How To Make Money With My Illustrations
There's a common stereotype that making proficient money as an artist is nearly incommunicable. At least not while you're alive. That might have been true in the days of Vincent Van Gogh and Johannes Vermeer. But definitely not the instance in today's vibrant digital historic period when building a solid follower (and customer!) base of operations is more realistic.
So if you're a creative person, we say—congratulations! You can turn your talent into a lucrative occupation that brings y'all both fame and money. Start by because these 8 active and passive income ideas for artists.
1. Selling art on Instagram
Instagram has become the No. i social media platform for artists and art lovers. That'southward great news for offset creatives because you don't need to climb the social ladder and await for large-proper name critics to call the shots. Instead, yous tin connect with buyers beyond the globe willing to pay for your piece of work.
There's a catch, though.
It all comes downward to how many engaged followers y'all have—the more popular your Instagram business relationship, the higher the demand for your art. So if you feel like you could gather more followers, outset at that place.
We've already covered the technical side of using Instagram for boosting sales in ix simple tips. When selling art on Instagram, follow these additional tips:
- Post high-quality images
- When photographing your artwork, choose a clean background and natural light
- Stick to your unified style or brand—find a certain filter, hashtag, linguistic communication, etc. that represents you and your art
- Write artistic captions that tell a story
- Utilize relevant hashtags (that stand for to keywords representing your art)
- Write an attractive bio (information technology's the only identify where followers can click on a link)
- Mail on a regular basis (at least twice per calendar week)
Important! Whenever someone sends you a message showing interest in your work, redirect them to your sales folio or Sellfy shop.
Pros:
- By selling on Instagram, you're shooting two birds with one stone—you showcase and promote your work while guiding the buyers into your sales funnel.
Cons:
- You lot probably won't receive significant income correct abroad, particularly if your follower base is still not large.
2. Teaching art online or confront-to-confront
If you are the proactive and extrovert type of artist, finding students shouldn't be a problem. But outset, you have to establish which type of instruction volition be more suitable for you lot.
Teaching face up-to-face
If you take a closer wait, you lot'll probably find that your neighborhood offers opportunities for making some money with art. Fifty-fifty better if you take an attractive niche similar astrophotography, calligraphy, or street photography.
Some ideas on how you tin can contribute to the social life of your community while gaining experience and earning money:
- Offer painting (or whatever your specialty is) classes or one-solar day workshops to adults, kids, or high-schoolers in your local community heart
- Organize an exhibition alone or invite other artists to participate
- Offer short, interactive art workshops for corporate events and parties
- Organize "plain air" painting workshops in nature
Didactics online
Educational activity online courses can be a amend pick for reaching a wider audience. However, tutoring several people at the same fourth dimension will be much more difficult online than face up-to-face up.
Another option is to turn your pedagogy into a class of passive income. You'll accept to ready the fabric one time, and it can bring you income even for several months or years.
Some ways how you can become an online art tutor:
- Sell courses on platforms like Udemy and Skillshare
- Sell guides and tutorials on your ain website or Sellfy page (these can take any class – video tutorials, ebooks, stride-by-stride guides with images, etc.)
- Create your own YouTube channel to give weekly lessons on different techniques (we've already explained that selling tutorials on YouTube is easy equally shortly as you larn the basic principles of this process)
Pros:
- A great way of earning money doing what you lot already know – and love.
- An heady process that will as well include a lot of learning for yourself.
Cons:
- A simple guide is not going to price substantial amounts – especially if the contest is trigger-happy. To make information technology more valuable, make your guide very detailed or specialized.
- Creating a course can be complicated and time-consuming, so arm yourself with patience.
iii. Selling vector designs on Sellfy
If yous accept a knack for graphic blueprint, there'south a whole new spectrum of active and passive income types yous can make apply of.
Selling vector designs might be one of the best ways for you to make money as an creative person while realizing your creative potential.
On Sellfy, you tin sell all kinds of artworks, from illustrations, logo designs, icon packs, grapheme designs, along with diverse other types of graphics and templates. Your opportunities aren't limited to visual arts—you can also sell music online , offer ebooks, knitting patterns, etc.
The best role? Putting a production on sale takes no more than 5 minutes.
Pros:
- An effortless and quick mode to make your digital artwork available for sale.
- By offering different designs and uploading new products regularly, you can generate a steady passive income stream.
Cons:
- Putting your digital products on auction won't exist enough. You lot'll still have to marketplace them to boost sales. Luckily, the Sellfy platform offers marketing tools that help with this: email marketing, upsell, discounts, etc.
4. Applying for grants and competitions
Many international programs, local communities, or non-profit organizations offer grants for artists. The aim of these is either to back up immature artists, promote culture or address a particular trouble . Other times local institutions demand bodily pieces of art to decorate new buildings or give a prissy touch to an result.
How to apply to these programs?
Try a unproblematic online search like "grants for artists" or "creative person contests". To narrow the search downwards, you can add together your specific country, state, or urban center. You will probably discover at to the lowest degree several contests or programs that you are eligible to enter and win cash or other prizes, and the risk to show your work.
Also, be sure to follow the news on social media and your artistic or professional circles, similar the university, creative person clan, or NGO.
Pros:
- Some grants and prizes can exist substantial and thus requite you a take a chance to invest in new materials, skills, etc.
- One of the all-time ways to gain exposure and recognition for your work, every bit the participants and winners volition be mentioned in the official publications and media, seen by exhibition visitors, etc.
Cons:
- Not a constant and reliable means of income, as the grants and contests are not regular (and you lot won't always win).
five. Earning passive income by selling wall art
Painters, illustrators , designers, graphic artists, and fifty-fifty sculptors can earn coin by selling high-quality prints or copies of their piece of work.
In that location are two ways how you lot can turn your art into high-quality posters:
- Digitize your artwork with the assist of professional photography or scanning
- Use Adobe Illustrator or another graphic pattern program to create posters in a printable format
Some ideas on how to sell wall fine art:
- Sell digital copies on Sellfy leaving the printing side to the customer
- Use ane of many print-on-demand websites that will print and send the posters for you
- Offer your art to your social media followers or ready an online store on Facebook
- Fix a shop on Etsy, ane of the biggest international platforms for selling fine art and handicrafts
- Sell photos from your portfolio website
Pros:
- This type of gig makes your art available to fans who may not be able to pay for an original piece, allowing you to diversify your target audience.
- A convenient grade of passive income that can bring yous earnings for an unlimited time.
Cons:
- Modest earnings per piece mean that you lot'll have to sell many to earn a fair amount.
6. Selling other merchandise with your fine art
The easiest way to go your fine art printed on tangible products is using a impress-on-need, or drop shipping service. This blazon of service will have care of press, packaging, branding, and aircraft of your custom products to your customers. Some well-known print-on-demand services are Society6, Zazzle, and Printful.
Some merchandise y'all can sell with your art on it:
- Wedding invitations, party decorations, etc.
- Greeting cards (Christmas, Altogether, Thanksgiving, etc.)
- Diaries, journals, planners
- T-shirts, hoodies, kids clothes
- Pillowcases, towels, and other home decors
- Telephone cases, mugs, and other souvenirs or gifts
Pros:
- A pleasant and hassle-free manner to earn money is by creating a real-life product.
Cons:
- A significant cutting (~25%) of your turn a profit will go to the print-on-need service.
7. Seeking commissions for original work
Commissions are a pop strategy that many beginning artists and illustrators can employ to brand money—both online and offline.
The best place to first is by showcasing your work on your social media. Don't forget to mention in your bio that you take commissions—be information technology portraits, artistic photo sessions, or any other course of art.
With whatsoever luck, your get-go customers will spread the word, and your next clients volition approach you themselves.
Alternatively, these online platforms unite artists and people who want to commission portraits or other artwork:
- Artfinder
- Artists&Clients
- ArtCorgi
- Art Please
Not sure how much to charge?
Outset by finding people who are on a similar skill level to you, and come across what they charge. Alternatively, have your average hourly rate, multiply it by the guess number of hours needed to complete the task, and add together the price of the materials used.
Note that original work tends to sell manner college than prints, then use this as an argument when explaining the price to your customers.
Pros:
- Earning a living from selling your original work is the dream of every artist, right?
Cons:
- It can be complicated to bargain with some customers, and yous won't avert dealing with them like you would when selling your prints online.
eight. Writing an fine art blog
Information technology's true that artists are normally more into visuals than words. However, thanks to online courses and guides nowadays anyone tin can become a writer. Besides, your weblog tin can be richer in imagery than words. For instance, if you teach your readers a item painting technique, the texts will only have to support the visuals and explain the actions depicted.
So, if you don't resent writing altogether, here are some ideas for an art blog:
- Tips or tutorials on how to accomplish the all-time result in your master technique
- Reviews of new art supplies
- Opinion articles about new fine art trends and movements
- Interviews with local artists
- Reports on new exhibitions and galleries
- Tips almost freelancing as an illustrator
- Create videos showing how y'all pigment, and so share written tips nearly it
You might be wondering:
This is great, but how practise I earn money from information technology?
There are many ways to earn actress income by blogging. Some of the most pop ones are affiliate marketing, paid ads, creating commissioned reviews, and promoting your other products via your web log. Find out more about how to earn with blogging in this article.
Note! Your art blog and your portfolio are two different things. In your portfolio, yous should prove off your artwork, talk virtually yourself and mention how to order your services. However, in your art web log, you shift the focus to the reader and produce useful content nigh various topics. Portfolio and blog can be merged into i website but should have separate sections.

Pros:
- In your blog, you'll have unlimited opportunities to express yourself, share your opinion and interact with your fans.
Cons:
- Unless you treat blogging as a total-time task, you probably won't earn enough to make a living.
- Blogging can be fourth dimension-consuming and yield results simply in the long term.
9. Selling art on Etsy
Accept you been looking for a fashion to sell fine art online? Apart from Sellfy, Etsy is another selection. This marketplace gives you the chance to showcase your art to a wider target audition and take your business organisation to the next level . Hundreds of sellers have been able to make a steady income by selling on Etsy.
What makes this marketplace and so pop is that y'all can sell near anything creative and artistic:
- Jewelry and accessories
- Clothing
- Wall decor
- Visual arts
- Art & collectibles
Not simply is Etsy known as a place for finding unique handmade items, but besides for awesome digital art. Etsy'south diversity attracts different types of customers to their market, which tin can actually work in your favor.

Pros:
- Relatively easy to gear up if you don't take a website.
- Offering costless shipping can give you lot a meaning advantage—your items will rank higher.
Cons:
- Harder to stand up out among competitors. The all-time way to vanquish the tough competition and get noticed is to sell niche artwork.
- Etsy has a transaction fee of five% on each sale.
10. Selling digital art on Creative Market
While Etsy lets you sell both physical and non-physical appurtenances, Creative Market is a marketplace that is meant for selling digital art in particular. Information technology narrows down the target audience merely attracts customers specifically looking for digital assets.
Examples of what you can sell on Artistic Market:
- WordPress themes
- Prune fine art
- Stock photography
- Templates
- Fonts
- Business and premade web log logos
- Branding kits
- Lightroom presets
- Illustrations
So, if you have a knack for graphic design, why non try it out? For tips on graphic design tools, feel free to head over to our weblog post on 17 graphic pattern tools every designer should apply .

Pros:
- Easier to attain your target audience as the platform is very popular for digital art.
- Not bad and elementary seller's interface.
Cons:
- USD is the just currency, which might be inconvenient if your business organization isn't registered in the The states.
- Creative Market takes a twoscore% committee on each product sale.
xi. Selling canvas paintings on Saatchi Art
Despite the popularity of digital art on the net, fine art is still considered to have more value than digital art pieces. Why? Because traditional art cannot be easily reproduced.
Since canvas paintings are handmade, they're truly unique pieces of art. If yous're skilled with a castor, you could sell paintings to homeowners looking for timeless pieces to hang on their walls.
For example, you could endeavor selling your canvas paintings on an online venue like Saatchi Fine art. Once yous've ready up an account, yous can start promoting on social media. When a customer makes a purchase, you'll receive an email confirmation of the sale.
The next stride would be to pack the artwork, print out the shipping documents, and manus it over to the courier on the agreed choice-upwardly date.

Pros:
- You lot can create an account for costless.
- If you lot don't want to sell original pieces, you can too sell prints of your original works on Saatchi.
Cons:
- You volition exist responsible for packing and shipping your own art pieces according to the requirements of Saatchi Art.
- Saatchi takes a 30% commission on each sale.
12. Earning income with YouTube art tutorials
If packing and shipping or selling on an online marketplace is non your thing, perhaps filming art tutorials or speed painting videos is. With over a billion users, YouTube is the perfect platform for promoting your artistic talent.
Video tutorials are highly sought afterward as people love visual learning. All you need is filming equipment and a willingness to put yourself out at that place for the world to see.
To get noticed on YouTube, hither are a few steps you tin can take:
- Define your niche and target audition
- Enquiry keywords and your competitors
- Upload at least twice a week, if non more than
For filming, you can employ a smartphone, DSLR or video camera. Make certain that there's enough calorie-free in the room when y'all're filming.
Apart from art tutorials and speed painting videos, you tin also:
- Film fine art supplies reviews
- Start a vlog of your life as an artist

Pros:
- You can get an online authority and influencer in your niche.
- With loftier-quality videos, there's huge potential for gaining subscribers and becoming popular.
Cons:
- A challenge if yous're photographic camera-shy.
- Filming and editing can be quite time-consuming.
13. Selling at art fairs, conventions, or festivals
Earning money with your passion doesn't always take to exist washed online. In fact, going local tin also be a great way to sell art if you're able to connect with the right people.
Although a large percent of young people honey online shopping, some still prefer seeing items in person (such as the elderly) earlier making a purchase.
So if your neighborhood happens to be extra interactive and engaging, you're in luck. The best manner to start would be to search for local art fairs or festivals in your area.
Once you lot've registered for one, make sure you bring:
- Business cards with your brand name or logo
- Items to decorate and personalize your booth
- Ready-to-be-sold artwork or handcrafted items

Pros:
- If people love your products, your proper name volition likely bring yous local fame.
- A potential mode to increment your sales inside one day if the fair is big and attracts a lot of people.
Cons:
- Lower chances of earning if the fair doesn't get enough visitors (however, you tin still give your contact data — someone might nonetheless decide to make a purchase later).
- Your physical presence will be required for the entire duration of the fair. This could mean taking a suspension from schoolhouse or a day off from work (if you take a full-time task).
Don't sell yourself short
Your freelance art career is your adventure and a chance to pursue your dream. So even if the results aren't impressive correct away, exist patient and don't sell yourself short in the concurrently.
The gold rule is this:
Always have several incomes. That way, if 1 of the areas is experiencing problems or doesn't bring steady earnings, you can safely rely on other sources of income. Ideally, make sure that at least one of those is a source of passive income .
If you'd similar to know more ways for artists to make money and read detailed tips for earning with your artistic products, download our ebook $1000 from 1000 subscribers.
Source: https://blog.sellfy.com/how-to-make-money-as-artist/
Posted by: jonesonve1954.blogspot.com
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