Meet Joy Alicia Raines | Artist & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joy Alicia Raines and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joy Alicia, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Art, and making art, has been the most important thing to me throughout my life. As soon as I realized it was feasible to have an artistic career — however challenging and rare it may be — I knew I needed to pursue it. I’ve always been very moved by stories, illustrations, graphic novels, and I wanted to be able to tell my own stories through drawings.

While I am still early in my artistic career, every small win is another step in the right direction. It takes time to build a business of what you love, but I am fortunate to have a day job that provides stability while I establish myself.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I write and illustrate stories. I’m most interested in non-traditional forms of storytelling and comics, which are not confined by panels and often include illustrations weaving through the writing.

I am most excited about my two book manuscripts that I recently had reviewed at the Atlanta Writer’s Conference. One is a poetry book about the earth acting as a vessel to express human emotions, which uses illustrations to break stanzas across pages, allowing the reader to associate a particular set of stanzas with an image.

The other manuscript is a fiction book, set as a collection of vignettes, about New York as a home. It is a coming-of-age story with heavy themes of loneliness, female friendships, and the idea of belonging. Everything in the story takes place while walking through NYC neighborhoods.

Outside of editing and working on my two manuscripts, I am writing short, slice-of-life comics, sharing my poetry via Instagram, and selling my zines and illustrations on my Etsy. I was recently published by 7×7.la, and I was very excited to work on that project! (http://7×7.la/witchs-cut/)

My art is currently my night job, my side hustle. As my day job, I work as a graphic designer for a company that runs assisted livings and breweries. I know it takes a long time to build a career and accomplish all the little dreams I have for myself and for my work. But I think that putting the work in day-by-day is all anyone can really do. Thankfully I have a group of art friends I can confide in, a boyfriend I can ramble all my art thoughts to, and parents that tell me I’m on the right track. And I really think I’m on the right track, however long the path may be.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I just moved to Atlanta in June of 2020, so I am still pretty new to the city! I have an “Atlanta To-Do List” on my phone, with all hiking, museum, brewery, food, coffee suggestions that anyone gives me! Slowly checking those off.

My favorite Atlanta to-do’s are: the Botanical Gardens, Dancing Goats in Decatur, shooting the hooch, Victory Sandwich Bar, and Leon’s Full Service.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to shoutout my momma, Rebekke Miller! She supported me when I moved across the country to New York for art school, and has continued to be a voice of reason and strength through the process of building my career. She’s also just a total badass woman that I look up to in every aspect of life.

Website: joyaliciaraines.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyaliciaraines/?hl=en

Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/joyaliciaraines?ref=search_shop_redirect