Artful Ways to Make Money Online
Being an artist doesn’t mean you have to starve. Forget the archetypical image of a tortured soul, emaciated and malnourished, battling inner demons in a Lower Manhattan studio apartment—in the internet age artists are everywhere, even in the most unpredictable places, and making names for themselves online.
Is it selling out? Maybe. But you’ll never write the next great American novel or paint the next timeless painting if you can’t make rent. You can get paid for your art, and in more ways than you think.
The Neo- Classical Way
Why fight fierce competition in your area or (worse yet) a shortage of demand for art, when you can sell your one-of-a-kind pieces online, with the entire globe as your market? There are hundreds of communities and sites that facilitate the buying and selling of art; all that you are required to do is produce the art. The best part? Interested buyers come to you. Of course, the more you want to sell, the more you’ll have to advertise yourself in the real and online worlds, but your pieces will get views just by being online, which is more than they’d get sitting in your basement.
A few of the major online art trading communities are Etsy and Yessy, which feature hand-made art and craft items specifically, and eBay and Amazon, which aren’t limited to hand-made works (or to art, for that matter).
Many artists also choose to build their own websites to sell their work rather than creating an account with a third party site. And with websites like Foliotwist that offer web page templates and customizable page construction, along with traffic booster tips and website reviews, you don’t even have to be an expert coder to get your art seen by potentially hundreds of thousands of people every year.
An Avant- Garde Approach
Maybe you aren’t comfortable posting your serious art for sale online, or maybe you are an artist that doesn’t take art too seriously, but still want to generate some income by being creative. For clever and creative artists with an instinct for quality graphic design and an intuition about mass commercial appeal there are sites like Café Press, Zazzle, and Threadless which allow registered users to set up their own “stores” where they can upload their personal designs and print them on pretty much anything—t-shirts, coffee mugs, sticky notes, shot glasses, skateboards, shoes—and then sell those items to anyone who visits their store. It may not exactly be “high art,” but it can pay the bills if users are proactive in marketing their wares.
Even Michaelangelo Sold Out
Michaelangelo was paid to paint the Sistine Chapel—he did not do it out of an altruistic love for the church, or to preserve his lofty ideals about art. Art doesn’t have to be the thing that keeps you in poverty; rather, it should be that which transports you to higher realms of wealth and happiness (think Gatsby’s yellow Rolls Royce if you need a mental image).  Make your art make money for you!
About the Author
Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online schools. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.
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Twitter: opportplanet
says:
Amazon and ebay are great places to sell virtually everything so if someone is good in what he/she is doing and people appreciate his/her art work he can easily make a living as an artist
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Twitter: CuriousInkling
says:
I’ve used CafePress and Zazzle to sell some of my t-shirt designs. I can attest to the success of those services but reading your article certainly makes me interested in some of the other services you mention like Etsy. I haven’t heard of that one until now.
Twitter: TedGWL
says:
I like Etsy because I have seen a number of artist stores ranking really high in the Google search results for higher traffic long tail keywords. If you can get your art onto a site that ranks well for what people are searching for, then you stand a much higher chance of getting noticed and thereby selling a lot more pieces.
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Twitter: dayafterstore
says:
Don’t forget some of these other artist marketplaces (some suggestions): Artfire, Craigslist (you can sell anything there), Bonanza, and Hyena Cart.
Sonny@Teen Crafts recently posted..A Backpack to School Craft
Hi Alvina,
You can also try and sell your artistic talent by selling your photographs online. My friend is a photographer who sells his prints online for just a small price. But because the market is very big, he is actually earning a lot of money. Artists have a very large niche to fill in the web, if they are just techie enough.
Twitter: the10kstrategy
says:
Good way to put it into perspective etsy, ebay craiglsit, these have all been mentioned in other comment great ways also the10kstrategy.com is a good one. You really have to think outside of the box to get a leg up online
Tim@work from home recently posted..What happened to Profit lance?
Twitter: ViralMonopoly2
says:
First of all, great article!
Just wanted to follow on from Mishka’s point. As Mishka pointed out, there is a huge demand for images. I myself am in the web design industry and we purchase stock photos all the time to use in our designs. I think an important thing to remember when taking photos to make money is that you need to put yourself in your potential clients’ shoes and ask yourself, what is it they would want images of? One thing you can do is to go to stock image websites and see what type of images are most downloaded, as this will give you a great indicator of what is most popular.
Anyway thanks for posting this article, was a great read.
Hodaka
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for me i very much enjoy working online and in that way i pay my bills and all that i can buy my needs too.
Gema recently posted..windows angry birds
Anyone can benefit from the wonders of online marketing especially when done right.
Who would have thought that by just going online, you could actually earn money? A lot of job opportunities are actually available online and i think that it’s a good way to give people a chance to work even at the comfort of their own homes..
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in the internet age artists are everywhere, even in the most unpredictable places, and making names for themselves online..
Catherine recently posted..Top 10 Dating Sites
Yet in modern life artists newcomers zarabatyvyut very little because they do not know how to sell their arts
I’ve heard that esty, like most Internet ventures is all about marketing. You can’t expect to put it on Etsy and leave it until someone buys it. You have to relist your items constantly and get the word out. Starting a blog can help, you might even consider advertising on other photo blogs, twittering etc etc.. You can poo-poo it if you want but there are people who make serious money on Etsy, but it’s not easy.
Lauren From Healthy Trim Reviews recently posted..Healthy Trim: All You Need To Know Is Here
I found the best way to make money online is at Halloween, less completive, less payouts like ebay stuff and hell of a lot of traffic. There are companies or affiliate companies happy to help, just a search online.
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Twitter: pencilportraits
says:
The internet is a great way to showcase your works of art. You get maximum of exposure with minimum of effort.
Unlike the past, in modern days artists have a great opportunity to share their work with people from any part of the world.
I think blogging is the most artful way to earn money online because it is passive. Not much of maintenance is needed in blogging.
I have had a lot of luck selling my art on Craigslist, and network, network, and network! Look for local meetup groups that are involved in the arts. Members will lead you to new directions too.
If i may add, you can also make money through writing artfully. There are a lot of employers looking for artistic writers and there really in demand right now. You might want to visit odesk.com or onlinejobs.ph to verify such information.
I love crafts and I make some of it. With the emergence of the internet free advertising is available and it can reach as many people in just one day of placing it on a social network.
brenanboy recently posted..Computer Data Storage
There are a LOT of ways on how to make money not just online. If we are only focused and industrious enough to think about opportunities, we might even not notice, something that’s lying around us or near us is an opportunity to make money.
We make art sometimes, indeed, to make money. But others make it because they just want to and not to garner some pay for the rent.
I’m familiar with some of the buy and sell sites you’ve mentioned except for Etsy and Yessy. Will surely give it a try one of this days. Thanks for sharing.
If you have a talent to sell, go and do it. The internet has unlimited potential and as long as you can tap into this potential, you can surely earn a lot of money in the process. I know a person who sells his handwritings online, and his craft is really good so a lot of people are ordering handwritten letters from him. If you have a talent to share, especially in the arts, don’t be afraid to flaunt it!
Alvina,
There are many online stores where artists can get huge exposure. There are also some online art galleries that hold contests (such as Saatchi) where artists can display their original art works and even win some nice prizes.
Mircea.
Great article, these are great different ways to approach making money online.
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I would have to agree with you I have had success with them as well. I had a few functions and it was the perfect and inexpensive way to get my promotional material out there.
College Blogs recently posted..Starting a Blog can Help with College