Hi.

My name’s Aftyn, and I’m the artist, illustrator, and author behind Rise + Wander.

I started telling stories before I understood what I was doing. Early on, this meant coercing cousins into elaborate imaginary worlds and leading friends in make-believe adventures. But I also filled notebooks with the odd little dramas unfolding in my head, because writing was another way to play pretend—a way that made daydreams solid enough to share.

I never wondered if I would be a storyteller. The only surprise has been discovering how many shapes a story can take.

Today, they find their way into blockprints, paintings, dip pen illustrations, zines, and novels-in-progress. My work is shaped by my love of the outdoors, as well as folklore and a lifelong belief in enchanted places. Over time, my different mediums have become part of the same conversation, each one deepening the others and influencing what I’m drawn to make next.

Creativity had always had a place in my life, but it wasn’t until a life-changing car accident and the long process of healing from a severe traumatic brain injury that it became something closer to a lifeline. In those first years, I was encouraged to get outside and keep my hands busy, which led to a lot of hiking and carving linoleum blocks. Nature and the act of creating have been inseparable ever since.

I work from a sunny home studio in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan, where I hike and rock climb with my family and our dog River, and I remain highly susceptible to wonder.