Income streams as an Artist Part 1 (Patreon)

I think every artist or crafter that is starting to take illustrating or making more seriously will come to the point where there comes up the thought of making money out of it. 

And there are sooo many ways to make money from your art or crafts although a lot (also me when I started out) have no idea where to start. So today I´m gonna share with you my first 7 favorite income streams for artists/crafters and will also let you know if I´m already making money that way or if I plan to. That's part 1, and if this interests you, I'll do part 2 as well :)

The theme for this month is:

"Possible income streams as an Artist"

So let´s make moooooneeeeey to pay our bills! 😁

1. Private Commissions

Most of the time this is the first option to make money that most artists are thinking about, especially when you already got an inquiry for a commission on your socials. I think it´s one of the easiest ways to start making money as an artist. You can share that you are now available for private commissions with your following or with friends and family to get your first jobs. 

It´s also a great way to further practice your drawing skills and private commissions are also way easier in the beginning than working with real clients.

I have a pet commission listing in my shop and love to draw the pets of my lovely followers!

2. Client Work

The private commissions of course then lead us to client work. That means creating art for another business. If you´re posting on social media it may happen that some businesses will find you and contact you if you want to work with them on a project. But you can also cold email businesses with your work or portfolio when you think your work fits to what they make or sell. (But be aware if cold emailing is allowed in your country, here in Austria it´s not allowed). And definitely have a portfolio website with your work!

And keep the following in mind when working with businesses:

Don´t underprice! (there are a lot of articles online where you can read about pricing illustration work, or maybe you have an illustration institution in your country that shares prices like https://illustratoren-organisation.de/)

Don´t forget to add up usage rights costs to your illustration price!

Never sell without a contract! 

If you have a weird feeling when talking to a company better don´t accept that job!

I started my illustration career with client work as a lot of businesses wrote me on Instagram if I can make art for their products. 

3. Licensing

Another great way to make money as an artist is licensing! 

That means selling licenses of your exciting work to businesses that can use your work on their products and pay you based on how long and for what they want to use your work. 

Licensing is everywhere. Most of the illustrations on the products you see in your shopping stores are licensed by an artist if they are not made directly by the company's designer or bought on a stock website. 

To find licensing clients you can just check the product from your local stores that you like and collect the businesses to write them. Or search for possible businesses online like kids fabric businesses to sell seamless pattern licenses.

And again definitely have a portfolio website & socials with your work so that businesses can also find you!

Keep the same things in mind like when working with businesses!

I love licensing! This was also one of the first income streams I had as again businesses wrote me over Instagram if I would be interested in licensing my art to them. But I also myself write cold emails to get licensing jobs.

4. Selling physical products

The next one is, of course, selling physical products! Either having an online shop or/and selling at conventions. 

Most (also me) are starting with selling stickers as it´s the easiest and cheapest! You can see and find out if you like making products, packing orders and running an online shop, or selling at conventions.

Start small and have fun :)

I have my Etsy shop for a while now and started focusing more on it this year. I loooove making products out of my illustrations! This is definitely my all-time favorite task. I can design and sketch products for days and weeks and I have so many ideas for new merch for the future!

5. Digital products

Selling digital products is a great way if you don´t want to handle packing orders and shipping! 

Selling procreate brushes is an example for that!

You can also make digital sticker sheets, art prints, digital illustration assets, and a lot more.

I only have one digital product in my shop but always wanted to add more! And I´m currently working on my first ever brush set for procreate which is very exciting! 

6. Wholesale

Selling wholesale is an amazing way to get your products into other shops! If you already have a shop on Etsy or any other platform I would really recommend to start selling wholesale as soon as possible!

You can either use a platform like Faire Wholesale for that or directly write to Shops where your products would fit in.

I only started selling wholesale last year when I got an invitation email from Faire Wholesale as I had no idea before that that there are such platforms for that out there! I already got a few big orders there which is amazing and I´m trying to work on more product this year that would fit better for wholesale :)

7. Content Creation - Social Media

If you have a bit of a following you can create content with products from other businesses and share them on your socials.

The companies will pay you based on your following & reach. 

These companies will either find you on social media, you can directly write them, or work with a social media agency. 

The first collabs I made with companies on social media were for exchange of products. But it was actually only an exchange of products because I wasn´t brave enough to ask for money. This year I made a media kit with my prices, following, and reach and now only work with companies that are willing to pay. (and of course only companies that I like and that fits to what I post)

So for now that´s everything! I think it´s already a lot for the first income streams article! In part two I will share 6 more income streams with you!

I really hope this will help you to start your illustration career!

I wish you a cozy weekend!  

💛💛💛