Monet Alyssa

Monet Alyssa is a freelance illustrator from Buffalo, New York. Her work combines digital and traditional media to create psychedelic and colorful motifs to adorn her dream-like figures.

She is a graduate of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and went on to graduate with her BFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2019. She has been working as a professional illustrator in the city of Buffalo since 2020. Her work has been featured in the Society of Illustrators Student Exhibition 2019, 2020, and Communication Arts Annual 2021. She has collaborated with the likes of Adult Swim, the Burchfield Penney, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Harper Collins Publishing, Macmillan Publishing, and Sarah Simone.

Alyssa's primary inspirations come from women, fashion, music, and nature. While exploring and combining these interests within her illustrations, she also enjoys exploring concepts dealing with our relationship with technology, with each other, and with ourselves.

While making her pieces, Alyssa begins with sketches and will often craft up mood boards in order to organize her thoughts. This is an important stage for her creative process and ability to decipher each work's color palettes and subject matter. “I have a morning routine,” she explains. “It helps me focus and keep myself on task as a freelancer, as I am often working out of my studio at home.” Music plays a big part in this, which tends to be blaring in the background as she draws. “That’s when I’m most effective and in tune with myself,” she shares. Each piece takes Alyssa around 70 hours to complete, which includes conceptualization.

In the fall of 2022, she illustrated a commemorative poster for the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s COLTRANE jazz festival. When speaking on her creative process for this artwork, Alyssa stated, “I have the most fun when I have the opportunity to do a portrait of a musician as a music lover; I get to sit down and listen to them as I draw and it’s almost like I channel their energy and style into a piece directly inspired by them and their music.”