The Story Behind NA.Creatives
How It All Began
My creative journey started long before I can remember, I've always loved art and making things. I used to love getting new paint or new craft supplies. In middle school, I took an art class where I learned better drawing and painting techniques. In high school, I took three years of graphic design classes, and you could say it was a love-hate relationship. I didn't like having to sit through class everyday, but I liked learning new skills.
It wasn't until my freshman year of college that I really began to miss my design classes and all the projects. My roommate encouraged me to start selling my own sticker designs so I did (kind of). At first, my vision really wasn't much, I would design maybe one or two stickers a month and list them on Redbubble. Anyway, I wasn't putting in much effort and I wasn't getting much out.
During my second year of college I started to get serious about this business idea. Although I initially started out selling stickers on Redbubble, my mindset shifted when I realized I had too many paintings and not enough walls. And I knew I was just going to keep painting. For me to even think about selling paintings of mine was a big deal because 99.9% of the pieces I create are for my eyes only, I rarely share them. So this was going to be a big leap for me and I didn't know how to take it.
So I took a baby step.
I started an art account. In August of 2018, I started an Instagram account strictly to showcase my paintings and drawings and whatever else I created. After a couple of months, I started to get ready to use ETSY. This was yet again a big step for me. I was lucky enough to have a roommate well versed in small business. She helped me get started.
By the end of October 2019, I opened up shop with about 15 listings. Selling mainly paintings and digital prints. Now I have a wider range of products like stickers, paintings, art prints and custom pieces. Since opening in October, I have done a lot of custom pieces for kid's bedrooms, family rooms, nurserys and tons of custom portraits.
I love to do what I do. I am constantly reminding myself that I started this out of a place of abundance, so when I feel like I don't have anymore to give, I take myself back to the beginning.
Every piece I create, custom or not, I have in mind of it's future owner, and I hope they will fall in love with the piece I have created just for them.