How Much Do Freelance Artists Make?

Imagine a world without good music to listen to, without the actors to bring to life your favorite television shows, without beautiful artworks and designs to look at, or a world without good books/ articles to read. I know what you are probably thinking and you are right. It would be a very boring place to live in. The truth is, the world needs your art.  

Nevertheless, making a living as a freelance artist is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication and patience. It is however very much possible to be successful as a freelance artist today. With the growing need for content both offline and online, the opportunities to make money as artists are plentiful than ever before. It does not matter whether you want to do it as a side hustle or make it your full-time career.

Earnings of a freelance artist

There is no definite answer as to how much money a freelance artist makes since it is all dependent on many factors such as skills, experience, area of expertise and your channels of income amongst other factors. However, according to Indeed.com, the average salary of a freelance artist can range anywhere from $10,000 to as high as $ 100,000 per month.

How do freelancer artists make money

As an artist, your talent and skills alone are not enough to earn you money. The only way for a freelance artist to make money is by going public with their work. This way, they will be able to land clients and gigs. It might seem like an easy thing to do especially with the many platforms you can access with technology. However, if you are not strategic about your plans, it is very easy to get lost in the crowd.

As a freelance artist, there are many opportunities for making money whether you are working as part-time or full-time artists. They include;

Sell your original works of art

It could be paintings, handmade jewelry, sculptures, or even photographs. A good way to go about this is by having a website that will also work as your online portfolio. However, if you are only starting, you might want to sell your pieces on a more established platform that has huge traffic. This will help you get discovered and will drive traffic to your website. Examples of websites where you can sell your work as an artist include; Artfinder, UGallery, Shutterstock, Printful, Etsy, Alamy, and Amazon.

Private Commissions

This involves working directly for a company or an individual. With this, you are paid to offer your artistic services. Work could include working on interior or exterior mural paintings, creating brand logos and designs, or writing articles for their magazines and blogs.

Teaching and consulting

Sometimes, making money from your art is not easy. There will not always be ready for clients to buy what you put out. This, therefore, calls for you to supplement your income in other ways such as teaching and mentoring inspiring artists in your field of work.

For teaching, you can set up an online class on a platform such as Udemy or Skillshare and have people pay a certain fee to enroll for your classes. Also, if you are on social media, and have built a following of people who trust you, many at a time you will find a few followers who are interested in learning your skill. You can create short tutorial courses in the form of PDFs, webinars or videos and sell to them.  

Find work on online marketplaces

There are a lot of valuable skills and experiences you can get working on online markets such as Upwork and Freelancer. Such platforms open you up to a wide range of opportunities that you otherwise would not have encountered. Besides making you money, they also push you to try out new things and in the process, you learn.

 Work for magazines and blogs

As an artist, your work could involve writing articles, taking photos, designing covers, etc. landing a gig to work for a magazine or blog is as easy as following their social media pages. Many times editors send out a call for pitches for various opportunities and they are more likely to hire someone from their audience.

Working for blogs and magazines is not only a good source of income but also a good networking opportunity. Having your name credited to your work on these platforms is also a powerful way of marketing your name and skills in front of a broader pool of audiences some of whom could be your potential clients.

Market your work

Create your portfolio. This is where you are going to showcase your best work. today, the easiest way to market yourself as an artist is through social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This is because people these days are hooked to social media hence increases your chances of reaching a wider pool of audience.

How to market your work using social media

Take good, clear pictures and keep your content interesting: With social media, you should aim at adding value to your audience so as to keep them interested. This is by ensuring your content is either educative or entertaining.

Link your work: there is only so much that you can put up on social media. In order to make the most of it, you should consider adding a link to your work, to your website or YouTube channel. By following the link, interested people will be led back to your portfolio where they will find a collection of your best work.

Generate Traffic: This can be done by paying for ads. Ads help to boost your reach by showing your posts to a selected range of people who might be interested in what you have to offer.

Bottom Line

Whatever your passion is, you can make money from it if you started approaching it with a more serious mindset. Think of it as business and have a strategic plan to enable you make the most of every opportunity you land. 

In the past, it was hard to make a living working as an artist, leave alone being a freelance artist. Today, however, this stereotype has been debunked by many artists all over the world being able to make a living off their talents and skills.