We recently connected with Cherry Payne and have shared our conversation below.

Cherry, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

There really wasn’t a first time, rather he artistic path chose me. For awhile when I was a kid I didn’t talk. I remembered communicating with my family by drawing pictures. I’m still shocked that they could figure out what I was trying to say through my crudely drawn pictures. You can imagine it wasn’t the best for a 7 or 8 yr old kid. Till this day I’m not sure what exactly made me mute for all those years but I knew art would have an important part of my life. I would use toothpicks to make 3D models of houses and animals and I would draw Usagi Tsukino and the other sailor scouts from Sailor Moon as my characters to help get my point across. I knew it was tough for my family but it helped and eventually I got the assistance to help me speak through speech classes.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I suppose I can start with my company, Anibé (Ani-bae) Studios. I created Anibé Studios back in Dec2020. My main focus for my studio is to create a safe space for BIPOC women and female presenting people who love creating but don’t know where to get started. With my PR background I’m able create brand ideas that can assist with standing out on and off social media.

As a one woman company at the moment, I provide and execute all of my services. These services include: children’s book illustration and editing, writing, comic/manga illustrating, storyboards, character sheets, custom designs for streamers, logos, and so much more!! I create for so many amazing content creators and businesses as well as creating my own stories and projects!

Although I’m in a great place in my career and my artistic ability it wasn’t always great. I was reconnected with Art back in March of 2018. I recently went through a very traumatic breakup and I was filled with depression and an overall lack of purpose. It was a very dark time for me I felt like a waste. A waste to myself and my family. I didn’t want to be here anymore. During this time my ex bought me many things to apologize for the mistreatment of his actions and upon those gifts were canvasses, brushes, paint, and an easel. He told me “maybe you can heal by painting” can you imagine causing someone pain and mental abuse and then say here’s something to heal from the pain I caused. Lol it was really twisted but I guess I should be happy that trauma broke my 12 yr break from art, and with that I created my first piece which was an acrylic painting of my older sister as the Orisha Goddess Yemaya. I began painting and felt like I had purpose again. With each stroke of my brush I felt my inner child scream with joy so I kept going. I went from acrylic painting to resin art and in January 2019 I lost my job and gave digital art a go. Although my first digital drawing was bad it started a new love. I combined my two favorite things in the world; art and anime. I knew this is what I was supposed to be doing. It all felt right. Ya know?

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes! My goal is to create representation in the anime industry while creating our own stories for all modes of medias. I know as a racially ambiguous Black girl I didn’t face as many hardships as my sisters would by being dark skinned. I saw how my sister struggled with her identity and I could tell at a young age things were different for us but I didn’t understand why exactly. I just knew I hated it. I saw the beauty of us our how cool we looked even though we didn’t look the same. Different shades of melanin; it’s magic. I knew the older I got that I could help out in my own way. Also, being a blerdy girl and not seeing us properly represented was always hard. So as a child I always drew myself or my sister as the main She-Ro of the anime’s I would watch. Long dark hair beautiful coco skin that’s what I wanted to see but I didn’t know I could create it seriously as a child but NOW lol it’s free game!

How did you build your audience on social media?

For a time I was struggling to get engagement and followers via instagram, which is where I started my content creating. I would create original characters and I would focus on trying to make money as an artist versus trying to create solely bc I loved it. One day I was eating pho with my friend Sophia and she said something that changed things for me as an artist. “If you love anime so much, why don’t you draw it?” Silly right? It didn’t dawn on me until then but that’s what pivoted my artistic career and creating as a whole. I started out with Sailor Moon and Yuyu Hakusho. I would draw them constantly. One day in 2022 I woke up and finally reached my 10k following milestone. I was ecstatic! Literally drawing what made ME happy is what brought traction and connections to other people who loved the same niche. So I guess what I’m saying is. Do what makes you happy and it’s okay to change direction. I went from painting to resin art to anime art and I’ve never been happier

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/anibesenpai
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Anibestudios
• Twitter: www.Twitter.com/anibesenpai
• Youtube: www.YouTube.com/anibesenpai
• Other: www.tiktok.com/anibesenpai