welcome to my website :) (insert more catchy title here), oops, did I forget to change this...

Lois Cunningham
Jul 1
4 min read

Updated: Aug 1

a lotttttt more about me...

a young black woman with mini braids holding a pink digital camera in a heart shaped mirror — yes, i own a digital camera and yes, i look good ~

Now that I have your attention, I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself. My government name is Lois Hannah Cunningham, but call me Lois. Before you bring it up, no, I do not have a Superman or Clark Kent, and no, I will not say "Peter Griffin".

Thank you ✨.

I know that I already have a pretty nice 'About Me' section, if I do say so myself, but it can't reflect all that I am. The purpose behind starting a blog, along with this updated version of my artist website, is that I want people to know the person behind the art.

First things first, I want to expand on the biography I mentioned above! I am 19, turning 20, in approximately 27 days. I have met my birthday twin (shoutout to them), and my signs are Leo🌞, Taurus🌚, and Cancer🌅; that's all I know about astrology. I attend the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and I'm a third-year student pursuing a BFA in Studio Art (concentration in drawing) and a BA in New Media (concentration in Animation), and a minor in Africana Studies. This is all very ambitious, I'm aware, but it's extremely important for what I hope to do, which I'll explain a bit more later. But I would say I'm pretty active on my campus as well. I work multiple jobs, participate in multiple leadership roles, and organizations and part of the honors program. This is reminding me to update my résumé.

What is my "why" for creating and my dream career?

As my about me page says, "When I create, I hope to inspire others to make the work they want to see in the world." I found that as I've gotten older, my philosophy for art has changed year after year and class after class. I create my work from observation, but also to preserve memories, and that goes into everything I make that relates to me in some way. It's not being "narcissistic," but it's about how I'm processing my internal and external environment.

I like that I can sit down and create something that didn't exist before, art only exists because we as people GIVE it meaning, art is nothing without meaning or an intention.

So....... how did I decide to become an Animator??

I made this choice many years ago in elementary school, and yes, it's super corny. I got my start in drawing like any other artist. I was always doodling on paper, and then one day I decided I was going to put all my time and energy into this passion, which was in 6th grade for me, and I've been drawing seriously ever since. It was around this point that I had REALLY gotten into anime, which is something I had always consumed prior because my parents are avid watchers, but I was starting to find out what I liked and what I didn't. I found a lot of comfort in not only anime but various animated projects and books, and I would silently tell myself that I want to do this one day.

So, I expressed these wishes to my mom (hello single mother gang...GNARLY) and she was like ✨no✨ and I was like oh 😭. So, I pivoted to architect and the first two years of high school I was in an engineering academy, which I was fine at but I was much better at drawing and then I got into a school called the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and that changed my trajectory, despite being a STEM high school, my experience there solidified my passion for the arts and humanities and I haven't looked back since and I'm extremely proud how far I have come.

That was a lot already, but I have more, and I'll utilize brevity. So, my future career goals are to work as an animator and dip my toes into book publishing, but I'm open to any opportunities that come my way. That's why I'm double-majoring so I can develop my technical skills, concept development, and technological abilities. How does the minor fit in? Well, I'm deeply interested in black history and, therefore, the role of the Black Diaspora in art and animation. I'm also BLACK, but if we want to get specific, I'm Jamaican American, eldest daughter of two immigrants.

The fun stuff 😈

So, we've gotten through the serious stuff now, the fun stuff is what makes me, well, me!

My interests are extensive, but they are: art, animation, TV shows and movies, video games, singing and karaoke, listening to music, reading, traveling, language learning, skincare and makeup, and the color pink 🩷.

I won't get into too much detail here about the specifics of each interest because I can just make more posts about those separately, except for the color pink, oh well.

But I do want to say that you cannot pry the WEBTOON app out of my cold, dead hands. We have been ride or dies for the last 10 YEARS. I just have to say that because the UX/UI gets worse every day, but what can I do? 💔

Wait, how am I supposed to end this? No one told me!

Looks like I've reached the end of this welcome post. It's a little chaotic, but I don't think anyone would mind, right? I just want this to be a space where I can be informal and as talkative as possible, because what can I say, I love to TALK, ask my mother.

I hope you, new reader, had a chuckle reading this because I had a lot of fun writing this. Expect to see humor and lots of emojis going forward. This is how I text everyone, and imagine me speaking like this; it's honestly pretty accurate.

Here's what I propose: subscribe so you don't miss a new post, or if you don't want your inbox to have another thing (relatable), just bookmark this website somewhere so whenever you're thinking what is Lois up to, you'll be able to find me right where you left me... on your browser.