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If you’re wondering how to make money as a digital artist, you’ve come to the right place.
Most artists think that monetizing their artis a challenging task. If you’re one of them, I’m here to tell you that it’s not.
Does that mean it’s easy? Certainly not!
Fortunately, I’m here to guide and tell you what steps you can take to monetize your digital art.
This article will provide you with twelve practical ways to earn money through your digital artwork. I’ll also be dividing these money-making strategies into two categories – active income and passive income.
Let’s dive in!
Active income is among the most common approaches to making money. However, to make an active income, I need to trade my time and skills for money.
Following are some ways to make active income as a digital artist:
It’s pretty popular among hobbyists and artists. For this, I need to display my work on my social media account and portfolio website and include my pricing and contact information.
As such, potential buyers can contact me for commission work. It can be a decent way to make some side income.
Another good thing about art commissions is that I can charge either a fixed or an hourly rate.
As an artist, this is among the most common mode of making money. There are tons of well-paying jobs for digital artists, such as commercial artists, art directors, art managers, etc.
In addition, there are opportunities in various fields, including animation, Multimedia artists, industrial design, graphic designing, and many more.
The best part about these professions is that I’ll get to work with many like-minded individuals.
Though most of these professions may require an art degree, more industries today are opening their doors to non-degree holders.
Working for an employer or agency also offers additional benefits like remote work options, health insurance, public transit assistance, etc.
Another great option to make money for digital artists is freelancing. With freelancing, I’ll not just get paid for my work but also give me ample freedom to work remotely.
In addition, I’ll also have the option to pick the work I’m interested in. More and more artists choose this route these days as it’s a convenient way of earning money.
Besides, plenty of freelancing platforms offer different work opportunities like book cover artists, comic book creators, storyboard artists, etc.
If done right, freelancing can help generate a good amount of money. Studies reveal that freelancers make 70% more money than all other professionals on average in the US.
Design contests are also a great way way to make an active income as a digital artist. How does it work? Say, I wanted a logo for my company. There are two options to get it done.
One- I can contact a designer/artist for commission work or hire them on freelancing platforms.
The second choice would be to approach a design company. Ultimately, I’ll receive about six logo variants to pick from and finalize on one.
But what if there was a way for me to get 50 to 200 sample logos to pick from? That’s where Design contests can help. There are sites like Design Crowd and Design Contest where I can host such tournaments.
All I need to do is provide my requirements, and designers and artists will submit their work. The person whose work I choose will be the winner and receive the money.
Suppose I upload my stuff on art portfolio sites and social media, and nobody contacts me for work. What happens then? This is among the most common issues that beginner artists face.
In such a situation, the cold approach tactic can be of help. This method involves me finding potential clients instead of waiting for them to reach me.
For instance, I could reach out to a big company or a small local start-up via email or phone. I’ll then tell them about my skills and how I can redesign their logo or design something new.
The better you communicate about your offerings, the better chance you’ll have of convincing them to hire you for commission work.
Initially, it can be challenging to identify the right people, but with time and experience, it gets easier to spot them.
Another excellent route for digital artists to make money is becoming art teachers.
The earnings for art teaching professionals vary depending on the college or school and the location. In the US, secondary school teachers make about $55,000 on average per year.
The best part about this route is that I can even start my art classes. So there’s a particular advantage to being an art teacher compared to working for companies.
For instance, I get plenty of creative space and freedom. In addition, my schedule is fixed, and I won’t have to worry about overtime. Besides, job satisfaction rates among art teachers are also great.
The passive income route is becoming quite popular nowadays. In passive income, I only need to work once beforehand and then yield the rewards afterward.
However, it’s worth noting that making passive income takes time and hard work to get the desired outcomes.
There’s no limit to how much money you can make through passive income strategies if done right.
Here are some practical actions that can help generate passive income:
Starting a blog specific to your niche can be an excellent way to make money. Blogging is among the most trending passive income streams.
So, how do I start? Before starting a blog, it’s essential to have a specific niche. As a digital artist, my place could be related to digital art or any related topic. Remember that it’s important to offer valuable content to run a successful blog.
It’s also critical to create blog posts after conducting keyword research to allow the content to rank higher on search engines.
Once the blog receives a decent amount of traffic, I’ll be able to monetize my blog. Blogging has helped several individuals earn passively through courses, products, affiliate programs, and more.
Selling unique designs and art pieces on stock image sites is another yet simple way of making money.
It’s an excellent option because instead of letting my artwork silently sit on my computer, it’d help me earn passively.
How does it work? Suppose I have created tons of artwork in the past for practice. Then, I could post them on stock image websites.
In doing so, I’ll receive some amount of money every time someone downloads my work.
Creating digital courses is another excellent approach for making passive income.
For instance, as a digital artist, I can create courses on various topics related to my profession. It could be a beginner guide to the tools I use for my design work or a detailed guide on specific digital art topics.
The goal is to create something that’d value aspiring digital artists or anyone interested in this field.
Creating a course may take days, weeks, or even months. But once it’s done, it can help generate income for years.
Now, I’m interested to hear from you:
Which of these money-making strategies will you be trying first?
Or do you have any other tactics that you’d like to add?
Or, if you have any questions regarding this article, kindly leave your comments below and let me know.
Also, if you like this post, kindly share it on your social media accounts.
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