Side Hustle as an artist

18 Side Hustle Ideas every artist MUST know about (2022 Guide)

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If you are an artist or a beginner in the field, you must read about these 18 amazing side hustle ideas that you can start today as an artist.

I am a firm believer of the fact, that if you have a skill which can be of help to others, then you must look to harness that potential to get the best returns out of that.

Art is one of the best forms of representation of ideas and all artists must take pride in their art.

To give you some numbers, here’s few things why you must read this article about side hustle ideas as an artist.

(sources: Americans for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Entertainment Software Association)

  • Nearly 1% of all the jobs in the world is based of arts and design.
  • The jobs in arts and design industry is expected to grow at 2% till 2031.
  • Arts and design holds a higher economic impact than sports industry with annual spendings of $88 billion annually.

This reiterates the fact that “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

Thus, artists have a lot to contribute to the world and the best way is to pick a side hustle that we are about to discuss below.

Let’s get started…

List of side hustle ideas as an artist

Before we look into the first side hustle, I have provided an entire overview of all the side hustles for an artist here:

Become a Graphic Designer$5 – $40 per gig
Be a NFT designerUnder $200 for most sales
Decorative wall art $18 per hour
Create an art blog$1000 per month
Become a 2D or 3D animator$30 – $50 per gig
Be a art tutorUpto $44 per course
Create an art YouTube channelUpto $500 per course
Sell ebooks or guides related to art$16 per copy
Start creating logos for businesses$15 per logo
Sell designs online$20 – $25 per piece
Become a Thumbnail Designer$5 – $50 per piece
Become a Pinterest Virtual AssistantUpto $75 per hour
Be a Graffiti Designer$41,333 per annum
Work as a Tattoo artistUpto $100k per annum
Create designs that can be sold on a POD store$25 – $32 per product sold
Become a Caricature artists$30 per hour 
Create a podcast about arts and designStarting $400 per month
Design menus for hotels and restaurants$10 – $30 per menu

Become a Graphic Designer

I am going to start this list with a very common way to make money online as an artist, i.e. Graphics Designer.

There’s always high demand for strong and viewer oriented graphics that conveys the best meaning.

A graphic designer can demand an asking pay rate $5 – $40 for each gig that they offer for sellers on Fiverr.

Source: Fiverr

As a graphic designer you can apply your skills onto a lot of different industries such as:

  • YouTube 
  • Blogging
  • Gaming
  • Animation and more.

One of the best places to get started as a Graphic Designer is to look into the Community Tab of YouTube channels who would post requirement (example below):

Source: Learn and Earn with Pavan Agrawal

Be a NFT designer

NFT’s have been trending for a while now and people are making millions out of it, selling virtual assets on the internet…😵.

NFT’s are making all the noise for a while now and even Gary Vaynerchuk has launched his own NFT project.

If you are not aware of what we are talking here, then NFT’s are regarded as Non Fungible Tokens that can represent any real world objects such as:

  • Arts
  • Music
  • In game videos
  • Game items and more.

These virtual assets are tradable commodities which can be bought and sold in cryptocurrencies for money.

Weekly sales volume of NFT’s has seen an immense 500x🚀 growth since 2017.

As art and design is the core of the NFT’s, the industry is more favourable for the artists in general who have good skills and sense of understanding of their art.

When we talk about earnings of a user, the highest amount ever earned till date is $69 million from sale of a NFT. (source: Cloudways)

Although around 33.6% of the NFT’s are sold for under $200 (as per Nonfungible.com).

Here’s an interesting video of the sales of NFT and how much profit it made for Cam Rackam.

Decorative painting of walls for money

If you are good at painting walls and have a visionary idea, then you can make some serious money with this side hustle.

Many millennials are looking to paint their walls of their houses as per a customized design and theme.

This brings an opportunity to make money while you paint other’s walls.

The United States Department of Labour has specified an hourly wage rate of $18 per hour, while the average monthly pay rate comes out to under $38000 a year.

A decorative wall paint can cost from $1500 – $10000 per wall depending upon what you do to paint the wall as per your creativity and imagination.

Open an Art Blog

An art blog is perhaps one of the best ways to capture your audience. 

Essentially what you showcase to others, you can put it in words on a blog and showcase your audience about its progress.

A blog opens doors to a lot of opportunities and this will be visible with time as you progress in your journey.

All you got to do is buy a domain and a hosting and get started publishing content onto the blog.

Let’s say you have learnt about “How to draw a tree”, you can show it in a step by step guide onto a blog for other’s references.

This can have high chances of conversions in form of affiliates and course sales as well.

You can also sell an e-book related to your learnings and opt for monetisation in that.

But, for all of this to happen you need to get traffic onto your site to pull in revenue.

Here’s a blog that is selling a lot of digital arts online on its blog:

Source: Artsy

There is a lot of potential to scale a business and run a profit making side hustle if you happen to set up your own blog in the arts space.

The revenue from an arts blog can be atleast upto $1000 per month for a beginner starting out.

Adding in a YouTube channel or an Insta page can boost your performance and bring in more sales during the year.

Become a 2D or 3D animator

Animation is another vast industry which is growing rapidly courtesy artists who work with their ideas to bring vision into life.

An animator can expect to make around $30 – $50 for a gig on Fiverr. 

Top paid animators can also earn upto $120 for their animation.

Source: Fiverr 

Being an animator is a high paying skill as this requires a lot more besides just good arts.

Once you learn about this skill and enter into the animation industry, there’s a lot more that you would be able to execute on your own.

The best place to get started is YouTube, this is where you will get to know the skills required to learn about animation.

Once you gather enough knowledge, start applying for entry level positions through LinkedIn, YouTube networks or other places where you can get an opportunity to apply your skills.

Become an art tutor

If you have gathered enough knowledge in the field of art and want to teach others, then this is the perfect thing to get started with.

An art tutor is someone who helps others learn from the basics of the art to an expert level from the courses that they offer on their platform.

Here’s some of the best selling courses available on Udemy..

Source: Udemy

Notice that these courses on art are sold for as low as $19 – $44 per course.

Every artist has expertise in one thing which the other person doesn’t have.

This is the best value addition you can offer to someone who is inexperienced and learning the skills for the first time.

All these needs is recording the content and putting it onto digital content for sale.

Create an art YouTube channel

A YouTube channel is probably the first thing anyone would recommend to you as the first side hustle.

Many artist’s across the globe have found their audience and followers recording and uploading videos on their YouTube channel.

This is certainly a long term strategy that can help you to find your audience.

As a beginner start uploading content that you already know about and integrate the same onto your Blog or Instagram page.

Once you start receiving the desired traffic, you can monetize the same through ads to affiliates or even own course sales too.

The above video shows how much this art designer made as her first paycheck from her art YouTube channel.

Sell ebooks or guides related to art

If you are an artist, an actionable guide on how to execute anything is the first thing to do.

This is one of the assets that sells the best when you have got visitors coming onto your page.

Source: Amazon.com

The above shows an ebook which has sold over more than 18625 copies which has a minimum sales price of $15.92 per copy.

This shows the potential you hold even if you only look to create a pdf or a drawing guide that has the potential to sell.

Again, this is one time effort and you can sell multiple copies over life time building passive income month on month.

One can also add more sources for earnings of affiliate income such as pencils, stationeries and other art forms that can make money.

Start creating Logos for companies

Logos are the face of the business.

You may forget what a company does, but logos convey a lot of meaning to what the business represents.

Steve Jobs had paid $100k for designing logo for his brand NeXT created by famous logo designer Paul Rand.

As a logo designer, you can start freelancing on Fiverr to begin with to create logos and make money from it.

Logo designers can make upto $15 – $100 for a logo as shown below…

Source: Fiverr

One of the best places to get started is again LinkedIn, Instagram or even contacting YouTubers who would be in need of such services.

Freelancing platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork would also play a key role in that.

Sell designs online

Digital artwork carries a lot of relevance to people who are looking to buy designs online from websites.

If you are an artist and know how to produce content in digital medium, then you can make money selling these designs as well.

Source: thefeebles.com

The above are some illustrations and designs which are being sold for $20 – $25 per piece.

These are artworks or designs that are being sold online for good money.

There are plenty of platforms where you can sell digital artworks, templates for use or even printables such as:

  • Etsy
  • Amazon
  • Saatchi Art
  • Turning Art
  • Shopify
  • Society 6 etc.

Be a thumbnail designer

Any video or a piece of digital information on the internet requires a thumbnail to capture the audience’s attention in the first glance.

A powerful thumbnail image speaks about what you are going to expect inside the content.

Here’s a pricing structure elaborated by a beginner freelance thumbnail designer who is looking to make money from this side hustle.

Besides this anyone can expect to make atleast $5 – $50 and even upto $100 for pro verified accounts for creating thumbnails for a Fiverr gig.

Images have a strong way of conveying information to the users as they transmit the information upto 60000 times to the visitor.

A single image can also convey upto 90% of the information that is transmitted visually.

Source: Fiverr

Thumbnail designing is a growing opportunity for anyone who is looking to publish content online.

Provide services as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant

A Virtual Assistant is someone who provide services to the business working virtually from their home.

There are plenty of things that can be done for a business and everything need not be given a top priority while building a business.

Pinterest is a great marketing tool to produce content and anyone who is looking to publish pins can take the help of an artist who can publish pins for the business.

Pinterest VA’s demand a really good pay and can make upto $75 per hour working as a VA.

This is a demanding job and requires willingness to learn and put amazing pins for the creator to stay afloat in the business.

Here’s one Pinterest Pin that I had created for one of my posts posted onto Pinterest:

Become a Graffiti Designer

A Graffiti Designer is someone who puts Graffiti, i.e. drawings or arts sprayed onto the wall to convey a meaningful message for the people.

This is a street based art which draws a lot of attention among the people who enjoy seeing the design and art displayed by the people.

This can be a meaningful side hustle as an artist, if you live in a neighbourhood which drawas most of the attention in the form of art.

Ziprecruiter states that the annual earnings of the Graffiti artists can go upto as high as $81,500 starting from $15,500.

The average earnings remain to be at around $41,333 as of August 2022.

Source: Fiverr

Fiverr is the first recommended place to start looking for opportunity to make money as a Graffiti Designer.

The platform holds immense potential for any freelancer coming through and can bring a good source of earning if you are a beginner graffiti designer.

Here’s an interesting video of how Facebook helped David Choe become a millionaire as a Graffiti artist.

Work as a Tattoo artist

Tattoos industry has grown steadily over the past few years and has reached upto $1.4 billion in 2022.

Not only men but women can also pursue this side hustle as an artist.

Many around us feel the need to convey a message inscribing some form of art on their body and tattoo artists command a significant influence in this regard.

Tattoo artists average a pay rate of almost $48 per hour and earn an annual income just shy of $99,956 per year.

There are several types of tattoo designs that one can flaunt on their body, such as:

  • Black and Grey Tattoo
  • Classic Americana Tattoo
  • Portraiture Tattoo
  • Stick and Poke Tattoo and more.

Here’s a video published by Forbes which showcases famous tattoo artist Bang Bang on his jouney from self taught tattoo artist to his own studio.

Here’s How Bang Bang Went From Self-Taught Tattooist To Owning His Own Studio | Here’s How | Forbes

Create designs to be sold onto a Print on Demand store

Impressive designs never go unnoticed and people love to wear it on their sleeves if not on their body.

This is the beauty of the business of having a Print on Demand store where designs imprinted onto a merchandise can generate significant sales if done correctly.

There are plenty of POD stores where all that sells the most is what you put onto the merch.

Popular options that sell the most on a Print on Demand store includes:

  • Tees
  • Hoodies
  • Mugs
  • Caps etc.

Source: classicdad.co

The above is an example of a Print on Demand store where you can see sales of tees in the range of $25.99 – $32.99 from the website.

Many people are selling a lof of stuff online and some of the most promising sales happens to be a simple text written onto a t-shirt as well.

Some of the popular platforms selling Print on Demand designs includes:

  • Modalyst
  • Printful
  • Printify
  • Redbubble
  • Zazzle

Become a Caricature artists

A caricature artist also can make a good sum of money working in this field.

We have seen a lot of caricatures that have come up lately that has captured the attention of the people around the globe.

If you are wondering what exactly is a caricature then its that image of a person which is magnified beyond borders adding a funny touch that resembles their characteristics.

Zippia states that caricature artists can make upto $61903 per year with an estimated pay rate of $29.76 per hour for each art.

Source: Fiverr

People charge about $5 – $50 for their caricature art when they publish their gig online on Fiverr.

There’s been a growing demand in the job requirements at 1% projected till 2028.

Create a podcast about arts and design

Podcast is the future of content and people are going to stay glued to listening to things in the future.

As we age everyday listening to things in Spotify and other audio services platform, several people are carving out their independent space online.

In essence arts and design can be conveyed to listeners via podcast as well.

This side hustle as an artist is not directly related to art, but is kind of related to how you bridge people together into telling success stories related to your art.

Some of the famous podcasts that are based on arts and design includes:

  • Raw Material
  • 99% Invisible
  • A Piece of Work
  • Clever
  • The Modern Art Notes Podcast
  • A Small Voice etc

Podcasts can bring you an income $400 per month to even $100k per month as a content creator.

Design Menus for hotels and restaurants

Every hotel or a restaurant requires one thing in common from artists in specific, i.e. a creative menu.

The first thing that customers get to see while they look at a menu is the aesthetics and feel of the menu.

If that doesn’t feel appealing and good to them, then they won’t be able to connect to the vibes of the restaurant in general.

A cafe would be looking more towards a beverage-styled menu.

A hotel that offers starters, soups or salads would look for a static menu etc.

Nonetheless menu designers would always find the work in the industry.

This is a really demandable skill and a viable side hustle as an artist.

This is considering the fact that cloud kitchens are growing in vast numbers pretty quickly.

Generally menu designers can earn around $10 – $30 for designing a menu.

They can even earn upto $100 for designing a menu.

Source: Fiverr

I have been personally paid $12.5 for my first time gig designing menu for someone…😉

Final Words on Side Hustle ideas as an artist

An artist can be as artistic and exuberant as they practice upon their art to become a part of their side hustle.

While there are endless possibilities to pursue as a side hustle, it all comes down to one question.

How much are you willing to put in the effort to grow and succeed in life?

You must remember the fact that it takes persistent efforts and consistency in life to build anything of significance.

I hope this blog has been super helpful and useful to you, and you could get an idea on what it takes to start a side hustle in life.

Let me know in the comments section below, what you think of this…

Cheers.

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