People often think of art as just a hobby. They believe it is nothing you can make good money with. But is that actually true? No. The reality is that creative work is growing year on year, and there are plenty of possibilities to make money with art skills – regardless of what type of art you make. In this post, I show you the best online options to make a passive income for artists – with little effort and for a long time!
Now, more than ever, there are so many possibilities for artists to make money – online and offline. Especially the internet has created so many new avenues for artists to showcase and sell their art. There are plenty of opportunities for every artist – regardless of your skill level and the type of art you make.
In fact, it has never been easier to get your artwork seen and start earning a passive income with your creativity.
So in today's post, I am going to share with you 19 ways of how to make money with art skills:
In a recent post, I already spoke about how to make money as a self-taught artist.
I know that autodidacts tend to feel unconfident about their artistic abilities because they didn’t go to art school. However, it is a common misconception that you need to undertake formal training in order to be competent at doing what you love!
Have a look around: there are so many successful and talented artists who never got any formal education. As an example of a self-taught artist, I could mention Vincent Van Gogh who belongs to the great masters in history.
Just like self-taught artists, people ‘with art skills’ oftentimes doubt that their skills are enough to earn an income.
A lot of us have been conditioned into thinking that things like art and music are just hobbies. As a result, we might feel like only a lucky one percent of the one percent is able to make money off their creative talent. But the reality is that creative work is growing year on year. And there’s enough to go around for whatever type of art you are into!
So why not make some money with your art skills?
Creating art can be a lucrative side hustle or even become your full-time dream job if you know how to monetize it.
I’ll be providing lots of information and options in this post, so please set aside some time to read through it. If you find the ‘make-money tips’ helpful, you can use this post as a resource and keep coming back to it as you are gradually opening up more and more passive income streams for yourself.
As the art market changes constantly, I might be adding more ways to make money with art skills as new opportunities are coming up. So you might want to bookmark this page to be able to find it again!
Also, feel free to share it with other creatives who are looking for ways to make money with art skills as well. To not miss out on any new posts in the future, make sure to sign up for my newsletter! ʕᴖᴥᴖʔ
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How do artists make a lot of money?
The amount of money artists make always depends on a number of factors. How dedicated are you and how much time and effort do you invest into promoting your work? Do you know your target customers and have you learned to market your art?
As an artist, it’s important to identify your audience. Knowing who is interested in your work and knowing where those people hang out helps with your marketing strategy. For example, if potential buyers of your work look for the type of art you create on Pinterest, you don’t want to focus your marketing efforts on Instagram!
Another thing that most successful artists who make a lot of money have in common is good branding.
Having your personal artist brand helps make your art stand out. It allows you to express your artistic voice and create value around your work. Usually, people are more inclined to buy art that they can immediately associate with a particular artist.
In other words, distinctiveness drives sales – that’s no secret among marketing experts!
However, you should always stay true to yourself. Never distort your art to try to make it please other people or change it to suit what’s trending at that moment in time. Instead, focus on developing your unique art style and on creating the art that inspires you!
So without further ado now, let's see how to make money with art skills. Below, I have 19 passive income ideas for you that focus on how to make money as an artist online.
In point of fact, it is generally easier for artists to generate a passive income on the internet. First off, everyone has access to the web – at least when you are reading this post. (¬‿¬)
And secondly, a passive income naturally implies the least involvement on your side, which is impossible if you are teaching art courses on a weekly basis. For everyone interested in earning an income in the ‘real world’, view my post on how to make money as an artist offline.
Here now, we are going to look into how to make money with art skills online. So let’s do it!
How to make money with art skills: 19 Passive income ideas for artists
Sell original artworks & limited editions
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about how to make money with art skills is selling pieces. As a traditional artist, you can offer your original works for sale. As a digital artist, you don’t have originals in that sense, but you can offer limited editions instead.
Prints that are not signed and not numbered generally sell at the lowest prices. To create more value for your customers, you can offer a limited amount of prints that are signed and/or numbered.
A limited edition of, let’s say, 20 copies can significantly raise the sales price. Another option is to sell hand-embellished prints of your digital art.
So this is definitely a way you can make good money with art. What are the best online places for selling originals and special editions?
- Etsy has become the no. 1 online marketplace of its kind. It has a huge customer base with a particular interest in handmade art and collectibles.
- Fine Art America is a mixture of an online gallery for selling original artwork and prints and a print-on-demand provider for stationery, home décor and living accessories.
- Saatchi Art is a leading online gallery with artists from more than 100 countries and millions of visitors from all over the world.
- WetCanvas, as its name suggests, was originally designed for traditional painters. Nevertheless, you might also be able to find an audience for other types of art.
- U Gallery is a more exclusive online art gallery where artists and artworks are screened and hand-picked. To be featured on U Gallery, every artist must go through an application process.
Sell fine art & Giclée prints
Selling high quality art prints has become an easy and affordable way for artists to make money with their skills. Basically, you can roughly distinguish between two types of prints: prints on photographic paper and Giclée prints.
Whatever type you choose, you don’t need to buy any expensive printing equipment to create prints. You can simply upload your art to sites like RedBubble, Society6 or Fine Art America, which will take care of printing, packaging and shipping the ready-made print to the customer.
Similarly, you can offer your prints directly on social media or your own website and refer the order to a drop-shipping service like Printful or Printify that will then attend to everything.
If you want to sell Giclee prints (highest-quality prints available), I recommend using a specialized Giclée printing service like Giclee Today, The Stackhouse or the Prints Giclee Shop. More about what Giclee printing is here.
Create print-on-demand products
Print-on-Demand products are a fantastic niche to make a passive income as an artist. You can create all types of merch, from home décor (wall art, prints, clocks, etc.), to stationery (notebooks, cards, phone cases, etc.), to living accessories (cutting boards, mugs, trays, etc.) and clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, leggings, etc.).
Many people love to purchase items that are not available in every store around the corner. This is where your art skills come in!
Creating print-on-demand products is super-easy. All you need to do is upload your artwork to a PoD platform and select the products you want to sell it on. Once a customer places an order, the PoD provider will take care of everything. They will produce, package and ship the product; in return, they will keep a share of the sales price.
Popular print-on-demand providers for artists are RedBubble, Society6, Fine Art America and Minted. But again, you can also use sites like Printful and Printify that you can link directly to your social media, Etsy store, or personal online shop on Squarespace, Shopify, and other e-commerce platforms.
Design printables & templates
A printable is a digital item that people can buy online, download and print out at home. This can be things like calendars, all kinds of planners (wedding, fitness, diet, …), coloring pages (for kids & adults), workbook templates, notebook and diary templates, and many more.
So, for instance, if you have a passion for words, you can create your own printable quotes. Otherwise, you can also design printable cards with inspirational quotes of other famous people or positive affirmations to help uplift the spirits of fellow creatives!
For more ideas, you can download a FREE eGuide with the 60+ best selling printables in the Freebie Library.
- The Best Selling Printables & Where To Sell Them!
Some of those printables are really easy to create. So if you are a beginner, I recommend starting with designing printables because they are one of the easier passive income streams for artists.
You only have to create the design once and then you can sell an infinite number of copies.
The best places for selling printables? Well, check out Creative Market, Creative Fabrica and Design Cuts. They are very lucrative for selling specific types of printables; maybe they are exactly your niche!
Other optimal platforms include Sellfy, SendOwl, Gumroad and Podia. But again, you can also try Etsy; there’s a huge market for printables, too. For more options, read my post on where to sell digital printables.
Offer digital downloads
Digital downloads are very similar to printables. The only difference is that digital downloads are not necessarily intended to print out.
Digital downloads are an as convenient way to make money with art skills as digital printables. Why? Because you design a digital download once and then you can sell it over and over again, too.
Digital downloads can be anything from artworks, photos, logos, graphics, illustrations, infographics, Photoshop resources, and so on. For example, I made some of my artworks available as phone & tablet wallpapers that people can display on their mobile devices.
So obviously, you can sell digital downloads on your website , but also on Sellfy, SendOwl, Gumroad and Podia, and Etsy. For a greater choice, have a look at the 13 best places to sell digital downloads.
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Quick ViewAdd to cartPrintables & DownloadsCarnivore (Phone & Tablet Wallpapers)
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Quick ViewAdd to cartPrintables & Downloadsoblivion. (Phone & Tablet Wallpapers)
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Quick ViewAdd to cartPrintables & DownloadsKeyla (Phone & Tablet Wallpapers)
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Quick ViewAdd to cartPrintables & Downloads= (Phone & Tablet Wallpapers)
License your artwork
Similarly to digital downloads, you can license virtual files of your artwork. By licensing your art, you allow people to use the purchased image for specific purposes. For example, you can make your art available for personal use, allowing the buyer to create a print for themself and hang it on their wall.
You can also allow your work to be used for editorial purposes on a website or in a magazine. Another option is to release your image for commercial use, meaning the buyer can use it to create new products and sell them. The scope of the usage permissions determines the price you can license your artwork for. Commercial use licenses usually sell for the highest prices.
To get an idea of the options available, have a look at the overview of image license types. To not cause any confusion or misuse of your work, you should always define the use conditions in a digital image license agreement.
In the Freebie Library, you can download some sample Royalty Free license agreement templates that you can edit and adapt to your needs.
This is one of the easiest methods to generate a passive income for artists because it requires the least involvement on your side. All you need to do is upload the image along with the license agreement, and then you can sell it as many times as you wish.
Good sites to offer licensed artwork are Etsy, Gumroad, Sellfy and Podia.
- License Your Artwork Like a Professional
Publish e-books & e-guides
If you are an artist with a lot of experience, you can share your knowledge with less experienced artists in form of e-books or e-guides.
For example, you can write up a tutorial where you guide people through your creative process. You can also provide tips on how to achieve a specific artistic effect in a software like Photoshop, or give advice on how to promote and sell art.
If you have spent time on gaining the skills necessary to do a certain thing, chances are you have an edge over newcomers who are still some steps behind you.
You can offer your e-books on sites like Sellfy, SendOwl, Gumroad, Podia and Etsy.
Open an Etsy store
Etsy – I’ve already mentioned it a number of times in this post. Not surprisingly, Etsy is the biggest online marketplace for all things art. In fact, it’s one of the most profitable places to make a passive income for artists.
Setting up an Etsy store is easy – and it’s completely free. There’s a market for every type of art. You don’t have to create a specific kind of artwork to be successful on the platform.
You can sell physical items like originals and fine art prints. Keep in mind that you yourself are responsible for packaging and shipping the product to the customer who buys it on Etsy. So if you sell a lot of physical artworks and similar stuff, you might want to link a drop-shipping service like Printful or Printify to your Etsy shop. The drop-shipper will then take care of everything for you and you have more time to create art!
But, as I already said above, digital downloads, printables, and other designs are equally high in demand on the platform. The costs for selling downloadable files are very low and Etsy handles the delivery of the virtual files for you.
What's more, digital products belong to the type of art that makes the most money on Etsy. For that reason and because the sales process is so easy, it may be a good idea for beginners to get started with downloads on Etsy!
(By the way, this is the → TOP 25 Best Selling Digital Art On Etsy.)
Etsy has a huge community. On the one hand, that’s good because it increases your chances of making sales. On the other hand, it leads to a lot of competition, which makes it harder to get your art seen at the beginning.
To make your work stand out from your competitors, it is important to post attractive, high-quality images. If you are a traditional painter, make sure to take good photos of your paintings. If you are selling digital art or other digital items, you should use high-quality mockups so your customers know what to expect when they order from you.
You can find great mockups for wall art, printables (like cards, notebooks, planners, etc.) and other downloadable items (e.g. phone and tablet wallpapers) on Creative Market and Creative Fabrica.
Best Online Marketplace for Artists
Build your own website
In this day and age, it is absolutely key to have your own artist website. Why do I say so? First of all, when someone searches for you or for your art, your website will be the first thing that comes up in the search results.
As opposed to social media and art sharing sites, your own website gives you full control over how you present your portfolio and yourself as the artist. You will have your own domain name, no distracting ads or diverting works of other artists around your artwork.
In other words, your own website is perhaps the best way to make money with art skills!
If that doesn’t convince you yet, have a look at some more reasons why you should make a website for your art.
Building an artist website isn’t difficult. You don’t need any coding skills or prior web development experience. Fortunately, there are so many easy-to-use website builders that allow you to create a website at just a couple of clicks. Those website builders come with drag-and-drop editors, meaning you simply need to select the design element you want to use and drag it on the web page. It’s that easy.
One of the most popular website builders for artists is Squarespace. The platform has lots of aesthetically pleasing templates that have specifically been designed with visual creatives in mind. That’s why so many photographers, painters, illustrators and designers have their sites hosted on Squarespace.
Other good choices for creating your own website are Wix, Weebly, Pixpa and Jimdo. To learn more, click through to the best website builders for artists.
Best Website Builder for Artists
Get into creative blogging
Once you have your website up and running, the next step you should take to make good money with your art is starting a blog.
Yes! Blogging is a fantastic opportunity to make money as an artist online.
There are so many things you can do on your blog to promote your art and build passive income streams. To just name a few examples, you can write about your artwork, give insights into your creative process, show WiP shots and timelapse videos, publish tutorials and helpful articles, review new art tools or interview fellow creatives.
All those blogging topics will help you rank your website in search engines and eventually get more eyeballs on your work and make sales!
If you are new to blogging, I suggest taking the Beginner’s Guide to Creative Blogging on Skillshare where you will get clued up on everything you need to know to run a successful art blog!
Best Course to Learn Creative Blogging
Other options to monetize your blog include affiliate marketing and paid ads. But more on that later on in this post.
More importantly, you can use your blog to build an email list. An email list is a list of people who are specifically interested in your art, articles, and other offerings.
By including an email opt-in on your website, readers can subscribe to your newsletter. Then, you can contact your subscribers by email, keep them updated and also recommend affiliate products (more about affiliate marketing in point 12 below).
AWeber, ConvertKit and MailerLite are email marketing providers that allow you to easily embed an opt-in on your website:
- The Best Lead Magnet Ideas To Grow Your Email List
Open an online shop
With your website and blog set up, it is time to take your creativity to the next level. Why not open your own online shop?
The beauty of having your own store is that you have full control over how you present and price your products. And the best thing – you don’t need to share your earnings with anyone. Sales platforms always charge transaction fees and retain a portion of the sales price.
With your own art store, you can keep the entire profit! That's why having an ecommerce site is such a profitable way to make money with art skills.
All of the above mentioned website builders allow you to add an online shop to your site.
Squarespace Commerce has all the features a professional seller needs. The shop templates are appealing and let you choose the look and feel of your shop.
Likewise, Wix’s eCommerce plans let you create a highly customizable online selling platform at affordable prices. And also Jimdo’s Grow Plan is a good option to create an ecommerce site. You will get hosting, your own domain name, marketing and search engine optimization tools at no additional cost.
However, if selling art is your main stream of income and you already have an established customer base, then Shopify is the way to go. Its ecommerce features are best-in-class! Additionally, there are plenty of apps and plugins to provide extra functionality to your store.
You can literally sell anything on your ecommerce site – from physical products, to virtual files, to courses and other services. You can even sell print-on-demand products. By linking a PoD provider like Printful and Printify to your online store, you can sell all kind of merch – without needing to get involved in the process.
Best eCommerce Platform for Artists
Do affiliate marketing
I already mentioned above that affiliate marketing is an excellent way to monetize your blog. But what exactly is affiliate marketing? Well, you can think of it as a partnership with a company that pays you for promoting their products or services.
In other words, you recommend art products you like and when a reader of your blog clicks on a link in your post and makes a purchase, you get a commission from the company (at no extra cost to your readers).
One could say it is a win-win-win for all parties involved. The reader is happy because they found a great product, the company is happy because it made a sale, and you are happy because you receive a remuneration for your recommendation.
Affiliate marketing might seem trivial at first glance, but it is really a lucrative method to make money with art skills.
The market for art and craft supplies in the US alone has been steadily growing. To give you an idea of the numbers, it went from US$12.2 billion in 2018 up to US$15.1 billion in 2021. Globally, the art market is still expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.1% to US$62.51 billion by 2027. Sounds good?
Some affiliate marketing programs for artists that are worth looking into include:
- Adobe is one of the best-known software producers for the digital art industry. Photoshop is the unrivaled all-round editing app that is used by professionals and hobbyists around the world. Lightroom follows closely behind. Adobe offers affiliate partnerships for photo and video editing software as well as stock photos.
- RedBubble is a popular online marketplace for print-on-demand products. You can buy prints, apparel, living accessories, stationery, phone cases, home décor, and much more.
- Creative Market is one of the most popular sites for all types of downloadable digital art. They offer a large selection of graphics, photos, templates, fonts, 3D models, and even WordPress themes.
- Cubebrush is the first online marketplace for computer-generated (CG) art. Artists, illustrators, and game developers can find everything their heart desires, from 3D models, 2D game assets, tools, applications, to stock photos and sounds.
Run paid ads on your website
There are a lot of different opinions about running paid ads on a blog. Some people find ads distracting and would advise against using them. However, many bloggers have been able to achieve financial freedom through the use of blog ads – at least at one stage of their journey.
That’s why I think paid ads are worthwhile considering as a way to make money with art skills.
Nevertheless, I would not recommend making blog advertisements your sole income stream. Ad networks can be very picky and it already happened that bloggers have been kicked out of a program without realizing they were in violation of a policy. This can be a big loss of income for a blogger that used to solely rely on ad profits.
Each blog advertising network has its own requirements for joining. With very few exceptions, the acceptance always depends on your monthly traffic. Other requirements might relate to your blogging niche, language, etc. So always make sure to carefully read the program guidelines before applying.
These are four of the most widely used ad networks for bloggers:
- Google AdSense is perhaps the best-known and easiest ad network to join because it doesn’t have any traffic requirements.
- Ezoic is a leading blog ad network that requires you to have an average of 10,000 sessions per month to get accepted.
- Mediavine offers some of the best payouts in the market. However, the application process takes a long time and they are very selective. If you have less than 50K sessions in 30 days, you won’t qualify for the program.
- AdThrive prides itself to pay the “highest possible income for every pageview”. To join, you must have at least 100,000 monthly pageviews and the majority of your traffic must come from the US.
Become a Patreon / Kickstarter
Patreon was founded in 2013 with the intention of providing a platform for artists and other creators to help them make money with art skills. The site has over 200,000 active creators (including photographers, painters, comic and digital artists) and over six million registered users.
The Patreon model works as follows: creators upload exclusive content, such as artwork, photographs, videos, tutorials, webinars, etc. and their subscribers pay a certain monthly amount to get access to that content. For that purpose, creators can offer different subscription ‘tiers’. For example, you can charge $1, $5, $10, or more per month.
Patreon is perhaps the most widely used platform to provide exclusive content. But there are other sites with similar subscription models. So if you are interested in making money as an artist with memberships, then also check out Kickstarter and Podia!
Teach online art courses
Similar to uploading tutorials to Patreon, you can offer online art classes. Nowadays, there are lots of e-learning platforms around where you can help novice artists acquire the art skills you have developed over the years.
Actually, there are tons of people who would like to improve their art skills. The only problem is that they don’t have anyone to teach them!
Teaching online courses can be a convenient passive income stream for artists.
You’ll only have to prepare the materials and record the course once, and then it can earn you money for a long period of time.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to buy any expensive filming equipment. Oftentimes, an iPhone and a good microphone are enough to record a decent online course. Free video editing software isn’t a problem either. I can recommend DaVinci Resolve, which is available for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Here are some ideas of what you could teach:
- How to use specific digital art software & hardware (as a digital artist)
- How to work with brushes, paints, and varnishes (as a traditional artist)
- How to master a particular art style or technique
- How to find new inspiration to create art
- How to promote & sell art
E-learning platforms that I can recommend checking out:
Best Teaching Platform for Artists
Make video tutorials
A simpler alternative to online classes is making video tutorials. A video tutorial doesn’t have to be as long and complex as an entire video course. That’s why they are much easier to create.
In a video tutorial, you can show other artists how you go about creating your work. There are lots of artists that offer realtime process videos, insights into the behind the scenes, and tips and tricks of how they are able to achieve the effects they use in their work.
Even though they are much shorter, such videos can be absolutely instrumental educational material for beginner or intermediate artists that want to follow in the footsteps of the artists they admire.
Quite a few artists upload such videos to YouTube where they can make good money by monetizing them or taking on sponsorships. Just like on your blog, you can also do affiliate marketing on your YouTube channel. You can link the products you speak about in your video in the description, and any purchase made through your affiliate links will earn you a commission.
Other sites that many artists use to get paid for videos are Patreon, Kickstarter and Podia.
Monetize your art on stock sites
One of the most common ways for photographers to make money is selling their work on stock sites. Shutterstock, Dreamstime and Adobe Stock (formerly Fotolia) are some of the most popular sites for photography, but there is also a market for illustrations, clipart, animations, and more.
Many bloggers, advertising agencies, and other companies use those sites to find visuals for their content. To become a contributor on a stock site, you will need to go through an application process. If you have good-quality work relating to the topics that are in demand, you will get accepted.
Once you have your images uploaded to the gallery, you can literally make money while you sleep. Each time someone purchases a stock image of yours, you will get paid a commission. There is nothing else you have to do in the process!
Promote your art on social media
It is possible to sell your artwork directly on social media. For example, Pinterest lets you create so-called Rich Pins and on Instagram you can sell through a Shoppable Gallery.
If selling directly on social media isn’t for you, you can still use those platforms to promote your art. People are on social media everyday – all day. By posting your art on Instagram, uploading your work to Facebook, and even by using Pinterest as an artist, you can get your artwork seen by a large audience and drive traffic to your preferred sales platform.
Regardless of which social media you are using, the formula for success is pretty much the same everywhere:
- Post high-quality images of your work.
- Build a brand around your art.
- Use relevant hashtags.
- Write captivating captions.
- Write an attractive bio and include a link to your shop.
- Most importantly, post consistently (several times per week).
Posting multiple times each week can be time-consuming, especially if you want to post on several platforms at the same time. Fortunately, there’s a number of scheduling tools that can do the posting for you. Later, Planoly, and Tailwind are three of the most popular social media planners I suggest taking a look at!
Most versatile social media planner
Create NFT Art
NFT art came up shortly after cryptocurrencies were introduced. NFT stands for non-fungible token and describes a unique asset on the blockchain. You can think of an NFT artwork as a digital piece of art that cannot be copied or duplicated.
In other words, it’s like an original painting. You can make prints of it, but the original art piece remains the one-of-a-kind – and thus the most valuable. NFT art has become especially popular around the year 2000 and made its way into the hottest digital art trends in 2022.
NFT art can be extremely lucrative. You might have heard of the rocket sales that some NFT artworks sold for. The so far most expensive NFT artwork called ‘The Merge’ sold for almost US$100 million. Another piece is Beeple’s ‘Everydays’ that sold for over US$69 million.
You can create NFT art with your regular editing software like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Affinity Photo. For a more specialized selection, take a look at the 9 best software to create NFT art.
Once a piece of NFT art is created, it needs to be minted on a cryptocurrency service. In other words, you upload it to an NFT marketplace and offer it for sale. Popular sites for NFT art are:
Did you know that creating an NFT doesn’t have to cost a penny? → How To Mint An NFT For Free On OpenSea (*Step-By-Step Tutorial*)
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Great artist guide line for online survival, not only artists but every creative person should follow the same rules!
Hi Louis, thanks for stopping by! I agree, I think these techniques work for many creative people, no matter what kind of craft they’re in!
Angie,
This was a REALLY great blog. I am trying to make more of a living with “passive” income as well – thank you for this!
Do you ever license your artwork?
Thanks, Sarah
Hey Sarah, great that the post was helpful!
Yes, I also sell licensed files of my artwork in my web store.