Check out Nicolay Raine’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicolay Raine.

Nicolay, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
Growing up in New Jersey I started drawing when I was 4. Me and my cousin’s use to always make comic books and act the scenes out with our toys. I also started creating my own characters that I still remember till this very day. I was very inspired by characters on Dragon Ball Z as with Marvel, Capcom, Street Fighter, and Tombraider. Back when I was a kid me and my cousins came up with our very own name to our imaginary tv network for our art. When I moved to Louisiana, I stopped drawing as much due to them taking the creativity out of art. I later moved to Texas and remembered seeing my sister’s drawing and was so amazed. I wanted her to draw me and remember her telling me “ No draw yourself”! As I was left in shock, I realized she was right. The first time I started back drawing was in Dec of 2016. I could not imagine anything or even think of a face as the creativity was on overload. When I stopped drawing, I kept denying this was my talent until I had to face it. I felt like I was stressing myself out and ended up calling my sister to get some advice. She told me to keep drawing every day, and every day I’ve drawn I’ve gotten sooo much better. Now I’m working on my very first comic book and Art show. I have soo many big things I want to do with my art, and I’m really honored that I’m getting some great support.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My art is a combination of Japanese, African, and Native culture. I like my art to be mysterious and intriguing. I make comics, illustrate, and create peices soley from my imagination or my idea of how I view life. Also I love fashion, and love creating unique clothes for my characters as I want people to want to wear my characters clothing. I create off of my imagination. Some things from my art actually happened within my life some I’ve had in my dreams. I’ve always been one to daydream and vividly see what I want my world to look like. I would also lucid dream, and my dreams would take me places that were pretty creepy and some magical.

The message behind my art, for the most part, is for the viewer to be a free thinker while also opening their imaginations to different worlds. I don’t believe in limitations when it comes to art and like to be very versatile when it comes to expressing myself.

A cute fact about my art is my art name is Anyanwu chi which means Sun God in Igbo its an African language from the three largest tribes in Africa. I use to work with a lot of ethnicities from all around the world and really loved how there were African people that spoke a unique language other than, and from there I asked if they could teach me lol. I actually know of an old man who’s last name is Anyanwu and I asked him did it mean “Sun” and he said yeah how do you know that lol I told him I did a lot of learning.

The stereotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
Invest in yourself 100%. The outcome will be well worth it. Its never to late to start back drawing just never stop art. Don’t worry about the likes because everyone will be watching. Just get comfortable in your zone and do what you love. I like to learn how to do stuff my self so I don’t break the bank too often. I self-taught my self-everything I know. I don’t have an artist I would want to draw like so I just learn through trial and error and pick what works best for me.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I will be showcasing my paintings at the Raw Art show on March 19th, 2019 at the House of Blues Dallas (21+). I can also be supported by purchasing tickets to the Raw Dallas Art showcase on their website.

I will also post on my social media pages when I will have the link available to purchase my comic book both print and ebook.

Contact Info:

• Email: nicolayraine@gmail.com
• Instagram: @nicolayraine
• Other: http://www.rawartists.org/Nicolayraine

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