Awards is for the best comics made by people of color from the last calendar year. The goal is to award the People of Color for their awesome work in the comics industry and also to inspire young writers from diverse backgrounds t ...

nominated in the Rising Star category, presented by the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (

ECBACC The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC) is the Philadelphia region's first black comic book convention, bringing together hundreds of comic book, science fiction, and fantasy creators, their colleagues, and their fans. The ECBACC is ...

) *2008, first place: the National Arts Program for Illustration *2002, 2001, 1996, first place: Press Club of Western Pennsylvania’s Golden Quill Award for News Illustration *2002,

Society for News Design The Society for News Design (SND), formerly known as the Society of Newspaper Design, is an international organization for professionals working in the news sector of the media industry, specifically those involved with graphic design, illustration ...

Award of Excellence for Photo illustration *2001, judge: Pittsburgh’s 2001 ARTWorks Competition *2001, 1998, 1994, 1993, first place: Pittsburgh Black Media Federation’s Robert L. Vann Award for Feature Illustration *2000, second place: National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Heritage Award for Editorial Cartooning *1996, first place:

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

NABJ Award for Art and Design *1994, first place:

Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association is a trade group serving newspapers in Pennsylvania. The PNA seeks to "advance the business interests of Pennsylvania news media companies" and protect the "free and independent press." It represents Pennsylva ...

’s Award for Graphic Illustration He is a member of

(ΑΦΑ) fraternity, the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

(NCS), the

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers ...

(SCBWI), the

(NABJ), the

National Caricaturist Network The International Society of Caricature Artists (previously known as the National Caricaturist Network) is an international non-profit trade association founded in 1989. Its mission is to elevate the art and artists of caricature, promote the a ...

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. T ...

(AIGA) He currently lives in

with this wife, Tawanda W. Johnson, a public relations executive, along with their daughter and son.

Books

* ''Is He Still There?'' by Monet Clements (illustrator) 2020 * ''I Am Love: A Book About The Meaning of Love'' by Alero Afejuku (illustrator) 2020 * ''Little Brown Baby Nursery Rhymes'' (illustrator) 2020 * ''Believing In Myself!'' by Erica Pullen (illustrator) 2018 * ''Princess Tyler Meets the Big Storytelling Fsiry'' (illustrator) 2015 * ''You Can't Move an Elephant in One Day'' (illustrator) 2012 * ''Soap & Bubbles'' (illustrator) 2012 *''PhysicsQuest 2008
Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair
' (illustrator) 2008 *''SPECTRA #1: The American Physical Society introduces
SPECTRA
' (illustrator) 2009 *''SPECTRA #2: SPECTRA'
Power
' (illustrator) 2010 *''SPECTRA #3
SPECTRA'S Force
' (illustrator) 2011 *''SPECTRA #4
SPECTRA Heats Up!
' (illustrator) 2012 * ''SPECTRA #5
SPECTRA Turbulent Times
' (illustrator) 2013 * ''SPECTRA #6
SPECTRA'S Quantum Leap
(illustrator) 2014
Color Me Physics Coloring Book, First Edition
Illustrated by Kerry G. Johnson; text by Alan Chodos, PhD, Jessica Clark, PhD and Kendra Rand (2007)

References

External links

* *
Baltimore Sun: Kerry G. Johnson, illustrator
- comments on Columbia, MD's 50th anniversary.

Listed as notable alumni of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

*The National Arts Progra
Color Me Physics Coloring Book
Illustrated by Kerry G. Johnson; text by Alan Chodos, PhD, Jessica Clark, PhD and Kendra Rand]
Comixpedia.com: About Kerry G. Johnson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Kerry G. American caricaturists African-American comics creators American comics creators American graphic designers African-American illustrators American comic strip cartoonists People from Nashville, Tennessee People from Columbia, Maryland American male writers 1966 births Living people Ohio State University alumni American webcomic creators Columbus College of Art and Design alumni Pittsburgh Tribune-Review people Chicago Tribune people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people African-American male writers