3 Tips For Surviving Financially As An Artist

While being a professional artist can give you a life full of beauty, creativity, and happiness, it can also be difficult to find commercial success that equates to a life of financial security. Because of this, many people think of professional artists as “starving artists”. But with the right financial outlook, you can be an artist without having to consider yourself “starving”.

Whether you’re a professional pianist, a painter, or something completely different, there are things you can do to give yourself a little more financial freedom and stability. To show you how this can be done, here are three tips for surviving financially as an artist. 

Focus On Cutting Back Your Daily Expenses

While it can be helpful to find ways to reduce your monthly costs by staying in inexpensive housing or getting an older vehicle to drive, it’s really those daily expenses that can start to add up for most people. Because of this, artists need to be careful about over-indulging in those small, daily costs that seem to not really mean much—until you really start doing the math.

According to Sam Reader, a contributor to Medium.com, doing things like making your own food at home and shopping at thrift stores can help you save a lot of money in the long-run. So before you pull out cash or your credit card to get a cup of coffee from the cafe, really think about how much you’re spending over the course of a month or a year by keeping up these small daily habits. 

Find The Right Pricing Strategy For Your Work

If you’re determined to make money solely off the art that you’re able to sell as an artist, you’ve got to ensure that you’ve correctly set the pricing of your product.

Catherine Orer, a contributor to The Huffington Post, shares that many artists don’t understand how to set the right pricing structure in order to make money off of their art. In many cases, artists who are struggling price their product very low in the hopes that someone, anyone will buy something from them. And while this might make sense on some level, you really have to prove that you value the work you do in order to have others value it as well.

So before you set your pricing as a way to just cover your costs, really think about how your work stacks up against others in your field and how you view your own art. 

Consider A Side-Job In The Art World

Sadly, not everyone who’s an artist to survive only on selling their art. If this seems like the case for you, know that you don’t have to completely give up your dreams in order to find some financial stability.

Susan Shain, a contributor to The Penny Hoarder, shares that there are plenty of jobs out there that will allow you to keep working in the area of art that you love while also bringing in a steady paycheck and having time to continue working on your art. Some options you might want to consider include working at a gallery, doing graphic design work, or teaching your skill to others.

If you’re an artist looking for ways to stretch your dollar and make a few more while you’re at it, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.