How You Can Make Money Being an Artist

How To Make Money With Art Skills

Many artists have built a thriving business by taking advantage of different revenue streams relating to their art business goals. 

Most artists can not make a career just by selling original paintings.

Luckily the internet has provided multiple ways for artists to generate an income.

Your unique business goals will determine how many different monetizing strategies you will need to implement.

There are so many ways artists can supplement their income that everyone can find jobs they enjoy and feel comfortable doing. 

For example, maybe standing in front of a video camera makes you uncomfortable, but writing an eBook explaining your art techniques comes naturally.

Instead of forcing yourself to do things you will not excel at, find jobs you look forward to every day. 

Keep in mind that whatever you decide to do is an addition to your artist brand and before you dive into a project, make sure that it compliments your art goals.

Let’s review some different ways you can make money as an artist.

Sell Original Art

The first way is obvious, but it needs to be mentioned.

Selling your original art should be one of your primary income sources if you start an art business.

Selling drawings and paintings has never been easier. Uploading your art to a website builder and promoting your art worldwide is one of the best ways to sell your artwork.

To read more about different platforms, you can sell your art on, visit 15 Places To Sell Art Online And Make Money.

To read more about selling art online, visit Sell Art Online Startup.

Other Ways Artists Can Sell Original Art:

• Local Craft Fairs
• Local Galleries
• Open Studio Events

Sell Art Prints

Besides selling original artwork, selling the original reproductions is an excellent way to earn money from work you have already completed. 

The types of prints artists offer are fine art prints and giclee prints. 

You will have the choice of selling limited edition prints, which are more valuable, or open edition prints, which means you can sell an unlimited amount.

To read more, visit How To Sell Limited Edition Art Prints.

Selling art prints will allow you to market your artwork to a broader audience.

Many people are passionate about art but can not afford to invest in a high-priced original painting.

Offering your art reproduction will make it more affordable for people who want to display your art on their walls but can not afford an original painting.

Related Post – Large Format Printing: Everything You Need To Know

How To Make Art Prints

There are three ways you can make prints of your art.

• Purchase a printer and print them at home.

High-Quality Printers For Visual Artists:

• Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wide-format Printer
• HP ENVY 5055 Wireless All-in-One Photo Printer
• Epson SureColor P800 Printer
• HP ENVY Photo 7855 All-in-One Wireless Photo Printer

• Sell prints on print-on-demand platforms like Printful.

To read more, visit POD Sites: How To Increase Your Art Sales.

• Have prints done by local printing services.

To read more, visit How To Sell Art Prints Online And Make Money.

Sell Prints On Merchandise

Another way to earn extra income from a painting already sold is to sell prints of your art on merchandise like shirts, calendars, mugs, and canvas bags.

To read more about selling wearable art, visit, How To Increase Your Income Stream Selling Wearable Art.

Many print-on-demand services like Fine Art America allow artists and photographers to sell prints on fine art paper, canvas, wood, metal, mugs, etc. 

To read more, visit How To Get Started Selling On Fine Art America.

Rent Your Art

The last strategy I would like to discuss is renting your art to local businesses and hospitals.

Many small businesses want to decorate their walls with art but do not have the revenue to purchase original art.

To read more, visit Art Rental Services, Where To Rent Your Art.

Teach Group Or Idividual Art Classes

If you enjoy sharing with people how you create your art, you might enjoy providing art classes.

Some artists prefer teaching one-on-one lessons that they can give at the teacher’s art studio or the student’s home. 

Other artists prefer giving group lessons. Group art classes can be held at the artist’s studio, local churches, halls, or small businesses. 

Teach Online Art Classes

More and more people are taking advantage of learning skills online. If fact, over 6 million Americans are pursuing an online education.

If you enjoy being on video and you like teaching people how to create art, you might want to consider 

Providing online tutorials is a great way to make money as an artist online.

You can teach online art classes a few ways, including on your blog, Youtube, or platforms like Thinkific.

It is possible to monetize your art blog, especially if you are teaching video tutorials. I will cover monetizing blogs in more detail later in this post, but for now, I would like to share how you can earn money by writing blog posts and including videos.

Some artists use YouTube to monetize their art lessons, but I have found that I can earn more money by creating an ad-free video with Vimeo. 

I use Vimeo for my videos because I want my visitors to enjoy an ad-free video that will keep them on my site for extended periods. 

The longer I can keep people on my blog posts, the higher they will rank, which means more people will visit the pages.

The result is that I will earn revenue from ads on the blog post (not the video) and affiliate sales by promoting products I use and believe in. 

Some artists do very well earning money from YouTube ads, but getting the number of views necessary to make a decent income is challenging.

An artist can also teach art online by creating videos and selling courses on platforms like Thinkific. 

Thinkific is a robust platform that makes creating and selling online courses easy. Digital art tutorial videos are becoming more popular and might be something you will want to consider doing to make money as an artist. 

Create Illustrations And Vector Graphics

Shutterstock is a company that sells royalty stock images, including illustrations and vector graphics.

Royalty-Free is a license used by stock photography agencies to sell stock images.

This license type grants the buyer a determined set of rights to use the image in multiple ways for a flat, one-time fee. This means you pay for the license only once and can use it forever within the accepted ways, without any further payment obligations. (Source: StockPhotoGuides)

If you enjoy creating high-quality illustrations or vector graphics, licensing your work with stock photo companies like Shutterstock can become a steady income stream for your art business. 

Monetize Art Blogs

Learning how to make money with art skills is probably easier than you thought. So far, we have discussed the most obvious ways to make money.

Let’s talk about how to earn money that so many artists are overlooking, and that is to monetize their art blog.

The main benefit of blogging is to drive traffic to your website.

The reason you want to drive traffic to your art website is to earn money selling:

• Original paintings
• Original drawings
• Giclee prints
• Prints on merchandise
• eBooks
• Art Courses

Have you thought about monetizing your blog?

Art blogs that make money are the ones that have ads and affiliate links.

You have seen many websites and blogs with ads, right?

The people of companies monetize their blogs from ad services like Google Adsense and Monumetrics.

Google Adsense is easy to start with; however, you will not earn much from the ads. If you are interested in making a decent income with ads, you want to use Monumetrics.

You will have to apply for Monumetrics, but once you are accepted, a team will work with you and optimize your blog with ads so you can earn the most from the traffic your blog generates.

Many of my friends are earning a full-time income just by having ads on their blogs with Monumetrics. Some of them are earning six figures.

Another way you can monetize your blog is by affiliate links.

Affiliate links are links to stores or products. When a person clicks on a link and makes a purchase, you will earn a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to the buyer.

Companies like Skimlinks make it easy to create affiliate links. You will have access to over 200,000 stores that offer affiliate marketing.  

If you enjoy teaching your artistic style, why not earn some money from the products recommended.

More How To Make Money As An Artist Online Strategies

So far, most of the strategies we have covered pertain to earning money online.

Here are some more ways you can earn money as an artist online:

• Consulting
• Workshops
• Commissions
• eBooks
• Coaching
• Video editor

How Can A Creative Person Make Money Offline

Many strategies above are passive income ideas like writing blog posts, video courses, and selling prints and eBooks.

Yes, there is work upfront that needs to be done, but after that, you will continue to make money.

Here are some more ways you can earn money offline. These strategies will require you to invest time, but you can still supplement your income. 

• Painting murals
• Painting art on furniture
• Designing rooms
• Helping people choose the best art for their rooms
• Tattoo artist
• Airbrush artist
• Create illustrations for books and magazines
• Create digital art for video games
• Create logos and web designs
• Create social media graphics

Final Thoughts On How You Can Make Maney As An Artist

There are many creative ways to make money, and you will want to take the list above and start implementing the strategies that will work best for your art goals.

After you have those ideas on autopilot, you will want to think of diverse ways to generate more income.

More How You Can Make Money As An Artist Related Posts

• 17 Creative Art Business Ideas To Supplement Your Income
• How Artists Can Grow Their Art Business by Teaching Online
• How To Earn Passive Income For Artists
• 20 Ways An Artist Can Supplement Their Income