We were lucky to catch up with Alyssa Nicole recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Alyssa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Similar to many other creatives’ stories, I knew that art was going to be an important part of my life at a very young age. Between cartoons, video games, graphic novels and all the other mediums of visual storytelling, the motivation to create worlds and characters that were interesting and captivating was very strong. Of course, all of my interests in drawing were a bit scattered at a young age, but one moment sticks out in my mind as a pivotal moment in my art focus. I distinctly remember being age 7 and my teacher giving me a “How to draw Sonic” book during freetime at school. I became obsessed with that book. I did everything I could in class to earn more freetime and draw more. Every ‘how to draw book’ that entered the classroom would quickly enter my rotation. At home, I would fill memo pads and printer paper with practices and doodles I learned from the day.
Art also offered young me a much needed creative and emotional outlet. My father was very ill much of my childhood and passed away at a young age, and so my mother and older siblings had a great deal on their plate. Drawing helped me create worlds and characters and dive into projects that I had full control over. There was always more to learn and more to create.
In high school and college, my educational and career objectives often drifted outside creative pursuits. I had a hard time feeling confident in art as a career, and opportunities in my home state of Arizona were slim. I put my dream of video game design or animation aside. However, I still did small projects for folks here and there, such as childrens books illustrations or the occasional character commission for a Dungeons and Dragons character. It wasn’t until I was walking down Artist Alley at a comic convention at the age of 25 that it hit me, “why couldn’t this world be for me too?”. I became more serious in my pursuits for commercial work and larger projects, collaborating with other like minded folks in the TTRPG and art community as a whole. Since then, I have had the amazing experience of tabling at conventions like San Diego Comic Con, opening an online store, and working on projects I could only dream of as a kid.
Alyssa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Alyssa, though my friends call me Lala, and I love creating characters and illustration of the fantasy variety. Much of my current work is inspired by TTRPG games such as Dungeons and Dragons. I have had the great pleasure of illustrating many DnD characters and be apart of various projects set in fantasy worlds. I feel that what sets my character illustration apart from others is that I always try my best to have the character’s personality shine through as much as possible, whether it be in the design of their clothing, their expression, or posing. I always want my character illustrations to feel like real, engaging individuals that would appeal to anyone. In my illustration, my objective is to always tell a story and make an image narrtively and visually appealing through feeling and mood. I am primarily interested in working on interesting illustration and design projects of the fantasy and/or game variety.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
By far, the biggest reward I have possibly gained from being an artist is the incredibly talented and creative people I have had the pleasure of drawing for. From game designers to authors to TTRPG players, it has been an absolute joy to collaborate and bring their ideas to life. I have the great pleasure of having some of these individuals as my closest friends. The act of drawing or painting is often an isolating one, and so to have been welcomed into such an amazing community of like minded individuals has been a great gift that I am thankful for every day.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Honestly, I just focused on drawing things I was excited and felt passionate about and found communities that felt the same! Of course, the pull of social media algorithms and the desire to get a lot of traction is a common struggle for many artists. There was a period of time where I had a very strong social media focus, and I tried to keep up with as many art trends as possible. I quickly burnt out trying to keep up with it all. Managing an art business on top of my full time job in addition to being social media manager was exhausting. I had to reframe how social media was working for me, and question whether I was using social media to further my art goals, or was I using art to further my social media goals? At the end of the day, social media should be a tool to fit your goals. If you are an artist primarily looking to build your brand as an influencer, then keeping up with trends is vital, but don’t compromise your creative voice. There are plenty of individuals doing the same thing, but people will gravitate towards your uniqueness and people with genuine passion are magnetic. The audience can tell when you are drawing from the heart and will naturally engage with that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Lalalyssh.com
- Instagram: Lalalyssh
- Twitter: Lalalyssh
Image Credits
‘Omen’ belongs to Omen Pen and Paper RPG