Creating, learning, and redefining success.

Over the last couple of years, I pushed hard to turn my brand RUFF into a full-time thing. I wanted it to be my career, my income, my main focus. When that didn’t happen, it was easy to look at the whole effort as a failure.

But it wasn’t.

RUFF didn’t fail. It revealed what actually works for me. It showed me the parts of the process that energize me, and the parts that drain me. It forced me to rethink what I want out of this brand and showed me a path that fits the way I’m wired.

And that decision naturally led me to rethink the structure of RUFF.

Realizing What Actually Works for Me

Every time I let myself experiment with new ideas, tools, and styles — I feel excited and energized. But pushing the same thing over and over stops me in my tracks. Repetition kills my momentum.

Once I saw that pattern clearly, the answer was obvious:

RUFF shouldn’t be built around maintenance.

RUFF should be built around momentum.

Not a catalog I drag behind me.

A rhythm I move through.

That shift in thinking is what led me directly to a new model.

Why I’m Moving to Monthly Drops

Instead of trying to run RUFF like a traditional product line, I’m restructuring it around monthly drops — one focused creative burst at a time.

The RUFF Sticker Club is what convinced me this rhythm fits. One design a month and the creative detours around it have actually been sustainable and enjoyable.

Monthly drops give me:

• a fresh idea to build around each month
• a clear beginning and end so I don’t burn out
• room to explore weird concepts or small experiments
• a path that matches how my brain works
• limited quantities so I don’t overproduce or overwhelm myself.

It lets the work stay fun and honest instead of forced.

My Creative Laboratory

These drops aren’t just “products.” They’re practice. The kind of repetition that builds actual skill instead of draining it.

Every drop teaches me something new:

• illustration tricks
• design decisions
• new AI tools
• making physical products
• storytelling
• managing timelines
• trusting my instincts
• finishing what I start

All of that strengthens my work as a freelance designer. RUFF is the place where I get to try things without a brief, without a client, and without rules. And that freedom has made me better at everything else I do.

RUFF has become my creative laboratory. A space to follow ideas, not force outcomes.

Redefining Failure

Trying to take RUFF full-time didn’t become the neat success story I hoped it would, but that doesn’t make it failure. Success and failure aren’t binary.

Most people never talk about this middle ground. The space between “you made it” and “you failed.” But that’s where most of the real progress happens.

I’m learning openly and building openly, because that’s the version of the story I wish I saw more often.

Drop 01

October’s drop — Halloween Mini Pet Portraits — was one of the most fun things I’ve made in a long time. It pulls directly from the stuff I grew up absorbing:

• 90s trading cards
• Goosebumps
• Garbage Pail Kids
• Magazines
• Monsters
• And of course, dogs.

I created multiple monster variations so people could choose the vibe that fit their pet. After designing them, I created product images that placed the portraits in Halloween-inspired scenes to make them feel like actual trading cards or retro collectibles.

I even made a video for the drop, channeling those over-the-top childhood commercials.

This drop was a nostalgic mix of everything that shaped my taste growing up, and it set the tone for how I want future drops to feel.

Drop 02

Sweatshirts have always been a core part of RUFF. Embroidered apparel were some of my earliest experiments. Pieces built around comfort, warmth, and that worn-in feel you reach for without thinking.

Friends and longtime RUFF supporters always tell me how attached they get to their sweatshirts. They become favorites. They carry memories. They last.

For this drop, I wanted to return to that foundation with something simple and timeless:

• A high-quality, cozy sweatshirt you actually want to wear
• An embroidered pennant, optionally customized with your pet’s name
• A vintage-style back graphic designed to age well
• An edition number printed inside the label

It’s a piece that feels personal, intentional, and rooted in what RUFF has always been about. This drop honors where RUFF started and where it’s going next.

Looking Ahead

This new rhythm feels right. One idea at a time, one drop at a time, learning as I go. RUFF grows with me now, instead of pulling me somewhere I don’t fit. It’s finally becoming the kind of project that supports my creativity instead of fighting it.

If there’s one thing this whole journey has taught me, it’s this:

Real failure isn’t falling short of your expectations.

Real failure is never starting, never following the sparks when they show up.

RUFF exists because I followed mine.

And I’m going to keep following them.