14 Income Stream Ideas Every Digital Artist Should Know About
In the world of digital art, the possibilities for income are as vast as your creative imagination. In today's digital age, creative individuals have more opportunities than ever to turn their passion for art into a sustainable income.
Digital artists, in particular, are in a prime position to explore a wide range of income streams that allow them to showcase their talent and generate revenue.
Whether you're an aspiring digital artist or a seasoned one, this guide will introduce you to several income stream ideas that can help you monetize your creative work. Here is 14 income stream ideas every digital artist should know about!
By exploring these income stream ideas and combining them with your unique artistic style and vision, you can turn your passion into a sustainable and fulfilling career.
14 Income Stream Ideas Every Digital Artist Should Know About
Selling Digital Art Prints
One of the most straightforward ways for digital artists to earn money is by selling high-quality digital art prints. This provides a way for your fans and art enthusiasts to own a physical piece of your artwork.
If you have specific storylines or characters you explore through your art, you may create comics or graphic novels or zines and offer them as printed publications!
You can create limited edition prints of your best works and offer them for sale on online platforms like Etsy, Redbubble, INPRNT, or even through your own website or social media.
Selling Physical Products and Merchandise
In addition to selling digital art prints, digital artists can expand their reach by creating and selling merchandise featuring their artwork. Think stickers, phone cases, keychains, pins, apparel, tote bags, or even home decor items.
For your inspiration, check out Ellie Pritt’s online store for her sold-out collection of bags and dresses that feature her psychedelic artwork!
Ellie Pritts has recently had a solo show featuring some of these work at bitforms gallery called In The Screen I Am Everything
If you don’t feel comfortable investing in producing your merch before making sure they will sell, you can sign up on websites like Printful, Society6, and Printify — these platforms help you bring your designs to life without the need for inventory or upfront costs as they produce and ship items upon purchase.
Skillshare has outstanding courses like Design Great Stuff: How to Make Merch with Draplin that can help you with getting started.
Selling Digital Products
The most cost-effective products a digital artist can sell is definitely digital products — these are digital assets, templates, and printables that buyers can receive as links or PDFs.
Think printable coloring book pages, greeting cards, notepads or stationery, e-books, and more. Once you design these digital assets, people can buy them online and print them out themselves, so you don’t have to take printing or shipment costs into consideration.
There is also a great demand for Notion templates or social media templates like Instagram story or post templates — you can create these on Canva and automate emails that share with the buyer a link to the template upon purchase.
A lot of digital artists create Procreate and Photoshop assets such as custom brushes or color palettes for people to purchase online — if you already enjoy creating custom digital assets for yourself, consider putting them up on your website for sale!
You can also create design assets and sell them on a platform like Creative Market — these can be patterns, illustrations, logos, icons, fonts, or even phone or desktop wallpapers.
If you’re an artist who creates using artificial intelligence, you may consider selling your AI-generated images as stock content – you’d get paid each time someone downloads your image. Check out platforms like Wirestock, which make this process easier.
The only cost of creating digital products is the time and effort you put into creating them. You can automate the selling process and make money from the digital asset every time someone purchases it!
Art NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens)
Most probably you’ve heard about NFTs during the boom in 2021, maybe created a couple of your own, and now believe that the bubble is burst and the era for NFTs are over. It’s not!
NFTs are not necessarily a different art form, they simply provide a way of ownership of your art. Similar to selling physical prints or digital assets of your art, you can sell your art as NFTs.
These are unique digital assets that can represent your artwork on blockchain technology — they allow for online assets to have verifiable scarcity and ownership that cannot be manipulated. So, just like there is one of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, there can be only one of your digital artwork and the collector can be ensured the authenticity of the work.
This means that you can sell limited edition digital pieces and receive royalties every time they change hands. All these processes are stored publicly on the blockchain so the collector, the artist, and their work is protected.
The emergence of NFTs is an excellent economic opportunity for digital artists, therefore they are here to stay. You may familiarize yourself more with the new possibilities that this technology opened up for digital artists and benefit from the ever-advancing creative economy.
14 Income Stream Ideas Every Digital Artist Should Know About
Galleries and Exhibitions
Digital artists can successfully sell their art in galleries and exhibitions. For example, we just launched an online exhibition and are promoting sales for the featured NFT artwork without asking for any commissions!
This can definitely be the route you choose to take. First, you should create a strong portfolio that showcases your best work and demonstrates your unique style and artistic vision.
Next, networking and building relationships with gallery owners, curators, and other artists in the local art scene is crucial. This can be done through attending art events, joining art associations, and using social media platforms to connect with the art community.
Let’s be friends on Instagram!
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Let’s be friends on Instagram! 〰️
Once connected, you can pitch your work to galleries and propose exhibitions that align with the gallery's aesthetic. It's also essential to be well-prepared for exhibitions, including having high-quality prints and understanding the technical requirements for displaying digital art.
Lastly, pricing the work competitively and marketing the event effectively through various channels, such as social media and press releases, can help attract potential buyers and art enthusiasts to your exhibitions.
Also read Best Galleries to See Digital Art in NYC 2023
Licensing Your Art
Licensing your digital artwork to be used in various media, such as book covers, merchandise, or advertising campaigns, can be a lucrative source of income!
For your inspiration, digital collage artist Jess Gaspar offers her retro-futuristic artworks to license on INPRNT to be used as album covers, EP art, track art, or for social media promotions, unique branding, and more.
Jess Gaspar is also featured in 10 Digital Artists: The Art of Digital Collage
Similarly, HUG recently opened a print shop where they license artists’ works and offer them for purchase in curated collections — check them out as well!
Make sure to protect your intellectual property with clear contracts and ensure you keep the rights to share, display, or use your art.
Attend Conventions and Art Shows
Participating in art conventions, art fairs, trade shows, or local art exhibitions can help you reach potential customers and fellow artists, and generate income through direct sales.
You can sell digital art prints, stickers, tote bags, and any physical merch that features your art. Don’t be shy to get creative, visitors of these fairs are there to purchase art and discover new talents!
Selling your artwork in person can also be a great way to build connections. Make sure you have business cards with you or QR codes that link to your work or social media accounts, so that people who you meet at the event can continue following your work.
Subscriptions and Patreon
When you have a bunch of people who love your art and support your journey, they may subscribe to become your patrons!
Platforms like Patreon can help you build a supportive community of fans who are willing to pay for exclusive content. Regular updates and engagement with your supporters are key to making this income stream successful.
You can offer different tiers of rewards for your patrons, such as early access to your artwork, exclusive videos or livestreams, behind-the-scenes content, early access to shop updates or a discount code, even personalized artwork. You may offer priority placement in your schedule for patrons, or gift them exclusive physical items.
Art Grants and Competitions
Many organizations and institutions offer funded artist residencies, grants, and competitions specifically for digital artists. Even though these may not be your consistent income source, these opportunities can provide recognition for your work in addition to financial support.
You may build strong relationships with authority figures in the digital art fields, take part in collaborations with more recognizable digital artists, and mention your wins to pitch yourself to galleries that will in return bring you more financial opportunities.
Keep an eye on announcements and submit your artwork to relevant contests or apply for grants to fund your projects. We share these kind of opportunities daily on Instagram!
Offering Commissions
Commissioned artwork is a popular choice for digital artists looking to make money while doing what they love. You can advertise your services on platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or through your social media channels.
Freelance work may be unpredictable in terms of steady income, but can be wonderful as you get to decide on your own schedule and potentially grow your art business through satisfied clients and word of mouth.
Be sure to establish clear pricing and guidelines for commissions, and communicate effectively with your clients to ensure you meet their expectations. Again, make sure to protect your intellectual property with clear contracts and ensure you keep the rights to share, display, or use your art.
Collaborations and Partnerships
As you grow you art business with more and more commissioned work, you may get bigger clients and partner up with your favorite brands, musicians, and organizations.
Collaborating with other artists, brands, or influencers can lead to more paid opportunities and increased exposure. Partnering with brands for promotional content, creating joint art projects, or participating in art exhibitions can all help you grow your income and your audience.
For your inspiration, 3D artist Renderfruit has created animated visuals for Apple, Nike, The Weeknd, and Miley Cyrus, among others. AR makeup artist Ines Alpha has recently collaborated with Prada Beauty for their new campaign.
Renderfruit has also been featured in 10 Digital Artists: The Best of 3D Art
Ines Alpha has also been featured in 10 Digital Artists: Augmented Reality Art
You may start with your close friends and move onto bigger brand partnerships — the sky is the limit!
Design Work
We get that freelance commission work and art sales can be inconsistent income streams at first — while you have to trust that your art business will grow as you get better at your craft, expand your branches, and network within the realm, you may still want to get a job using your digital art skills.
Design work may be the most obvious choice in that sense, because your art skills translate into great design intuition when it comes to composition and color theory.
You can do package design for products, illustrate wall art and greeting cards, design pillow cases and fabric, and more. Remember that anything you can find in the decor aisle of big stores was designed by someone, and most big companies hire in-house designers.
Film production studios and game development companies often hire illustrators to do their concept art or storyboarding. You may look into video game companies, board game developers, animation studios, and film producers for opportunities.
Even though journalism is also pivoting into hiring mostly freelance writers and creators, you may find opportunities within news organizations, media companies, and magazines as an editorial illustrator. In the world of publication, illustrating book art is also a possibility.
Another potential route can be web design — if you are comfortable with technology and willing to learn a bit of coding, you can become a high-paid web designer using your visual talent.
Teach Digital Art
Sharing your knowledge and teaching digital art skills not only generates you income, but also establishes you as an authority in your field and possibly leads to growth on social media.
You can teach digital art techniques via online art courses or tutorials. Udemy, Skillshare, and YouTube are popular choices for creating video lessons or hosting live webinars. Keep in mind that Skillshare Teach Lab Residency gives you free coaching as you make your first class.
If you hold an MFA in digital arts, you can become an art instructor at higher education programs. If not, you can apply to teach art at the elementary or high school level.
You can also offer private art tutoring services, coach aspiring digital artists, and become a mentor.
For your inspiration, Stephy Fung is an Educator and Content Creator in the field of digital fashion — she streams on Twitch every Thursday and shares her tutorials with emerging digital fashion designers.
Stephy Fung has also been featured in 10 Digital Artists: Digital Fashion and Style in Web3
Social Media
Last but not least, social media can be an incredibly lucrative income stream for digital artists with the growing interest in this field. Digital artists who grow their following on a social media platform can make money through ads, sponsorships, and brand partnerships.
If you have a significant amount of followers, affiliate marketing becomes a very attractive passive income stream — you can share with your audience your favorite tools and services using affiliate links and earn a commission each time someone makes a qualifying purchase.
You can also monetize your following through memberships, subscriptions, donations, and more.
Beyond the new income streams and financial rewards, cultivating a strong social media presence as a digital artist brings a multitude of benefits — here’s bulletproof strategies to achieving just that.
Read next:
Social Media Growth Hacks: Proven Tips for Digital Artists
14 Income Stream Ideas Every Digital Artist Should Know About
Which of these income streams are you excited to try? Or did we miss a lucrative idea for digital artists? Let us know in the comments!
We share works by digital artists as well as digital arts exhibitions, events, and open calls daily on Instagram — follow us for more and subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss new blog posts.
