By Virginia M. Wright
Photos courtesy of Alysa Avery
From our May 2020 issue
As a kid, Alysa Avery loved superheroes, horror stories, and Dungeons & Dragons. Now 31, she still does. The Lewiston fan artist illustrated the box and cards for the indie board game Cauldron: Boil and Bubble and specializes in D&D imagery, which she sells as prints and on mugs, tote bags, cell-phone cases, and enamel pins (her top-selling design declares “Roll Like a Girl” next to a pink, 20-sided die in a flower bouquet). Of late, she’s made her first foray into comic-book illustration, on the web series Night Is Falling (the first chapter is also available in print).
Bucksport bloodsucksers. “The main characters of Night Is Falling are two kids who move from New York to a small Maine town, which just happens to be plagued by vampires. The town is based on Bucksport, where co-creators Karen and Barry Dodd grew up. Fort Knox plays a huge part in the story.”
Under Maine’s spell. “Maine’s got a mystical quality. I take a lot of walks in the woods, and much of the fantasy genre is set in the woods.”
IRL inspiration. “The fantasy genre comes mostly from the imagination, but there’s often a bit of my childhood in Sebago in my work. I like to do illustrations that are based in reality but have a twist.”
See more of Alysa’s work at alysaavery.com.
