It was a soldier’s life until it became an artist’s life.

Kevin A. Johnson loved to draw as a kid. From Greek gods and comic book heroes to celebrities such as Michael Jackson, he’d sketch with a pencil on the blank pages of his parents’ photo albums.

He carried that love to college, but school proved expensive. So when he saw a billboard urging people to join the Army, earn their G.I. Bill and be all they can be, Johnson took the message to heart.

Fourteen years post-military retirement, the Colorado Springs resident is a nationally known artist whose oil paintings of young Black men and women have captured the attention of private collectors, museums and galleries. Now here he sits just south of downtown in his new gallery and studio, Rogue, which he and 3D painter Trever Kadamus co-founded and opened in June.

Johnson’s works aren’t based on anyone in particular. They’re simply amalgamations of images or real-life strangers who inspire him. His subjects’ eyes often gaze stoically at the viewer or off in the distance, as butterflies and birds hover nearby or clouds roll in behind them. Bespoke shapes and designs often decorate subjects’ faces, meant to represent differing spiritual beliefs.

“You watch the evolution of his work,” says Broadmoor Galleries director Jamie Oberloh, “and it becomes more sophisticated and developed — from mastering techniques to getting his messaging out there celebrating Black culture.”

It took one career to get to the next.

“Being in the military, you had to be in charge,” Johnson says. “You couldn’t let little things sweat you. After deploying four times, you realize life is important. If you have a dream, you’ve got to make it happen.”

After deploying four times — the Gulf War, Afghanistan after 9/11 and twice to Iraq — he, his wife and their six children moved to the Springs in 2008 when he was stationed at Fort Carson.

As a food service worker, Johnson was able to use his creativity, and he never gave up art while in the military. When other soldiers discovered he could draw, they asked him to sketch family portraits. Toward the end of his service time, he was sketching the Black U.S. Army troops known as Buffalo Soldiers.

Serendipitously, while at Fort Carson, he ran into a vendor selling Black figurines made by Thomas Blackshear II, an internationally known artist revered for his portraits of Black cowboys and the American West. It was here Johnson learned that Blackshear lived in the Springs. So he opted to make a call.

“He answered the phone, which I didn’t expect, and said, ‘How may I help you?'” Johnson recalls. “I said, ‘I’m wondering if you have internships or mentorships for artists.’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘OK, well, I’m sorry for bothering you.’ He said, ‘You’re going to give up that easy?'”

The conversation led to a mentorship and friendship that exists to this day.

“He was one of few students who would always go home and work on his own. I admired that, ” Blackshear says. “He had a lot of determination, and he kept working. Next thing you know, one day I look around and he’s doing something and I say, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?'”

Leaving the military, though, did present a couple of conundrums for Johnson: What to paint now and how to get started in the Springs.

He got busy earning a bachelor’s in computer animation and striving toward a master’s in media design, while also working a government contracting job. And in what free time he had, he continued to make art and tunnel his way into the local arts scene.

“It was a little strange at first because I didn’t see a lot of Black artists in Colorado Springs,” Johnson says. “I didn’t want to paint military stuff anymore when I got out so I would visit galleries to see how I could fit in or what I could start to create.”

Things picked up a couple of years before the pandemic, when his work began trickling into shows at G44 Gallery and Cottonwood Center for the Arts. Eventually, that work made it to Auric Gallery, The Mining Exchange Gallery, Manitou Art Center and Broadmoor Galleries at The Broadmoor, which now features a large painting of football coach Deion Sanders with former University of Colorado stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders.

“He’s such an active part of the community, from exhibits to public works,” Oberloh says. “He’s not afraid to try new things.”