How to make money as a digital artist: Having a presence on the internet gives you a lot of ways to get income as a digital artist.
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Being an artist in a digital era means that nowadays is more probably you will make money with your art working by yourself rather than working on a company or studio as an employee.
With the internet you can have a job as a freelance artist, creating art on your own terms or working with selected clients.
In this post, I’m gonna show you the most common websites where you can try to offer your services as a digital artist to generate income.
I have more tutorials on my main blog, not just for how to write the plot of your comic, page, check them out! Maybe you will find more useful information! 😀
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
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how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art.
Work as a freelance artist
A freelance artist is an artist who works for many clients. Basically, you create and sell your art on your own terms. It can mean creating physical artwork and trying to sell it online or offline, but it can also mean creating digital art with the purpose of selling “prints”, stickers, apparel, graphic novels, anything you want. They are artists who stay at home and work in their pajamas, LoL!
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How to find work as a digital artist?
Social media and networking! the only way to get noticed on the internet is that you must go out there and show your work and skills as much as you can!
Posts in forums on art-related websites (ex. DeviantArt, Artstation) and online job listings (Behance, Linkedin) are very good ways to get those first gigs. Companies rarely read anything from artists for hire, so look for existing posts from clients looking for artists and put your foot in the door!
What kind of jobs can you do as a digital artist?
- Logo designer
- Web designer
- Character animator
- Character illustrator
- Video editor
- 3D designer
- Concept artist
- Graphic design (social media, banners, websites)
- book illustrator
- Videogame UI/UX desgner
- And so many more!
Companies look for an artist with these skills to help them out, the artist works with them until the job is done, get paid, and move on to the next freelance job for a different company or group.
Always remember to pick your niche so you will have more chances to earn more credibility and get hired.
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
Webpages where you can make money as a digital artist
If you’re looking where to start there are many websites on the internet that can help you to find a job, But I’m only going to pot here the one that I know by my personal experience, if you know a website that is not here please let me know in comments so I can add it to this list!
You may think that Linkedin is not a place for an artist but nothing is farther away from the truth, you can find many companies and art directors looking for artists to work with. Linkedin is the biggest networking website on the web! make sure to have a full resume of your skills and a clear link to your portfolio ;D
Upwork
Are you a freelancer? Upwork is a freelancing platform where companies look for artists help for their projects. Duration of the job, hourly pay, and expert level is posted on their posts.
Behance
A platform by Adobe! Behance is a platform for creative professionals around the world to showcase their own work and to discover the creative work of others through three key features: Search (Discover), Live, and Jobs.
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
Fiverr
Create a gig at Fivver you think people would love! This can include caricatures, offer to make graphic design logos, animation, anything you want to offer.
Indeed
Begin your job search with Indeed! Super easy job search engine and you can build your own resume. You can also create job alert emails, search for jobs, save them and apply to them directly using your Indeed portfolio.
Make money as a digital artist: Work on your own projects
If you don’t want to work for clients you can try to pitch your own work to the world, this method will need more energy from you at the beginning to build an audience but totally worth it.
Webtoon
Read comics by artists from all over the world… one of these comics could be yours! CANVAS is WEBTOON’s open platform where creators can publish their comics and connect with millions of readers around the world.
Patreon
Create monthly memberships for your fans! You give them access to exclusive content, community, and insight into your creative process. In exchange, you get the freedom to do your best work, and the stability you need to build an independent creative career.
Kickstarter
Have an amazing idea? Kickstart your project! On kickstarter you share your ideas, and people will donate money to help your project come to life! This can mean an invention, book, a videogame, a film, anything!
Redbuuble
Make your designs into… everything! Stickers, T-shirts, mugs, curtains, pillowcases, canvas prints, and more! This is a print-on-demand service so you make the design and they do the printing work for you. There are more print-on-demand websites to sell your art (printfull, society6, teepublic), but this one is my personal favorite :D.
Twitch
Put on a show! Work on your artwork live and connect with your audience. Twitch is a great way to make a community and meet new friends!
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
Commisions
Commissions are a great way to work with different clients and draw different subject matters. It feels great to make someone happy with what they receive! Plus, it makes a great addition to your commission portion of your portfolio.
I suggest showing in-progress work on your social media and connect with your followers! Remember, your portfolio is your professional website, finished work should be here. If you are applying for a studio job, they want to see finished work. Showing previews on social media will make your followers hype to see the finished product!
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
Tip: Think of commissions as a getting a tattoo. You have an idea of what you want, but you can’t draw it. So you research an artist, and ask them if they can make it for you. Every tattoo artist is different; they charge by the hour, by size, or by subject matter. Same thing for commissions!
how to make money as a digital artist, sell digital art, make money digital art
EXTRA TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A DIGITAL ARTIST:
Don’t matter how do you decide to make money as a digital artist, always remember that when you go on your own you become an entrepreneur and you must wear the hat or you won’t succeed in getting income as a freelance, think smarter my friend, making money as a digital artist is not only the artistic job, you will have to learn more business skills to succeed.
Let’s grow the industry together, if we help each other we can build a community of webcomic creators that can earn money with their art!!
My best wishes to you, I know you can do it!
See you! 😀
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