Back in 2018, Lauren revealed to Alexa Tietjen of WWD, “I always felt embarrassed to say I’m an artist because there’s a lot of negative connotation to saying that nowadays as a Millennial,” she says. “People thought it was weird growing up that I liked video games, fantasy, anime. Now everyone’s giving me a good response.” (wwd.com) It was difficult enough juggling how to identify herself as a Chinese-American, but even more so when garnering interests that felt alien to those around her.

She cites Studio Ghibli and Laika Studios as her main inspiration for her artwork, but also incorporates whatever her feelings or struggles are at the time into her sketches. Her "pop-surrealism" has the brevity and awe-factor of a seasoned artist despite never having made it to art school and barely having just reaching legal drinking age in the states. It's no wonder fans scramble to order her work on her site that often is only limited to 24-hour selling windows. Her first sketchbook 'It's All For You' released earlier this year completely sold out in both English and Japanese with few copies circulating the internet even several months later. 

 Being cast on Legion was a pleasant surprise to most, considering it never dawned on me or likely anyone else that Lauren had a desire to act. The FX series does perfectly play into the fantasy and unreal themes of her illustrations, however. Legion falls in line with the X-Men films while taking on darker variations more fitting for the network, but still following the basic plotlines of mutants with superpowers. Lauren's portrayal as the time-traveling Switch (Jia-Yi) led to her getting an offer for Amy Poehler's Netflix adaptation of Moxie, a novel written by Jennifer Mathieu about a Texan teen who fires off a feminist revolution in her small town.

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UNREAL, made in collaboration with @medicom_toy and @3dretro will be debuting at Designer Con on 11/22! I’ll be at the Medicom booth from 1-3 PM son Sunday, 11/24. I hope to meet you then :) X I’ve been drawing this dragon since I was a little kid. It has grown, changed colors and faces, and collected new parts over time. This character is close to my heart because it brings me back to how free my mind felt to dream when I first started drawing it. I’m thrilled to see it come to life now, I hope it can bring you the same kinds of feelings too. 🖤

A post shared by lauren tsai (@laurentsai) on Nov 18, 2019 at 4:24pm PST

With more acting projects on the horizon, a plethora of designs to produce (including that sick sculpture she created pictured above), and dozens of fashion-related bookings, it's a wonder how Lauren stays sane, humble, and ridiculously beautiful. For more of her content, you can follow her on Instagram (or her art-specific Instagram here), Twitter, and her personal website. We'll be rooting for your passions, Miss Tsai.