hello!

Lets start from the beginning.

If you don't know who I am, my name is Millie and I currently live in Hampshire in the UK where I draw all of my artworks with my gorgeous yorkshire terrier, Alfie. 

However, life was pretty different a few years ago, to where I am now. In 2016, all of my friends left school and went to university (and I mean all of them, even my boyfriend). I was thrown into the adult world and it was scary. I was on the job hunt and ended up working 2 jobs (at the cinema and at a gym reception, an absolute classic case of a girl that did not know what to do with her life). Wherever I could, I would help design some posters for around the gym (always with a bit of colour - of course!). The rest of the time I would sit there questioning my existence, especially as I hate the gym and couldn't run for longer than 5 minutes without needing to sit down.

I realised that if I wanted to upgrade my rubbish car, I might need to get a better job. I found myself working in a mortgage brokers as a PA and learnt so much about finance, admin, systems (and surprisingly, friendships). This learning I did is still valuable to me to this day... I know an awful lot about mortgages and you would be surprised how much this comes in handy! Here I met some girls the same age as me, trying to find out who they were and who they wanted to be. After sitting in my car eating my lunch alone for a few weeks, I finally made some friends. 

Although I enjoyed it here, the girls started to realise they wanted to move up and get qualified, I realised I did not. Instead, I helped design some Christmas decorations for our work Christmas party and entered a festive card competition in our local area. I had been doing some silly sketches on my ipad and it was a bit of fun! Me and my friend Aimee were sitting eating our lunch when I had an email to say I won the competition and that my card would be sent to the queen. I did not think it then, but this was a turning point for me. 

Fast forward, still drawing on my ipad... I wanted a change. I decided to quit this job and I had found another finance role elsewhere. This one was more money. My first day in the office, I hit a deer on my way into work. Absolutely distraught! 2nd month into working here we heard rumours... oh yes... this is when covid hit.

Now I wont bore you with the same story everyone else has. Working from home, stuck inside, face masks. BUT I will always cherish this time as I got to spend every day with my mum. She was also working from home and after having just moved house, we loved spending every day together. Eating lunch on the sofa, walking our yorkie and sitting in the garden in that oh-so-hot summer. 

I started feeing quite anxious with what was going on in the world, so I naturally turned to a creative side of myself. When I was little, creative things would make me feel calm and focused and I can say the same thing now. I used to draw in my lunch breaks and stay up until 2am finishing a piece. I would draw before I started work. I began posting on Instagram as I found a community of illustrators. At first this was just silly doodles, or seasonal things and then it turned into more travel inspired artwork (which felt funny as we were not allowed to travel!).

Soon after this, I saved up and bought a printer and set up my own Etsy shop. I listed some rather random prints and my first sale was from a friend. I kept adding to my shop every time I drew a new art piece and I slowly began to see sales trickle through. I would promote myself on Instagram and started to work with some brands. This was honestly a dream come true for me, how am I making money from this? Some months it was more than my corporate wage. I couldn't believe it.

After selling just prints, I branched out and sold paint by number kits, cards, mini prints, hair scrunchies (which people still message me about to this day) & more. This took so much effort and working late nights but the rewards were worth it.

After consistently posting and finding my style, my followers began to grow... 2k, 5k, 10k to 50k.... and so on. I want to preface by saying that this was not overnight growth and this was not luck. This was me working hard. No one will tell you this but being consistent is the key to all. 

My job was getting a bit boring, not because there wasn't anything to do (as there always was). Mainly because my brain was elsewhere. All I wanted to do was draw. After some long conversations with my mum, I decided I would ask to drop a day. Friday would be my day to do my small business. It got approved and I was so excited. 

Fast forward a year or so and I managed to save up enough money for my half of the deposit for our now home (our flat). This money all came from my business and I am so proud of that. My boyfriend & I were both working from home in our new flat and after the newness died down, I was back to feeling a little disappointed. I wanted to do art full time. I was so unhappy in the corporate job but was so scared to leave my safety net and take a full jump. I asked to drop another day and was told no. 

This no made me think... actually hell yes. I need to leave and pursue what I want. One thing about me is I don't like being told what to do. Good or bad trait? you decide. The truth is, I was making enough money each month to pay my bills, I had saved a bit of an emergency fund and if things went bad, I could find a part time job to help. 

So I did it & I left my secure job to fulfill a whirlwind illustration dream. Being able to work on my business full time was rather strange and came with a whole load of productivity problems... you mean, I have to create my own to-do list and actually do it otherwise I won't get paid? Yes. However, this big dream turned into reality and I have watered it every day since.

I have really found my style in this huge world of artists. I hope that when people see my art, they recognise its me. I realised that I want to tell a story with my art so I started adding characters into my seasonal illustrations. I want everyone to remember that we are never too old to find the magic in life and never too old to have fun with art. I have worked with so many incredible brands, travelled to beautiful places, created lots of collections and products that I am very proud of. 

Since this day, I have had so many amazing opportunities that are all because I took a risk. Sometimes I think, is it actually a risk if its your own life? To me, this choice was an easy one as I will always follow my heart. You can never go wrong if you heart tells you its right. 

Millie x