Life & Work with Elijah Isaiah Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elijah Isaiah Johnson.

Hi Elijah Isaiah, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always been involved with the arts in some form and format. I started out super young as a child actor along with my brother who was a few years older than me; eventually got very much into drawing, painting with our dad when he had the time, watching cartoons and just absorbing everything creative that a child would in the mid to late 90s.

Even though we grew up pretty poor–we were displaced on one occasion and properly homeless on another–we were always very creative and were surrounded by music and art and things of that nature. It was a bonus that my mother is from Ghana and we grew up listening to everything from African High Life music to American Gospel to R&B and Classical, while my father, while a professional singer, was also a painter and muralist who had a scholarship with the Art Institute of Chicago in his early teens. So no matter what the dynamics were with the two of them at home or apart, I got the chance to really bask in that energy, which informed a lot of my own artistic sensibilities I think.

It’s funny because my brother and I started off doing our own original stories first, and then we pivoted to fan fiction, and then back. I started taking my first serious commissions when I was around 13 or 14 years of age for something like $25 back then in 2008-2009, and I’ll always be eternally grateful for the people who believed in my enough to grab those. I have to give it to myself that even in the times where the quality wasn’t the best, my work ethic was always super solid and I think that translated with the customers.

I kept going down the path and pivoting and expanding and eventually moved into card/tabletop games, then Film and TV, which is where I’m at with it now.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think there is a such thing as a smooth road–I haven’t seen it, but I’d be happy to try one out at least once!

The biggest struggles, especially in the beginning stages were primarily all financial. Getting clients was one challenge and then getting those jobs that paid what you knew you were really worth was another challenge. Of course, that’s all a part of having business acumen–paying dues, if you will. Eventually the script flips and now you’re getting good offers, frequent offers, but now you don’t have the time.

That’s when you have to start delegating and building a team–and not even in a cocky-sounding way–just a set of people you can trust to bring aboard a project you’re on who can fill all the roles you don’t have to and you can reclaim your time. That’s your most valuable asset at the end of the day after all.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m Elijah Isaiah Johnson professionally on paper; my ‘brand’ is “Art by Atlas,” a name I’ve used for over a decade, and when people ask, I always just give them the short answer “I do VFX and Animation for Film and TV.” Not because that’s all I do, but it just saves time.

I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to do VFX/Motion Graphics for some outstanding projects like Showtime/MTV’s Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later (which just recently won the Glaad Award for Best Documentary), I’ve been lucky (a word I don’t use lightly) to have my art selected in art exhibitions overseas–the last one was in Berlin, Germany last September, the next one is slated for South Korea in January of 2025–things like that.

I think the common thread between all of those is the execution, the vision. End of the day, that’s why any client chooses you: YOUR ideas and how you flesh them out. When people present me with ideas I rarely say it can’t be done, my first though is usually “how” can I do it, and the gears start turning; nothing is off limits as far as production tools as long as it produces the look or captures the feel the clients and myself can be excited about. And that’s something I think people are happy to pay for.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
It’s so many people who I have to thank for being a part of my success: I always say I’m surrounded by the best people. My friends Saumya and Ashley, who have been networking goddesses and have put me in touch with so many people–directly and indirectly–who have put me in touch with other people that put me in place with some of the best opportunities in my history. My friend Hugo–the guy’s an absolute superhero with his creativity, generosity and consistency; when they say you need friends who mention your name in important rooms around important people, he’s that guy for me.

My friend Emmanuel, for always being extremely practical but also extremely helpful, because practical people can be jaded, but he’s never been like that; when he gives you advice or critique it’s because he knows you can succeed, and that’s translated into so many different aspects. The late, great Jesus Garber, rest his soul. He’d worked with people like Janet Jackson and many other big-time Motown-ers, and how my brother and I got in touch with him a decade or so ago is a story for another day, but he’s the one who convinced us to really take our music careers more seriously and get everything set up professionally and legally and that’s opened up a lot of doors of its own.

Needless to say, my brother most importantly, and my mother and father are pivotal in my growth and development as an artist as well, for all the obvious reasons.

Contact Info:

• Website: artbyatlas.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbyatlas/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ArtbyAtlas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-johnson-ab3443244/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/randomutubejunk

Image Credits
Matt Lee Morgan Christina Cannarella