Making Money with Visual Art in 2021
Are you an artist pursuing your passion in hopes of creating a sustainable business? We're here to help you use your art skills in a way that pays your bills.
The whole starving artist thing? We're kicking it to the curb.
Having multiple income streams is one of the best ways to set yourself up for success so that you're never relying on just one source of revenue.
Here's how we diversify our own income:
Let's say a global pandemic happens and wipes out all of your freelance gigs? We want to make sure you have multiple income streams to fall back on so you’re not in a tough spot.
5 Income Streams for Artists
Selling Your Art (Physical & Digital Products)
This is an income stream we know and love very well.
We both actually started our art business by selling products (like greeting cards, art prints, etc…). It's one of the easiest income streams to start with because it doesn't require a ton of funding. We like to focus on creating products we can make at home or produce in small quantities (low investment products).
Over time, we were able to switch our focus to other income streams while continuing to sell our already-made physical/digital products. AKA—once everything was set up, selling products became mostly passive income.
We go into more detail in our YouTube video below!
Art Licensing
Art Licensing basically means renting your art to be used and sold on products.
The concept of licensing is more simple than it sounds! Basically, you own the copyright to any original artwork you create, and you can choose to loan or sell it to other companies. That’s it!
Licensing your artwork is awesome because it comes with all of the perks of having your art on products, without the cons of managing production, selling, or shipping.
Being able to license your work to big companies doesn't have to be hard, but since it's something not everyone is talking about, it can be difficult to know what to do first or where to go.
We created this free training specifically about licensing your art that you can sign up for here!
Freelance Work
Freelance artists work one-on-one with clients on custom projects. In the freelance world, you could work on many different types of projects depending on your skillset.
For example, illustrators, surface designers, pattern designers, brand designers, textile designers, web designers, etc…, can all work as freelancers.
Freelance projects may be the income stream with the potential to bring in the most money. We have each personally worked on single projects that made us $12K+!
We talk about the key to landing high-paying jobs like this in our YouTube video below!
Installations & Live Art
This type of work could be filed under freelance, but we wanted to make sure we get those gears turning about the different types of client work you can get!
Brands are becoming more and more focused on creating amazing photo ops or other unique customer experiences, which means more opportunities for artists to help bring those special moments to life!
Think unique window displays, live painting at events, customization of products, and murals.
Teaching Art or Design to other Creatives
Have you ever taken an art class on something like SkillShare or Thinkific (or, perhaps, one of our courses)? Did you ever consider that you too could teach your unique skillset to other artists?
Teaching has become an important piece of our income pie over the past few years (see our chart above).
Educating others may sound intimidating, but you might be surprised how natural it can feel! Think about it—how many years have you spent practicing and learning your craft? You definitely have some tips & tricks to share with the world!
Teaching art can come in many forms. You can share your knowledge via workshops, online courses, speaking at events, or even writing your own book! This stream is especially great because it has the potential to become passive income (one of our favorite words!).
Want to learn more about each income stream? We go into depth on how to utilize all of these and more on our YouTube video: How to Make Money with Visual Art in 2021!