RaiZarts
About the 2023 first-time Exposure grant:
The $5,000 grant supports RaiZArts’s efforts to expose his art to the greater anime community through artist alleys at anime conventions.
Raymont D. Youngblood, the man behind RaiZArts, is a digital freelance illustrator based in ϲʹ. He's had an eye for anime style art since he was four years old and started drawing Sonic the Hedgehog, even though at the time, he couldn't quite put a name to the style of art he was creating.
Always a dreamer, Ray has had one goal in life: To become a cartoonist. This dream has been his driving motivation, and while many children have multiple dreams and passions, Ray only ever had this one dream. Through one of his childhood character designs, he found his art name: “RaiZArts,” pronounced “Ray’s Arts,” and he started going by that name in 2016.
In 2016, RaiZArts started freelancing and in 2021 he became a full time creative. His work has included:
Commissions from Leonard Robinson (Insecure, Wild N’ Out), TeaMarrr (Insecure, Atlantic Records), RDCWorld1 (YouTube, HBO Max) and the Floyd Mayweather Gym located in the Strip District.
Working alongside ϲʹ Poet/Marvel Writer, Yona Harvey on a collaborative comic project: “Something in the Water” which was a part of the Horror Anthology, “Dead Beats Anthology.”
Appeared in ϲʹ art shows: “MindBlown: Precious Art in the City of ϲʹ,” “Writing on the Walls: Mixing the Arts of Spoken Artistry and Visual Artistry” and “BlackQ Haus Collection” (The first Black-Owned Gallery in the City of ϲʹ.
To continue his journey as a full-time artist, he participates in artist alleys, which are areas at anime conventions where artists can showcase and sell their work. RaiZArts has been accepted into the 3 Rivers Con in ϲʹ, AnimeNYC in New York, Animate Columbus in Ohio and Otakon in Washington, D.C. with more to be added to his itinerary.