Aubrey Johnson (b. 2004, Dallas, Texas) is a creative producer, character designer, and 2-D concept artist working in North Texas. He graduated with an AA from Dallas College in 2022 in a dual credit program, and now anticipates to earn a BFA in Studio Arts from the University of North Texas in Fall 2026. Inspired by various 2000s animated media, Aubrey creates and uses his own characters in his work, exploring how fictional settings and stories concisely disgust life experiences and why these are engaging to an audience. Furthermore, Aubrey uses these characters to traverse the binary of fiction and reality through how fictional worlds balance complex themes such as encumberment and ease, trauma and healing, and more. His work has been featured in exhibitions such as CVAD Celebrates and Appropriated Narratives through the University of North Texas.
I've always been fascinated by how shows like Adventure Time, OK K.O.!: Let's be Heroes, Steven Universe, and more have explored complex topics through fanatical settings and characters. As such, I use these inspirations to also explore these topics through a fine art's lens with my own original characters. The main goal for my work is to showcase the events that shape my character's personalities, interests, and traumas in both a visually-pleasing and compelling way while also probing my other interests. For example, I have recently created new characters in a hypothetical animated series, Tyrone and Cocoa in 'Boundless Beetles', to explore my love for the beauty of nature through creating turnaround sheets and merchandise like shirts and charms. All of this is, somewhat, a love letter to 2000s media, and how they convey such nostalgia to myself and many others.