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Die-Hard Gamer Girl

Fan artist Alysa Avery creates a world of centaurs, demons, and fairies.

cell-phone case by Alysa Avery
By Virginia M. Wright
Photographs courtesy of Alysa Avery

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).

"Roll Like a Girl" mug by Alysa Avery

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.