When I first started selling my husband Drew’s art about a jillion years ago, we made money just one way: by Drew painting one painting at a time and selling it.
We felt fortunate that enough people wanted Drew’s art to pay him to paint their surfboards and canvas.
And it was great, until…we had a baby. And we bought a house. And then we had many new expenses that Drew just couldn’t paint fast enough to pay for.
Painting one piece of art for money is sort of like digging a ditch for money – you get paid once and then, if you want to get paid again, you have to dig another ditch.
If you are trading time for money, you are limited in how much money you can make.
AND, having just one way to sell your art limits you further.
If you rely on only one way to reach your buyers, you will find yourself in trouble if something big changes in the world – like an economic crash or a pandemic or something else that we haven’t yet seen.
Having multiple streams of income helps to keep your art business alive when the world changes on us.
What are Multiple Streams of Income? It is having a variety of systems in place to sell your art in through different channels and to different types of buyers.
Around 2002 we focused on adding new income streams to supplement Drew’s original art sales. And it’s a good thing we did, because that’s what saved our asses when the economic crash of 2008 hit and we lost nearly everything.
Here’s some of the Multiple Streams of Art Income we implemented between 2002 and 2008:
RETAIL SURF SHOP SALES: We made paper prints of Drew’s best paintings and we sold them to surf shops. They sold well, so we added stickers and tee shirts. In a few short years we had Drew’s art prints, stickers and tees in nearly 500 surf shops in the USA.
ART LICENSING: Early 2000 we discovered licensing and it opened up a whole new world to make passive income off of Drew’s art. Our first big license was with Wham-O for an entire line of boogie boards. They had printed Drew’s art and name on nearly a million boogie boards, over 7 years, that shipped all over the world. (For info on art licensing art click here)
GALLERY SALES: We put Drew’s art in a few galleries. They sold his originals and high-end print reproductions.
ILLUSTRATIONS FOR COMPANIES: These were commissioned works for companies for their campaigns, merchandise or other needs.
ORIGINAL AND PRINT SALES ONLINE: We built up our online sales of Drew’s art and by 2007 we were bringing in $15,000 a month just from online sales. (Then 2008 hit and that disappeared…)
LIVE EVENTS: Drew would paint live at corporate events.
DVD and BOOK SALES: We created a How to Paint with Paint Pens DVD and got a book published through Walter Foster called How to Draw with Drew Brophy.
THEN, 2008 CRASH HIT! When the economy crashed in 2008 many people went broke, lost their homes and their jobs. Our income plummeted. Most of our licensing deals went dead. Many of the surf shops we were selling to went out of business. So did the galleries. Our corporate clients stopped spending money.
Only one thing saved us from going homeless: we had enough different streams of income that even though some of them dried up, we still were making a little bit of money in others.
And then we built our business back up and discovered new ways to make money with art. And eventually we got back on our feet and got our small but mighty business back to thriving again.
I’ve once read that wealthy people have 7 different streams of income. I believe that goes for successful artists, too.
If you’re wondering how you can create multiple streams of income yourself, here’s my advice:
Begin with one income stream at a time. Focus on just one until you master it. Then, add another and then another. It will take you at least a year to get one new stream of income singing for you.
Now that we are in the year 2021, here are a few additional income streams you can implement as an artist that weren’t an option a few years ago:
- Print on Demand sales
- Patreon or other subscription services
- Sponsorships
- NFT sales (more to come on this)
- Live Online Courses on your expertise
- Pop Shop Live sales (an ap – more to come on this)
- Self published coloring books or how to books
- And so many more new ways to reach people!
How many income streams do you currently have? And what is one new income stream you plan to implement this year?
SHARE IN THE COMMENTS I would love to hear your questions and comments on this topic.
More to come.
Maria xxoo
PS: I am adding mini-courses on these topics starting in April 2021. Stay tuned!
14 Responses
First off absolutely love your blog! So much business insight here. I like all the income stream ideas. For me, I’m gonna focus on selling original art first.
Thank you, Sredna! 🙂
Hi Maria,
First, thank you for using your gift of encouragement to help so many folks get through last year’s craziness. Second, I tell everyone who’ll listen about how your book, Art Money Success helped me grow my mural painting business. Third, I can’t wait to see what you do with those mini-courses!
Stay well and keep on doing what you do best!
Jan, thank you! I appreciate how you always support and have something positive and friendly to write. 🙂
Thank you Maria for your valuable knowledge.
Thanks Lisa, and I appreciate how you shared my blog post on social media. Many thanks to you! 🙂
Great post Maria,
I’m a full time maker of masks and costumes, and I have several streams of income
-One off custom made animal masks for private clients
– Custom designs for corporate mascot costumes
– my own designs sold on Etsy, and on my own website
– and a recent addition
-luxury scarves made from faux fur offcuts from the masks I make.
– I’d like to make some passive income from making Skillshare courses/ how to book, but don’t know where to start!
I saw someone who is a fashion designer was recently selling an ebook with lists of resources suppliers of paint, fabric skilled workers and international agents etc. And I thought hmm that’s another type of option I hadn’t thought of!
Also a lots of Skillshare teachers have affiliate links to Amazon etc for art supplies. Can be helpful and profitable, but there’s a danger of it looking a bit spammy!
Teaching courses is a great way to create an additional income stream! Google “how to create a Skillshare course” and you will find all of your answers. Begin with one small mini-course to learn the system at first. Then get more complicated once you have experience.
That’s great advice, I’ll do that. Thanks!
Thanks for posting the NFT comment. I actually just googled it and found the Beeple article… wow! Plus, now I understand why someone just “borrowed” my art work and turned it into a bad unicorn..lol. I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet. I put it on my website at the link below. What do you all think?
Barbara, I’m so sorry that artist stole your art! I know how devastating that is. We have dealt with those things with Drew’s art over the years. I recommend you send her a cease & desist notice and then send a DMCA Takedown notice to the platform where she’s selling it.
So funny you posted this because I am about to launch an online art course. 😅
Awesome Nadjah! I hope you enjoy it AND you help others learn to make art.
I wanted to thank you for this very good read!! I absolutely loved every little bit of it.
I’ve got you bookmarked to look at new stuff you post?