Inky Brainzzzz

Hold on, this is going to be a long one…

$2500/month is totally realistic as an artist’s salary. There are plenty of artists who make a comfortable salary freelancing. The “gig economy” as they’re calling it is unpredictable and it takes a lot of hustle, but I promise you there are many many artists making it work. (I know, I work with a ton of them). 

But it seems that artists are extra susceptible to the fear that it’s not possible to make a living as an artist. So why — if there are lots of artists making a living — are we getting the message that it’s impossible?

1—The immortal myth of the starving artist. Everyone knows artists have to starve and suffer for their art right? Wrong! But that’s what your parents say, your teachers say, everyone who happens to be in a job they don’t love says. Ever think that this is what they repeat because they need to believe it to be ok with their own choices? Maybe your accountant really wanted to be an artist, but they took the “safe” route and need to now live with themselves, and the way they do that is by convincing themselves there was no possible way they could have made a living as an artist. It’s impossible! So then, of course, it must also be impossible for you. Do you want to listen to people who (may) hate their jobs or do you want to listen to successful artists? 

2—The successful artists are not the ones on forums all day. The most in-demand artists work hard to stay that way, and they sure as hell aren’t hanging around in artist forums or on social media complaining. They might be on social media to promote themselves and keep tabs on friends and industry biz, but they’re not spending all day there, and they’re not bragging about how successful they are either. Forums are very helpful to artists when they’re starting out, it’s a place to learn from your peers, a place to get feedback. But the most activity on artist forums and Facebook groups are low-to-medium-experience artists who are still trying to figure it out. They’re the ones most likely to be understandably afraid that they’ll never make ends meet and sharing that fear with all the other artists. It becomes an insecurity echo chamber and depresses everyone. When successful artists choose to teach it’s either in short bursts of advice online or at events, but anything longer and they either need to be making money doing it or they need to get back to paying work. This Tumblr is a great example — every AD who contributes does so for free in order to help the artist community — but we still need to get paid and get back to our own jobs.

3—Freelancing IS hard. ANY job that relies on freelancing is hard — art is not any harder than being a freelance writer, a freelance musician, a freelance stylist, a freelance actor, or any of the thousand other kinds of freelancers there are out there. In-house jobs come with stability, reliable pay, health benefits, vacation, and, most importantly, a career track. Whatever field you’re in (teaching, law, business, accounting, carpentry, even in-house art jobs) there’s an entry level you get in on and then levels moving you up the ladder. No one gives you promotions in freelance. However, in-house jobs also come with bosses, stricter work hours, performance reviews, and having to put on pants. Freelancing gives you the Freedom to work however you wish. But Freelance Ain’t Free. You pay for it in security. If it was easy, literally everyone would do it. WHO DOESN’T WANT TO WORK IN THEIR PAJAMAS? 

4—Succeeding at a job we love takes extra work. If all we cared about was money, we sure as hell wouldn’t get into art. We’d be a businessman, or a lawyer, or a plumber (those guys make killer money). But we want to do a job we care about, that we are in love with, that we probably have been in love with since we were children. There’s a lot of people who want to do the same. A lot more than there are jobs for. A lot of people grow up dreaming of being an artist. Just like a lot of people dream of being rockstars and astronauts. Do a lot of people dream of being an accountant? I suspect not as many. But there are a lot of accountants in the world who wish they were artists and for myriad reasons gave up their dreams and made a more pragmatic choice. I’m not saying they’re wrong. But that was their choice. As long as your choice is to chase your dream of being a professional artist, you are swimming against the current and that takes extra work. No one is going to hand you an art career (or a rock stardom or a seat on a rocket) just because you really want it. You have to earn it.

I say all this with the caveat that skill level is a big factor. Your work may or may not be at the level that it needs to be at to pull down the amount of money in commissions you need to support yourself, YET. Your question is anonymous, so I can’t see your work, but I recommend getting the evaluation of a working pro or an art director in your field if you can so you know what level you are at. There’s NOTHING wrong or shameful about working a non-art job while you develop. You are still an artist and no amount of salary or not takes that away from you. Even if you decide to stop pursuing art as a career and become an accountant, you’re still an artist as long as you are making art. Even if it’s just for yourself. Being a pro artist isn’t for everyone. There are easier ways to make money.

—Agent Negative Space

P.S. if you’re worried you’re missing the info you need about the business side of building a successful art career, our Art Business Bootcamps are a good place to start. Registration for the next session opens Monday!