It’s been a wild 4 years. Well actually, it’s been a quiet 4 years with a little spike of activity around 2021. You’ll notice a lot of creatives close their doors over the festive period. However, I wanted to be ahead of the curve and shut my shop completely!

I feel as though I should rephrase this. I didn’t want to close my shop but the little voice of doubt has been increasing in volume for quite some time now.

Of course I had to make a brief video to explain myself (my last video was posted in August so you can see how things have been hard to maintain by just checking any of my socials)

I toyed with the idea of using a miserable expression for the thumbnail of the video (youtube baiting?) but it just wouldn’t have been honest. I’ve pushed down the thought of closing my online shop several times. Each time the thought came up, I already wasn’t feeling positively about myself in general (so to act on the impulse of closing it felt really irrational)

Just because I’m closing it next Monday (9th Dec 2024) doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. I’m enjoying participating in art markets and getting a feel for which artworks of mine people gravitate towards. I’ve also met plenty of fellow illustrators and dino-enthusiasts through doing it. These things are just as valuable to me.

If we want to get into specifics, I made more GBP this year doing art markets than I did from my online store’s best year (2021). Each came with their own expenses of course, but something about in-person events feel extremely fulfilling.

I hope you aren’t too disappointed, especially if you live outside of the UK and can’t visit me at an art market! Just know that I’m still online and the shop isn’t on a boyband-esque hiatus xo

- Phoebe

<3