I Made £697 From Ink Scribbles I Nearly Threw Away
I want to tell you about the day I tested a new brush.
It was one of those plastic water brushes. I'd just got it in the post and I was messing around with black ink on paper. Just scribbles really. Horizontal lines. Nothing artistic. Nothing intentional.
And I thought — why not put this on Etsy?
I nearly didn't. It felt too simple. Too rough. Like something a child might do in art class. But I listed it anyway.
That sketch — those simple ink lines — has now made me £697.50. 145 people bought it.
Here's what that taught me: you cannot predict what people want. The painting you think is too simple, too rough, too throwaway — is probably someone else's perfect print.
I've sold over 10,000 prints from my kitchen table. My best sellers are never the ones I worked hardest on. They're the ones I nearly didn't list.