Times have changed- talented creatives no longer have to suffer through their careers as ‘starving artists.’ You don’t have to struggle through until your next exhibition or wait until a big commision for some cash, instead there are lots of ways you can put your artistic talent to good use with smaller projects.
Lots of these things can be resold many times meaning they’re a great way to earn passive income, and can definitely give you some financial stability while you work on your next big project. Here are some ideas!
Create Logos
Small businesses are booming, so there’s a huge market for small business logo design. Companies like bakeries, florists, photographers, makeup artists and more will all be on the lookout for cute, creative logos. Hand painted logos sell really well, and if you have experience with design as well as art chances are you can put together some really impressive templates for people to use on sites like Etsy. Alternatively you could sell your creations from your own site, if you have good web knowledge and 3D secure payments set up.
Design Greetings Cards
Using your artistic skills to create your own greetings cards is made easy by companies like Thortful, there are no fees and you earn a portion of every card you sell with your design on. Sign up to become a creator and upload your designs, there are no fees so you have nothing to lose.
Make Clip Art
If you have a cute or cartoony style of drawing then clipart is a really fun way to make money as an artist. Lots of people use these for things like scrapbooking, or alternatively can purchase a licence from you to sell the design on a product for their own small business. This could be printed on fabric, used in ebooks or printed onto physical merch. Be sure to specify whether or not your designs can be resold and look into different licences you can sell.
Explore Wedding Stationery
The wedding industry in Canada is worth around $5billion a year, and as a creative you can definitely have yourself a slice of this. Wedding stationery such as invites, table plans, table numbers and other paper decor can all be beautifully designed as an artist. Higher paying clients often seek out unique, hand painted designs which you can then transfer onto stationery. It could be anything from floral patterns which pick out the flowers they’re using on their big day, or a beautiful painting of their venue to include on their wedding invite.