20 Ways Artists Make Money, Expenses, Taxes, Income

2024 end of Year income report
20 ways to make money as an Artist in 2025
all numbers are based on the 2024 tax year

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00:00 Hats
00:25 Conventions
01:44 Online Sales
03:59 Industry
04:47 FlexiSpot Sponor
06:24 Freelance
07:54 Teaching
09:27 Public Speaking
10:00 Youtube
10:19 Sponsorships
11:22 Affiliate Marketing
13:22 Creator Funds
14:53 Gallery
16:01 Consignment & Wholesale
17:36 Ways Artists Make Money?
20:05 Income Totals
20:15 Expenses
24:26 Taxes
26:37 Final Thoughts

Editing by Fortuitus
Music by Stream Cafe and Comfi Beats

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[PalomaMcClain]

Your whole income of $101, 251.75 doesn't get taxed at 24% btw! Only the amount between $89, 075-$170, 050 gets taxed at 24%. Same way for all the lower tax brackets! You progressively pay different rates at the different bracket ranges of your total income. So you only pay 10% of your first $10, 275, then only 12% of the amount between $10, 275-$41, 775 and so on. It's a common misunderstanding. If you take the standard deduction ($14, 600 in 2024 for single filers) instead of itemized, you subtract that from your total taxable income as well. :)

[usrnamnumber]

"if you hate yourself and want to take commissions" some who pretty much only does commissions for a living, can confirm i do indeed hate myself lol

[-TSApril-]

Brother being an artist is getting scarier and scarier each year.

[KaterynaM_UA]

My income and mental health was never better than it was when I was working fulltime in a gamedev studio. Young artists doing themselves a huge disservice dismissing that path. If you don't have a huge social media following, that's your best chance in earning a living. Just don't look at AAA companies, the easy in and nice wages are are in mobile! The more technical/UI/boring it is, the lower the competition!

[white_tulip]

The frog opening its mouth and shaking scares me but i stay to support you 😭

[JoseTV]

Chose the easy path early: Drawing NSFW. Now I'm stuck drawing things I don't care for and often make me uncomfortable. This video gave me a bit of hope, thank you.

[miqueltoast]

i say this with absolutely no shade, but your food expenses alone are more than my TOTAL yearly income in Brazil. wild!! 😭thanks for the video as always!!

[yazuki-wolf]

I've been working in game studios for about 10 years now, and I'd say that even if you DO want to work in a studio, be warned. It's not necessarily the safer option any more. I know for me I thought a studio gig would be more secure than trying to build something on my own, but the truth is a studio can drop you at any moment, and with all the NDA's and contract restrictions on working outside of your contracted work you may very well be left back at square one, while by contrast slowly building multiple in come streams can be that safety net you need when things get tough.

[rideth_mochi]

Thanks for the transparency!! Last year I think i made about 30K gross from 4-5 convention sales, was increasing 5-10K every year but 2025 i've gotten into None of my usual big cons. Definitely a lesson in not putting all my eggs in one unstable basket.
I'm very fortunate to have a 20 hr a week creative dayjob that doesn't kill me to float but wow its getting more brutal every year.

[SolFallman]

This was so trippy lmao. I haven't seen your videos before but as I'm watching I recognized your work. It's literally on my shelf in front of me rn. I guess we've met at a con and I purchased stuff. Keep up the great work mate.

[edualv]

I NEED to upgrade my art skills to be able to do half of this stuff

[LucasDurham]

Man, appreciate the breakdown. I've admired you and some other artists that have the convention/sales & influencer grindset. I know it's mostly a joke, but you're far from taking the lazy path, lol.

I do want to express here in the comment section, that working as an in-house artist can have it's benefits, too. It's nice to have weekends, and you can make comparable numbers on a salary (+ insurance, paid vacation, etc). I enjoyed 10 years of fulltime freelance, but I'm realizing, personally, I have a more fulfilling art career in collaborative production. It's also helped me become a better freelancer and fine artist on the side because I'm not trying to "4D chess" strategize how to make extra income streams from every image I produce (which was a personal bad habit).

But yeah, this video was an amazing transparent look at how you make it work. I wish videos like this one were around when I was getting out of college, cause it would've been both a sobering and motivating bar to reach for!

[JesseBakerH]

19:40 I do want to say that there is something about looking at OTHER art jobs while you're a working artist that can have a "Grass is always greener" effect..

When I was working as an illustrator I heard that there was a HUGE demand for storyboard artists and it sounded amazing to make x5 my income, but the reality of the industry and the competition involved with finding work made it literally impossible to make a living. When the animation industry began to crash in 2022 I looked towards VFX and the games industry for work because I also heard about there being tons of demand, etc. Again, the reality of actually FINDING work, putting together a portfolio, and the industry itself imploding with layoffs was a different picture.

This is not for me to be all doom and gloom about finding work as an artist but I guess I would just caution younger people from quickly uprooting your whole career to chase after the PERCEIVED value on the other side of the 'fence'. It takes a lot of time to put together a new portfolio for a new job and unless you already have work that fits into whatever they're looking for, it may not always be monetarily worth the amount of time you put into it..

Markets change, studios change, and your mileage will always vary. 😬

[AlfredEiji]

I love how realistic your videos are in showing what artists can actually do to make money. No get rich schemes or borderline scam “passive income” strategies.

[Starlightpaw]

As a hobby artist who decided to major in accounting, this video pleases me. I love knowing about the business side of being an artist. Honestly, these days I find it more interesting than making art myself lol

Also, I see so many pieces in your videos that I'd love to buy from you, but most of them are not on your online shop and it makes me quite sad! However, I did buy from you recently because I saw a couple pieces I wanted, so thank you! I can't wait until it comes in ;)

[isaacbidwell]

I don't know if you already do it or not but Health Insurance, Reference and Entertainment (that you could argue motivates or inspires you), and things like Prime and other subscriptions can all be written off. 10 years fulltime here and I'm always looking for more things to write off. Congrats on the hustle.

[caioeduardo]

step 1 live in the us
step 2 live in the us
step 3 sell cons in the us
step 4 do galeries in the us

[DaengieDraws]

I didn't recognize this as you until I saw your art at 1:14, squinted, and then saw that it was the exact same as the signed one hanging on my wall that I got from Comicon. Lmao! I'm glad to have found your channel.

[BigJay]

I really appreciate how transparent you are with your experience both as an artist and business owner

[ivyh]

"i don't like 9 to 5 anyway and that's why I'm here" I relate so much to this and hope that before graduate I'm able to find my way and avoid 9-5 job!