Thank you!

You’re awesome! Thanks so much! 😄

You're the absolute best. Thank youuuuu

I just stumbled onto your place in space and I had to comment... I've looked at innumerable videos about how to make money with art; and yours is the most comprehensive and eclectic list I've seen. You offer ideas that traditional artists haven't even considered. Most talk about selling on Instagram, or create an Etsy shop, or a blog, or do Amazon etc. You, on the other hand talk about multiplying your work, versus posting on 20 platforms every day. This has been my idea for ages...I call the income "Royalties" versus "Passive", but it's a semantics thing for me. I'm glad I found you.

Great info! I already received so many ideas just listening. Thank you

Exactly, I’ve made that mistake

I remember when I was younger, there was a news report about this really young artist that literally was commissioned by the Queen of England for a piece. And that was in the 2000s.

I think just that name they’ve slapped on it just makes ppl have the cheap mindset to us 🤷🏻‍♀️ its annoying and insulting anymore

Wait people think that starving artist means that artists work for free? I didn’t think of that

@@strawberryfox8819 rip queen

right?? the math is not mathing for me

Xy

literally dude. They don't realize that art is legit most things around them

You hit the nail on the head about what is the problem with how society views art and artists.

@@KelseyRodriguez I have been learning how to draw from age 10 yrs old, currently I am 17. I learnt drawing from freelance artists for about 5-6 yrs. My teacher once told me not to think art as career because it is really hard to survive. I followed his advice but at the same time I am thinking my drawing as an ameteur artist. I may not attend art college but I would definetly want to stick close to art till I die.

Same

It's the same thing here! Just as a 17 y/o

Don’t worry so many people are in the same boat as you, being creative and artistic is super in demand for so many companies! Good luck to you and your future endeavours, just stay confident in your skills and you’ll get through it :)

I'm sixteen and I made a patreon account but I don't have a credit card 😔

A tip, try to look at your school subjects as reference gathering for your artwork. It might make things a little easier. History classes, Literature classes, science classes, all of these will teach you things about things you will want to draw and paint, and the better you understand them the better you will be at it.

Thank you for sharing this thorough story. It is really helpful! I appreciate the optimism of artists on youtube encouraging other people to make art and also sharing new ways to make money. I also really appreciate realistic reflections like yours. The struggle is real!! I am only starting to build my following so your 36k is madly impressive. And yet you struggle still too. Makes me want to buy even MORE art from smaller artists!!

You don't have to jump straight to conventions. Near Christmas and a few other times a year, towns and cities often hold events (at least in the south) where you can sign up to sell for $10 to $40. You have to bring your own table and make your own signs. But cheap ($1 to $30) gifts sell like wildfire especially if there's a story behind them. There's lots of places to start before you jump into conventions, but always always have personalized cards to hand out so people can find you later.

Omg yessss. I’m deleting my art Instagram soon. I capped at 487 followers after YEARS, atleast 3 of dedicated effort. No sales came from that. Such a waste of time & energy for me

Definitely. It's very difficult to break out of the poverty cycle when you have to spend a ton of money on prints or website fees and other things in order to make money, but you don't have the money to fork out for that in the first place. If you're on Universal Credit and you're on "limited capacity for work" for long term health reasons like me, you can't even ask for help with being self employed and paying for this because the Jobcentre will sanction you and leave you with nothing. So you end up stuck drawing in your bedroom and can't get out of the hole.

@@meelamiela 😅 I’ve been posting my art on Instagram for about 3 years and I have 26 followers 😭 487 isn’t a ton but if you think about it, almost 500 people waiting to see what you make is pretty nice

Yes I don't understand these advices because we already know those things and done them but the real problem is the exposure to get clients and the amount of time that requires to send and package all that stuff daily!

Building up social media can definitely take time. Consistently posting and doing some research on how the algorithm of certain platforms work will increase the speed of you gaining followers. Creating prints to sell on websites like Etsy and Rebubble doesn't require a following to make a lot of money since these websites already bring in the customers. It will just once again require research so that the stuff you sell actually pops up on the search page. As she Kelsey said in the video, passive income is the first thing you want to work towards because realistically, you are going to have to work that boring 9-5 job to pay the bills until you start making enough money.

Seriously! As someone who is very VERY poor and doesn't have even 50 followers on any of my art accs, becoming an artist feels like a pipedream sometimes.

@@yvonneschwartz3929 so don’t do it if you don’t want to spend the effort and time doing that may be a career in art is not for you

No offense, but if you’re gonna give up that easily, maybe his career is not for you

I don't know if you've seen this person, but you may just benefit from watching the Rippaverse channel, or Eric D July. He's a black independent comic creator, and he's doing exceedingly well for himself. The grind doesn't stop after you become successful, but the best thing you can do for your art career is start now. Especially with how young you are. Get your hands on whatever you can to practice and hone your skills, and also take the time to think about what kind of work you want to do while you're working on your art. Art takes time and patience to develop, and a lot of the time people need a job they can tolerate to pay the bills. I hope this is easy to understand. I waited too late to take my art seriously, but you're the "perfect" age. You got this 💪😤🙌

The great thing about so many of these tips is that you can do them totally on your own! And in the process show her how you can begin to make money. If she can see the beginning of your career it could help her to be more supportive of the end.

Don’t let this stop you and don’t let your grades slip. Do what you need to do to get ahead in life (school) then make this your passion and practice practice until you make a master of yourself.

@@thisjournalbelongsto thanks! It’s exams period right now and I honestly don’t know if my mental health is decreasing or increasing because there’s sometimes I’m either very happy or very sad. I see a psychologist at my school now and at least I have someone to let things off my chest to, even if it’s a short period of time. And even though I’ve had several periods of artblock, I never stopped drawing and even sometimes sketch off the first thing that I find, and some people notice my improvements since earlier in this year (school). Thanks for the tips though!

@@Konata_TheRappa07 That's an amazing goal! Its great that you know what you want in that age. Congratulations!! 🥰🥰 follow your dreams! And it would be great if you share you Devianart (sorry if my english is confuse, is not my first language).

If you're an art student, universities often make exhibitions of their student's works. Also you can participate to art contests and have your works being exposed there as well.

wow!

I've done all of those. And..... Nothing.

What you can do is to donate art, this is where your name rises in the market.

I took theatre stage makeup. I told everyone that they could use it as a side hustle for acting, to do face painting on the side. I didn’t have a good teacher to even get good enough to do it. But $100 an hour is great. Especially if its just a few hours to be able to squeeze in your schedule!

One question, when you do these designs for the breweries is it drawn (Like on a painting/design software) or do you design it on a 3d software (such as blender). Do you use both? Just curious about your creative process and tools, I personally LOVE craft beer and I’ve always admired the can and label designs and artwork/creativity that goes into them. As an artist myself, it certainly makes drinking a good beer even more enjoyable lol.

@@fulanadetal6099 it really depends on your art and the specs required for the printers! I do my illustrations in photoshop/fresco and then finish by placing it in illustrator and adding the text, company's logo and any design requirements there so that they can be vectors. The final deliverable is actually just a fancy pdf and the accompanying illustrator file. I've never heard of someone using blender for it, but if your art is mainly created in blender, I'm sure you could grab a 2d render of the image and go from there (I've honestly never used blender, so take that last bit with a grain of salt) *edit was just me hitting post before I finished typing

@@trader-futures can you clarify what you mean? Like the task of designing packaging for a product? Or a task within the processed mentioned? I'm happy to help if I cam

@@trader-futures @MoSqalli I don't have an art or design degree, I have some high school graphic design education, and I've been digitally illustrating for a long time. If you're looking for education on that, you should look into 'surface graphics' and 'packaging design'. Like I said, I just reached out to a local brewery I knew worked with freelance artists with a few examples of my work and said if they wanted to work together, let me know. They got back to me a few months later, and I designed about 2 labels for them, both illustration and graphic design. I hope that helps!

Keep your ear to the ground. Festivals, local businesses, libraries, etc all put calls out for art.

This particular woman isn't very charismatic nor does she seem extroverted so I think your holding on to a series of negative experiences about your own self and projecting it. Your art is in a style that is actually very popular among the younger generation of consumers but your subjects aren't. Scenic landscapes have a market but more with photography now. Portraits, character focused art, graphic designs are all things many younger consumers like. Might I suggest you do landscapes in a whimsical style. In your video you talked about how nature is so alive to you so why not really make that your style. Make the scene a character with a story. As for your personality you're plenty likeable as far as people go so please don't believe otherwise. I also do think you have a cool style and you've got that Harry Potter Luna thing going for you.

@@bleachedout805 i wouldn't put this girl down in any way. I think she is charismatic, pretty extroverted and smart. Maybe you are right I don't know. Could really be that the theme is not popular. But I would never have thought that. I love my theme so... Hard to put myself in other people's perspective on that. I actually want to preserve the hidden quality of them being alive. I don't want to make it so obvious. It is as it is, i don't see figures or faces most times, so i won't put them there. But thank you for the suggestion. Thank you for the encouragement too.

@@monikazimovaart I love your art! I think a really cool thing that you can do with your art is animate it! Your style perfectly suits the niche of very satisfying colors and design that kinda remind me of calming animation videos. Imagine if the swirls and lines of your paintings moved or dripped with the patterns you create. I found from working corporate marketing that moving images really engage people especially in social media so that could make you stand out among other traditional artists and drive more traffic to your originals. There’s apps that will even animate images for you too. Just a suggestion obvs ☺️

@@izelchitiva9212 thank you. That's a really creative idea. I never thought of that myself. When I get back to Instagram, i would like to try that. I think it's worth a try definitely. Thank you!

Keep going

Also 49 and I don’t give up on my passion. And I’ve also been drawing since as long as I can remember. It helps me heal and keeps me at peace. Wish social media was easier and I had more spoons to function with daily, but onward is the only way.

The last time I had obligations like that was when I was a full time college student over a year ago, so I don’t know if the tips I’d give you would even be helpful really. Someone in the community discord

I'm in the same boat as you. Been in a non creative field for YEARS now and it's not easy to shift. There are some things you have to let go that you KNOW will not serve you. For ex. Patreon is for people who are able to repeat the reward offered to the patrons and have enough patrons (followers). Like Kelsey gave an example - a pin a month (not to forget the shipping costs of those!). Or digital art/prints if they can draw quickly. As a traditional artist I don't have prints yet and I don't want to spend hours of my time drawing for few dollars - since I barely have any followers. You have to pick the ones that give the most return on your effort and align with what you want to offer the art patrons. My plan is to pause art(just practice, not make finished pieces), start some passive income streams from the list suggested, and once those start generating some income, start up on art projects again with an intention of creating finished work to be sold as originals. P.S : I believe the first thing to do is to look at your budget. Not how much you can spend but what you currently spend on. Divide it between art and non-art. Everything you need for art spending should be covered by the passive income. Your other savings from your job are for yourself and family. And then maybe you can think about transitioning.

My dear friend, with the deepest respect, that's the most honest and true question because it's based on real facts of real life. If you work 40 hours a week, and probably for a shitty wage, in my opinion (cuase I also did that) it is almost impossible to be creative and productive in a way that at some point it will bring you money. When you work 40 hours, the rest 16 "spare" hours per day you have to do a load of shit so you can survive and go to work again. You have to go shopping, to cook, to wash, to rest etc. And the internet is a great tool of mischief because we see only the tip of the iceberg. Everyone is being creative but I dont really know what is supporting their life behind just a nice video. Sorry but being a full time college student it's not the same thing. At the end man you have to compete with other artists that actually have more spare time and calmness to invest in their effort to make art. That's just like my opinion man, but you know...

Baby steps dude, baby steps. And self control! So here’s a little break down but take it with a great pinch of salt as I am uneducated in this aspect and have no experience, it’s just my general plan if/when I decide to become an artist full time: 1. Save money: not bc “artists starve” no. But bc it’s always useful to have money for materials u may need and the gas incurred to get those materials. (Of course, this depends on the type of art you decide to do) 2. Begin sketching/doodling today: so before jumping into the pool, put a toe in first, or even just look at the people in the pool. If you haven’t done art for a while, it’s good to first go back into it with doodles or small mini projects with no deadlines or stressors. And give it a few weeks/months. 3. Gather an audience: once you’re confident enough or even if you’re not too sure, gather and audience. Social media is the best way for both physical and digital artists to get audiences. However, you will have to post regularly for these platforms to showcase ur posts to people. A good 2-4 times a week should be enough, and keeping it the same days also works. And it also doesn’t have to be a different product each time: you could post the different steps taken when drawing a face, or making a mug. 4. Ask the Audience: u can create a poll on your social media and ask if people WILL buy ur artwork. If many say yes, u can open a small online shop with limited items, just to see how it goes. Maybe ask for a week or two off from work to make it easier on yourself. You can also open a Patreon in this or the previous step, essentially letting ppl know “Hey! If u wanna see more, support me over here!!” 5. Go Part-Time: if the business goes well, you can start working on it part or even full time, just make sure you also either work on ur other job part time or quit the job altogether. 6. Just keep at it: regular posting, keeping up with orders, keeping urself healthy (meals and breaks), keeping patreon in order, etc etc. it all might get messy, so I recommend u set a good schedule, use a planner, or a calendar. Inform ur audience “hey, it’s just a one person business, so orders might arrive late, or sometimes I might forget smth!” DO NOT BREAK YOURSELF TO PLEASE OTHERS I’ve seen some artists drive themselves to the point of hospitalization bc they worry too much abt not satisfying their audience. But then, what’s the point of them nearly dying or hurting their body if afterwards the audience will be left with neither the art and the artist? Giving yourself a break is fine. It’s great, actually. And you can also communicate that to ur audience. I’ve also been grateful to see many artists announce they’re going a break/hiatus and audiences being supportive, wishing them a good break, and patiently waiting for their comeback. It’s all in just taking that first baby step. GOOD LUCK!!🤌✨

Same boat here. I use all my not-housekeeping/groceries/family weekend-time for just resting to get creative and then creating the paintings, creating content for Tt and IG. And then it's Sunday evening again. And I really need my job to live yk😅 Can't just quit. After two years of trying building an art business on the side, still only a few bucks from my art. It's so tiring ... on one hand these type of videos are so helpful, on the other hand there's literally no time to implement these tips :(

Hi Tracy, I am close to your age and I am about to restart my career in art again, it is exciting and scary at the same time, especially that I'm a foreigner in Germany, so the broken German will be a big step back for me but I don't want to regret if I don't try it now :) I think you can always start again, age is just a number, unless you have other bigger things on the side, but I feel that doing art for ourselves sometimes it is just a kind of meditation to soothe our souls :) cheers!

@@agnesgunawan4438 Awesome!! Best of luck to you in all your endeavors, Art and in Germany!! Thank you for reading and your words of wisdom! 🖤

I needed to read (and ''hear'') this. I feel the same way and I'm just trying to break that shell,at least for my sake as well.

Your comment itself is inspirational because I feel like I’m a dud at 27 who’s had 3 career changes at this point….although all of those careers felt like cop outs to what’s ‘practical’ and your comment resonates… I feel the exact same way…that’s it’s too late for me now… that the younger generation feels intimidating but your comment made me realize that if I will always be scared of being “too old” for something then I’ll have spent all my time worrying and not doing. I’ve always wanted to make my own “art attack” show..I don’t know if that only aired in Canada and the UK but I hesitate to make TikTok’s all the time because I’m self conscious about my chin or ..how I film, etc.

So nice to read the thread here, I don't usually write in KZfaq comments but this is like a good free consultation room 😁 Alexandra, do it do it! I just started to teach art class to children here and today I learned about Art Attack from you, I will check it out for sure! I think people will get inspired in many ways, so if you do yours, please send me the link, please 🙏✨

wait, what is the job if u dont mind answering?

This comment was a while ago, but i wanted to precise anyway. Well your friends were extremely lucky and might have had contacts to get started. It isn't like that for majority. My college, by the time i finished, half (25/50) the class had already dropped out, and probably only a handful got a job in what they studied. In my friendgroup, two work in what we studied (one pursuing further studies) and another got something in the same industry but not in what we studied, aka it's just a plus for that job. The previous studies i dropped out from, some of the people who finished got a job. afaik from my other friends, only one got to work and sell her painting with an art studio.

How? Ask for art donation?

@@marcduchamp5512 Grow a community and start to understand what they want. Your supporters will tell you, when you ask. Once you make that available to them on a monthly basis (via Patreon- for example), they will thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your craft and receive your art 🎨 Wishing you the best on your journey!

I was told to just do what I love and it was terrible advice 😅 I'm now 36 with no career and I'm only just getting back into art as I never had the confidence to share it with anyone after high school. Constructive advice on goal setting will help your kids the most 🙌

my life has legit been the “oh shit this doin numbers” meme for the past few weeks 😂 Thank you hehe

Honestly though, like I tried to find a job that is art related, but so far I was either scared, and thinking that I'm not good enough to take on the task.

@@RedBowInferno if you want to improve your art just study anatomy, perspective and proportions. It helped me a lot improving mine. You could also try making some art studies at a art school, college or university as well if you want to pursue art as a carrier. Art teachers usually do a good job on guiding students on the right way and drawing a lot will improve your art faster as well.

I closed my Patreon account a while ago but I’m super active on our community Discord server if you’re looking for tips! Welcome to our community and if you have any suggestions for future videos just let me know 💗💗 Your support really made my day, thank you!

Ahh, thank you Zumperberg! You've been here since basically the beginning and it means so much to me that you've stuck around. Here's to hitting 100k before the end of the year

@@KelseyRodriguez I have high hopes for you!

Hi Hannah! That's super dependent on your audience size and how many people regularly engage with your posts. I'd say to not get more than 25-50 pieces of each print design or sticker to start off with to minimize your financial risk as much as possible. Always better to sell out fast than have unsold inventory IMO! Feel free to ask other folks in the community discord though

My nephew opened an art shop a few years ago, and it didn’t do very well. My only advice would be to test your market first before taking this bold step. I don’t think my nephew’s art had mass appeal (he has talent but it’s certainly not my taste and it was nothing out of the ordinary in my opinion hence the lack of success I guess). So your first question in my opinion should be how popular/sellable is your art.