NEW SHOP ALERT, AKA MY LATEST ENDEAVOR...
it is very well likely that I am crazy, haha.
Most days, I barely have enough time in my day to tackle my multiple to-do lists. Mom-hood, job-hood, homeschool-hood, business-building-hood – it can be a lot. And it is a wonder how I get even a fraction of the things done because if I am honest, time management and I are not always the best of friends. So why on earth would I think opening a second shop to be a genius idea? Why? PASSION! That’s why.
When I decided to branch out and open my design studio, I had no clue that I was going to take as passionately as I have to illustration. I have never been great at drawing on paper, which is why I took to Photoshop and Illustrator. So never would I imagine I would be any good at drawing in Procreate, but darn it, I was willing to give it a try – and by golly, I am not terrible at it. I also may not be stellar at it – but I certainly do enjoy it.
Anyway. Let’s get back to the point(ish). This shop has been an intense labor of love for me because I continually question my ability when it comes to illustrating at all. I am very guilty of falling down the rabbit-hole of comparing myself to the myriad of talented people I follow on Instagram – people I aspire to have even a fraction of the talent they possess. So again, why on earth am I doing this? Because if I don’t, I will always wonder. And not to mention, how will I grow if I am not willing to push myself out of my comfort zone? If I don’t test my boundaries? If I don’t just give it a whirl?
So here I am, announcing my spin-off project – Jenn Nagy Design + Illustration.
Now, bear in mind that it is all still super new, and it is still a major work-in-progress. There has been a lot of trial and error, nitpicking on my part, doing and redoing – trying to put it all together – so don’t be surprised if it is ever-changing to start, haha! Shop photos are at the top of my list to revamp. Natural light has been a beast in the good old midwest these days, and I had dreams of bright white backgrounds only to have my colors thrown off without having proper light sources. But with time running out for all of my Christmas ideas (and the excuses to talk myself out of doing this), I just had to run with it and worry about “perfecting” them later. While I love photography, I’m certainly no pro, especially not at indoor photography, so this is yet another learning curve.
I have a million ideas in my head of things I want to do, and I am trying super hard to be patient, because again, time and the lack thereof most days, but I am pretty stoked on how it is all coming together!
Every year for Christmas, I design Christmas gift tags, usually requiring a lot of layer cutting on my Cricut and a whole lot of gluing together – but illustrating gift tags never even crossed my mind – till now! These Christmas sticker gift tags were an absolute dream for me to design, and they turned out even better than I could have ever hoped (I can’t wait to start wrapping presents to use them)! P.S. After I created these cuties I decided to go a step further with these designs, but you’ll have to go to the shop to see what I am talking about (there’s a shortcut below)!
And color palettes? Me oh my, I never even thought to create them to sell. I mean, I knew I loved creating color palettes to build a cohesive brand, but most brand color palettes top out at about six colors, so to create a whopping thirty color palette, well, now this is just too fun!
And you didn’t think I would open up a shop like this and not have stickers, did you? Yep, stickers, stickers, and more stickers! I am having way too much fun with these, and my kid, who is quite obsessed with putting stickers on everything, will be stoked even if all I ever end up doing is creating for him, haha!!
Honestly, I never really thought that I would open up a shop like this, not because they aren’t so fun, but because the market is already so full of absurdly talented people who I very likely don’t even hold a candle to in comparison. And in even more honesty, I may or may not have had a breakdown today as I was working on adding listings because it dawned on me that I really don’t think I am nearly as talented as I hope I might be someday. I will forever be growing and learning and working towards becoming better than I was yesterday and better than I am today, so even if all of this is for not, it is part of that process, and for that, it will be worth it. Oh, you want even more honesty? Okay. More than all of that is that the likelihood I will ever feel like I am good enough, talented enough, or that I can hold a candle to all of the designers and illustrators I aspire to be a fraction as good as is slim – and that’s okay. I think that is just part of this thing called living a creative life. So I am choosing to remind myself that this makes me happy, whether I am good at it or not bears no real importance, I enjoy it, and so I should do it!
And while I may forever wonder what in the world I am doing, I am thrilled to see what happens! So hang out for a while and see what other fun stuff I have up my sleeve!
Thanks for listening to my ramble, and if you feel so inclined, go check it out!