I think that's the way to go!That's the plant for the moment: start small with a demo, see if I'm mentally cut for a project of that scale then decide accordingly!
And if I were to offer you one more bit of unsolicited advice, I'd also recommend not spending a huge amount of money until you're through/nearly through. You can always find cheap/free place holder assets that may not look great, but will at least not have wasted your life savings if you end up not finishing (or finishing and deciding, "Okay, maybe I didn't really need 5 sprites with 8 different outfits and a bunch of poses each").