How to Make Money as an Artist

I never had difficulty making money with art. When I was in elementary school, I used to sell pictures of cartoon characters for a quarter. Then in high school, I designed custom t-shirts with Prisma Color and fabric markers, and sold them to my peers. As far as how much money I made, let’s just say that I was able to pay for my own prom ticket as well as my date’s ticket…oh yeah, and both of our limo seats, too.

Now you might be thinking, “Well that was high school. What about the real world?” Or maybe you think I’m just lucky. Well, let me tell you about three other artrepreneurs: my brothers Mohamed, 22; Moustapha, 18; and AJ, 20:

Mohamed is the C.E.O. of First Class Design Studio. He didn’t study art in school, yet he makes $200 per week designing CD covers and party fliers in his spare time.

Moustapha and AJ, are the editors of T-Shirt Magazine (this site) the world’s first online t-shirt magazine. This year, retailers nationwide will carry their clothing line, Cashletes.

This doesn’t mean we’re the best artists in the world. All it means is that we recognize the value of our art and found a way to turn it into a business. But since not everyone is business-minded, we’ve compiled a list of ten things you can do to make money as an artist.

1. Build a Portfolio with the type of work that you wish you were paid to do.

2. Submit Your Work in Art Exhibits

-You will have the opportunity to showcase your work to a large audience and someone might buy your art.

-If the gallery is in a very affluent neighborhood, they’ll pay you big bucks.

3. Enter Art Contests

-You have the chance to rake in some serious cash. Some contests pay winners anywhere from $100-$10,000.

-Even if you don’t win, at least you had the chance to perfect your skill and build your portfolio.

-When you see who the winners are, observe their style and technique. If all of the winners have the same things in common, you should adopt those elements into your own art, so you can win the next contest.

4. Have Your Work Published

-This not only exposes your work to the world, it also builds your credibility. People will think, “If this artist’s work is in a magazine, they must be good!”

5. Build a Website (If you don’t have one, you don’t exist)

-Register your domain name on a site like GoDaddy.

-Display your best artwork.

-Show a list of clients you worked for and include pictures of the work you did for them (Can someone say “Social Proof?”).

-Write tutorials on what you do. This establishes you as an authority in your field.

6. Create a Blog

-If you don’t know what a blog is, you’ve been living under a rock.

-A blog is a window into your world. It allows people to build a connection with you as a human being. It’s more personal than a website.

-A cool way to use a blog is Art365 or a Sketch a Day. Basically you post a new sketch on your blog everyday for a whole year. This not only encourages you to draw more, it also makes people anticipate your next sketch. You could actually build a fan base of people waiting to see your next blog post.

-Examples of blog services are Blogger and Wordpress.

7. Use Social Networks to your advantage.

-If you don’t realize how powerful social network sites are, you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Everyone and their grandmother have a Facebook or MySpace. So it makes perfect sense to use them for your art.

-Examples of social network sites are MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Ning, and Digg.

8. Join Artist Social Networks such as DeviantArt, RedBubble, Emptee’s, AmateurIllustrator, Infectious, and MyArtSpace.

-Many of them have the added benefit of online shops in which you can sell your art as posters, canvas prints, vinyl stickers, postcards, calendars, and t-shirt designs.

9. Enter Online T-Shirt Design Competitions like Threadless, DesignByHumans, and Teextile.

-You have the chance to win over $1,000 for a t-shirt design.

10. Go Viral

-Youtube is the best thing since sliced bread. More people have become famous from you tube than you can shake a stick at. You probably spend half your day on Youtube anyway, watching stupid videos, so why not use this technology to get some moolah?

-Make a slideshow video of your artwork

-Make a video tutorial of your art.

-Make a vlog (video blog), showing your art adventures. Give tips to other artists.

-Make a commercial for your business.

Oh, yeah, one more tip-this is the most important one of all-Draw a picture of ME, and your sales will go through the roof. You’ll have so many bags of money that they won’t fit in the bank!

Put these tips to use and I promise it’ll make your cash stretch longer than giraffes’ necks. And when you do start making dough, send me a couple of stacks in a brown paper bag. Just kidding. But hit me up on Facebook with your success stories.

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