We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jesse Greene a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jesse , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved all things nature and animal related. As soon as I could explore the world around me, you couldn’t keep me inside. I always wanted to find that new insect I’d never seen before or that hidden spot by the creek that no one would ever go to. From my first drawings as a child, up to now, wildlife has been my biggest influence. During high school, I began to use different shapes to create larger images of various animals. It wasn’t until my early twenties that I realized I wanted to use my drawings to help the amazing animals around us. By this point, I had honed my craft and was much better at forming animals within several shapes. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a way to create art, and also help raise funds and awareness for wildlife. With over 250 animals drawn in my style, it occurred to me that I could do something with them to educate and inspire others to respect the world’s biodiversity. In 2019 I created Shapes In Nature by turning my designs into various products, like shirts, to share stories about each animal.

Jesse , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a way to share my art, I started by having a few shirts created along with some fun animal stickers. I now have a wide variety of products ranging from shirts, sweatshirts, pins, buttons, patches, and pint glasses, as well as over 200 different animal stickers, each design hand drawn by me. There are several companies inspired by and related to wildlife but many create products focused on only popular animals. What sets me apart is that I wanted to create a way for people to own products of their favorite animals and ones they knew nothing about- to give voices to less-known animals. Each organism plays an important role in its environment, and I wanted to share those stories.

When creating a new design, I try incorporating shapes that lend themselves to the particular species. I also do my best to tie products to organizations helping these animals by donating a percentage of sales to their conservation effort. It is my goal to have every product support the amazing efforts aiding wildlife around the world.

Currently, I am working on starting a podcast called Shapes In Nature: Animal Talk, where I interview conservationists, scientists, and other experts to go in-depth about the specific animals they study. Rather than just a general overview, we aim to discuss their role in their environment, current conservation status, and even the lore behind them. I hope this will help expand the awareness I want to raise for every individual species, big and small.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is something I have always struggled with. From keeping up with videos or posts to allowing myself to open up on a platform where everyone can see has never been easy. It is something I still strive to improve. Only a few months ago I went from 5k followers to almost 20k on Tik Tok, and I am well on my way to reaching 10k on Instagram. Those may not be high numbers for some, but the amount of work to get there is something I am proud of. It was always less about gaining followers or getting more likes, and more about conquering my fears and insecurities and being willing to let go of what others may think about me. I love bugs and creepy crawlies as well as pretty much any animal. I will never hide that part of me no matter what anyone says. Through those platforms, I have gained many amazing friends and been introduced to many like-minded people. I went from dreading social media platforms to realizing how much I love sharing my passion. There will always be people that do not share your same interests, to the point of being negative towards you but understand that it has nothing to do with you and is more about their fears and insecurities. Be yourself and do what you love. Never have expectations of how you want others to respond to what you share and stay focused on what your passion is. Eventually, the right people will start noticing. Most importantly never give up. I can’t even begin to express how many times I didn’t think something was good enough or that anyone would even notice, but then that video goes viral or does well in general. Also never be too hard on yourself. Remember that no one can take away your passion and that for every negative comment, there will be ones you read that will inspire you to do better.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve talked a bit about this already, but I can never talk about it enough. My main goal for everything I do creatively and through my business is to spread awareness about the extraordinary wildlife around us. I don’t just want to show the negative aspects of what is happening in our natural world but also the good. I want to share the stories of individuals doing their best to save and protect the things they love. To show the solutions of how we can continue to respect the world around us, to let people know that you don’t have to purchase an entire fleet and sail around the world to help protect our oceans. I want to show that there are several ways to help without going above your means. Anyone can be a part of a solution rather than feeling helpless when shown what is happening to our natural world. From the stripes on a tiger to the gleaming colors of a metallic leaf beetle. Nature is beautiful, and I can only hope the generations after ours can continue to be inspired and fall in love with the spectacular world around us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shapesinnature.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shapesinnature/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shapesinnature
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shapesinnature3395
• Other: Tik Tok – https://www.tiktok.com/@shapesinnature

Image Credits
Model Shots – Lester Tsai Head shot of me – Ben Miller