My Wild & Weary Business Plan - Opinions Wanted!
(I only somewhat apologize for the title pun — I’m wired for sound today… You’ll only get it after reading the post!) Hey all! Long-time lurker turned first-time poster here. I’ve been an artist for over a decade — honestly, since middle school, and I’m 30 now. Professionally, I’ve been on-and-off for about four years leading up to 2024–2025. Life happened, then COVID happened, then life happened again… and somewhere along the way, I stopped drawing. But recently, I found a new creative outlet: writing. It started with journaling, then fanfiction (yes, I can hear the gasps already), and now I’m actively working on a book. My love for drawing hasn’t disappeared — it’s just quieter. I still doodle, imagine, and dream of pieces I’ll eventually create. Here’s where I’m at: I want to combine my love of writing and art into something unique. Ideally, I’d like it to grow into a modest side-income, but more importantly, I want it to feel authentic. My creative niches overlap nicely: - Animals & Nature - Mental Health & Disability Advocacy - The Occasional Personal Storytime My art is mostly traditional — colored pencils, pens, markers, pastel pencils, and even chalk. I’ve used digital before, but my heart belongs to the tactile feel of pencils and paper. Stylistically, I love drawing animals framed with natural, floral elements, almost like borders. And every piece has at least one rainbow detail — whether it’s the animal itself, fruit, or flowers, there’s always a rainbow touch. I just love rainbows~ The challenge? I’m a serial flip-flopper. I can’t decide whether to lean into writing or art, and I don’t want to abandon either. So I’m hoping to find ways to combine them — maybe through stories paired with illustrations, or advocacy projects that use both words and images. And yes, the name of my business will be "The Wild & The Weary." The vision is to merge the magic of animals and nature with mental health themes, while also highlighting conservation. Every animal I draw will be an endangered species, which is where the advocacy part comes in.