Nov 20, 2021
Be a Money-Making Artist (Not A Starving Artist)
There are many opportunities for both digital and traditional artists, designers and photographers to make passive income online by doing what you love. The difference between passive income and active income is that passive income is something that continues to bring you revenue from something that you don’t need to repeat. Whereas active income comes from performing a service. I´v been selling my art online for years and have tried different channels. Some of them have worked great for me. Some have not. Here I share some of my favourite ways of earning passive income online as an artist.
Sell Your Art In Online Galleries
Selling your art through online galleries can work for all kinds of creators. If you are a traditional artist you can use the online gallery as a platform to sell actual products (prints, postcards, paintings…) Many online galleries also have print-on-demand programs where your artworks can be reproduced and sold to collectors worldwide. You can find several print-on-demand companies online and through some of them, one can also sell physical artworks. Online galleries can also bring potential clients. Someone looking for an artist can see your works online and like your artistic style and hire you to make a commissioned painting for them.
Print-On-Demand Programs
Print-on-demand programs have grown more and more popular within recent years. There are both pros and cons in them. Usually, commissions that artist gets from each product sold through p-o-d pages are very small but if you have a great variety of products and you take some time to advertise your galleries they can help you earn a great deal of passive income.
Zazzle
One of the oldest and most well-known print-on-demand companies. You can find literally thousands and thousands of products from Zazzle. You can reproduce your artwork into any product imaginable from iPod cases to holiday plates. Some bigger brands like Marvel and such also use Zazzle as one of their selling platforms so for self-representative artists promoting your Zazzle shop is essential. One great thing that Zazzle has compared to other pod companies is that creators can choose themself the commission percentage. When your sales have reached $50 you get paid via Paypal, bank transfer or cheque depending on your contract.
Redbubble
I've had a gallery on redbubble for a few years now. I mainly sell prints there and commissions are rather small (like in most pod companies) but I like it a lot. Page is very easy to navigate and there is a very supportive community. Creator gets 30% commissions from each product sold through the site. Redbubble is a popular print on demand page, especially among younger customers.
I make art videos on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5gT6ZSSqk&list=PLwlq6WXqv_3sYg7c3QqDwiqTXe5BQn_jg
Some other print-on-demand pages you might like to try:
Cafepress
Fine Art America
Society6
Have you ever thought about selling your art as Greeting Cards? If the answer is yes. Take a look at Greeting Cards Universe
Write About Art
Do you enjoy writing and taking photos? If you have a monetized blog or another platform you can get some decent passive income for creating art tutorials and doing what you love. Video tutorials are also very popular at the moment but money-wise they only tend to work for those with millions of subscribers.
Are you more interested in art history or the life of famous painters? Why not write about them. Find the area that you are very passionate about and turn that into your main focus. You can also approach art magazines and ask if they would be interested in publishing your articles. If approaching art magazine CEO's is too intimidating why not approach art bloggers and art vloggers. Writing can lead to all kinds of collaborations and new opportunities.
Subscribe to my channel for more art videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/fairychamber
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