A selection of illustrations. Alexis enjoys incorporating carnivore skulls, gigantism, and a touch of the fantastical in their art.
A reinterpretation of an older piece, found in Giants. March 2024
Self portrait, October 2019
Children playing on a giant bear skull at night. December 2019
Kintsurigi inspired illustration. Black pen, gold ink, and cleaned up digitally. March 2020
October 2018 line art, colored that winter to display it at Sencha Tea Bar at Mall of America in May 2019.
Giantess on a snowy rural highway. February 2020
Giant framed by an eclipse. December 2019
Linoleum block printing endeavors. A new medium to Alexis, they are enjoying playing with line weight and textures, and falling in love with illustration all over again.
Interpretation of Sen from Princess Mononoke, by Studio Ghibli. August 2023
Interpretation of a scene from Howl’s Moving Castle, by Studio Ghibli. June 2023
Gran Mamare from Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo. August 2023
Roshamberg is a rock-paper-scissor inspired card game developed by Alexis Johnson and Zara Storch. Alexis and Zara came up with character concepts together (the barmaid, the plague doctor, the orc who decided to become a businessman, etc), while Alexis brought the characters to life with 24 unique character designs and corresponding card illustrations. Zara developed the game mechanics, as well as the formatting and printing of the cards. Game development was completed in about six months.
You can get the game here https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/the-town-of-roshamberg
Sample of printed cards from the game, featuring each class- Dense, Flexible, and Sharp
Event card featuring Esther the butcher and Tahg Ragkar, The Business Orc
Event card Lend a Hand, featuring two witch characters. Rebekkah, who can breathe life into items, and Merna, an herbalist and potion maker
The resident plague doctor, the bird mask is just his face. His sense of reality is significantly twisted, and his more abstract card art reflects that.
Embroidered pieces. What started as a pandemic hobby has grown into ten (and counting!) detailed pieces interpreting classic scenes from Studio Ghibli movies. Each piece typically take one to six months, often working between other projects.
All current pieces displayed together
Interpretation of a scene in Howl’s Moving Castle, by Studio Ghibli. 9” x 5” hoop. March 2023.
Interpretation of a scene from Kiki’s Delivery Service, by Studio Ghlibi. 5” hoop. May 2023
Interpretation of a scene from Porco Rosso by Studio Ghibli. 6” hoop. July 2022.
Interpretation of a scene from Kiki’s Delivery Service, by Studio Ghibli. 4” hoop. December 2022.
Interpretation of a scene from Porco Rosso, by Studio Ghibli. 5” hoop. October 2022.
Interpretation of a scene from Ponyo, by Studio Ghibli. There is another interpretation of this scene in the Printmaking page. 5” hoop. February 2022
Interpretation of a scene from Ponyo, by Studio Ghibli. 5” hoop September 2021
Interpretation of a scene from Howl’s Moving Castle, by Studio Ghibli. 6” hoop. June 2021.
Interpretation of a scene from Howl’s Moving Castle, by Studio Ghibli. 5” hoop. October 2020.
Interpretation of a scene from Howl’s Moving Castle. My first original embroidery piece, and very much a pandemic project. Only six days of non-stop embroidery. 5” hoop. September 14 to September 20, 2020.
Inspired by the completion of their Roshamberg card game, Alexis and Zara decided to continue the Roshamberg universe in a 2D sidescroller video game. The center of the video game is the town of Roshamberg, and many characters from the card game live and make appearances here.
The design and format of the town center is a heavy feat Alexis took upon themself. They wanted it to mimic a town square, but it needed to be navigable on a two dimensional plane. Alexis settled on a circular, looping design, with multiple exits for the different plot branches in the game. There are three exits, alternating with three points of interest, and between them are various stores.
Once Zara and Alexis decided which stores would be necessary for plot and aesthetic reasons, it was time to design each building. A major design hurdle was perspective. How to create depth in a relatively flat medium? Alexis settled on alternating one and two point perspective. The gates and points of interests would have one point perspective— emphasizing their importance and imposingness— while the buildings between them would bridge the gap, sharing the perspective points between them, and adding depth and realism to the world. Admittedly, there are some awkward points; square buildings look pentagonal, or two buildings next to each other have different vanishing points. But the overall appearance isn’t obtrusive, and the scale the player experiences should obscure the illusion.
A significan portion of the town, spanning one entire gate to the next one, and the buildings in between. Sprites of Neri included for scale. The buildings are the Northwest gate, the stables/post, the apothecary, the inn, the general store, and the Northeast gate.
A different view of the town, zoomed in how the player would experiene it. Neri is in front of the tailor shop, next to the South gate. at the edges of the screen are Business Orc’s shop to the left, and the bounty hunter office to the right
Zoomed in image of Neri next to her home, the Smithy.
Rough sketch of the design concept.
Work in progress image from early on in the process. The gate and the inn are fleshed out, and the buildings between them are being designed, including placement and distance from points of interest.
Color planning sheet. This was useful for keeping a consistent color palette without having the same colors toughing too much. The same file was used for planning shadow placement and consistent lighting.
Asset for the Smithy, the main character’s home
Asset for the Inn, one of the main points of interest. The player can talk to characters, get quests, and learn information at this location
Asset for the Butcher. This building is occupied by Esther, featured in one of the cards in the card game section of this portfolio. The soft purple of the building matches her dress, and the plaster is a bit whiter like her apron. Much like the building’s inhabitant, it looks soft and cozy, despite a gruesomeness within.
Zoomed in asset for the south gate, to display vine details
Zoomed in asset for the Northeast gate, to display rock details. This was the first completed asset, and set the tone for the rest of the assets
Ongoing series of drawings of giant women in nature. Common themes of taking up space, non sexual gaze, and occasionally being creepy or awe-inspiring