We think the world needs more artists, more creatives and more folks unwilling to spend their days as a cog in a giant corporate machine. We don’t necessarily dislike cogs or machines but we think the world clearly needs more artists and creatives and so we wanted to try to figure out how more artists can make it work financially since this is one of the major obstacles blocking so many artists and creatives from pursuing their art full time. So, we asked folks who have been able to make a full time living through their creative work, how they did it.

Chloe Quinn

I have been earning a living wage from creative work for the past three years, but the journey to get there took a long time.

I knew a creative career was in my future from a very young age. I entertained being a doctor, a lawyer, and all of the other things adults encourage you to pursue once you’ve uttered the words “I want to be an artist,” but nothing stuck–nothing called to me the way drawing did. Read more>>

Michael Levchenko

Yes, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work — but it wasn’t an overnight success. It was a long and often unpredictable journey that combined perseverance, adaptation, and strategic positioning.

I started my path in Ukraine as a classically trained sculptor and painter, completing a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture. My early career was devoted to public and monumental sculpture — over time, I completed 50+ public art projects in 22 countries. That international experience helped build credibility and connections, but the financial side remained inconsistent, especially in the early years. Read more>>

Robert Lyon

When I went to college, I decided to major in broadcast communications—even though I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with my career. I just knew I liked video editing and working with cameras. It was actually my mom who suggested the broadcast path, and that turned out to be great advice.

I enrolled at Florida International University and landed an internship at CBS Channel 4 in Miami. After a few months there, I quickly learned the ropes of the TV news business as a video editor, which helped me land a job at WSVN Channel 7. After about a year, I returned to Channel 4 for a full-time position, and that role turned into a 10-year career where I earned seven Emmy Awards for my work in video production, editing, and producing. Read more>>

Chris Tyre

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it hasn’t always been that way. Honestly, it took longer than I thought.

When I started my business in 2016, I named it Nomad and Camera. I was living as a digital nomad spending a lot of time between Chicago and South America and my focus was travel and lifestyle photography. There are 3 things I quickly learned. Read more>>

Sarah Jacobson

Yes, I make a full-time living from my interior design business now—but it definitely wasn’t always that way. Over the past 15 years, I’ve gone through different seasons where I had to take on part-time jobs to help pay the bills when things were slow. At first, I saw that as a setback—like I was failing somehow by stepping away from my business. But in hindsight, every time I did that, I came back stronger. Those jobs not only helped me financially but also expanded my network and gave me new skills that ultimately benefited my business. Read more>>

Micheline Auger

I didn’t always make my living as a writer. I had more jobs that you can imagine. In fact, it took me a long time to fully own the fact that I was creative. Once I did—and embraced life as a “starving artist”—I thought I’d made it. I was doing summer theater in Vermont on a shoestring per diem, writing my first solo show, and putting expenses on credit cards all while telling myself that once I had my “break,” it would all pay off. After all, that’s the story we’ve all heard. Read more>>

Danika Wikke

I began learning post-production sound in college, where I developed a broad understanding of sound and filmmaking. However, when I graduated, I realized I knew a little about a lot—but not enough about any one thing to land a job. To build real-world skills, I enrolled in a year-long program focused specifically on post-production sound. Read more>>

Arne Wendt

I am the youngest of six kids from a musical family. As such, I picked it up from an early age. I played trumpet through my senior year of high school, played in concert band, jazz band and orchestra, took all the music theory classes I could sign up for, including summer programs. I knew I wanted to be a musician. I put myself through two years at the local community college where I continued to take music courses and played in a couple of original rock bands. One went on to get a management contract and then a publishing deal, which was a kind of rare thing and usually meant in those days that a major record deal was imminent. So with the money we got for signing the publishing deal, we all moved in together to work on our album. Meanwhile, I worked part-time jobs to my bills and keep my jalopy on the road. The major record deal never came, and some years down the road the band broke up. Read more>>

Jonny Rodgers

I think it’s important to start with the idea that there’s no one path to success as an artist. Paraphrasing Rilke, you have to know you want to make art at your core, and if you do, and you decide to pursue a life in art, it can make for a deeply meaningful life. Even if your income comes from elsewhere.

I grew up touring in a rock band with my brother Steve in the 90s. We started our own record label and left high school early to perform and record full time. We were awesome. We never broke into mainstream radio, but with college radio charting, we did 250 shows a year for most of the 90s. We never had any money in our pockets; every cent we made we poured back into the band, making art and touring. Read more>>

Eugenio Sosa

Yes, I’ve been able to make a full-time living from my creative work, but it definitely wasn’t that way from day one. For me, everything started with a deep passion for storytelling—especially through the lens of sports. I began at the bottom, learning every technical and production role I could, gradually building a path that led me to more strategic positions, eventually becoming Executive Producer of major projects like 90 Minutos de Fútbol, multiple FIFA World Cups, the Olympic Games, and more recently, digital-first productions from Miami. Read more>>

Amy Johnson

I am Amy Johnson, a retired registered nurse who dedicated over 30 years to mental health. Transitioning from nursing to artistry has been a transformative journey that has allowed me to express my creativity and passion in new ways. Through White Dog Gallery, I specialize in various media types including ink, acrylic, and watercolor, each reflecting different facets of my artistic exploration. Read more>>

Monica Burby

I’ve been a photographer for over 30 years, but it wasn’t always my full-time job. Like a lot of creatives, I started out doing photography on the side while working other jobs to make ends meet. It was something I loved, and I knew I wanted to build a business around it. In 2004, I opened my own studio, Photoumbra Studios, and that was a major turning point. Read more>>

Cody Tarantino

I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it definitely wasn’t like that from day one. I’ve been drawing every day for over 15 years, and for a long time, it was just something I did because I had to. It felt like a natural extension of my thoughts, emotions, and identity way before I ever thought of it as a job. Read more>>

Tina Davidson

As a classical composer, independent of academia (where many composers used to hide), I decided that I would support myself any-old-way, and get involved with a performance groups. Soon I was a director for a local new music ensemble, composing pieces for them and working as a office assistant, then office accountant, and finally as a draftsperson for scientific articles and publications. Read more>>

Anne Pexa

Stitching Together a Career: How I Turned My Passion for Quilting Into a Full-Time Business

When I bought my first longarm quilting machine in 2003, I wasn’t chasing a hobby—I was making a business decision. I’d spent months researching machines, markets, and money before I ever stitched a line. My goal was clear from the start: I wanted to earn a full-time living from quilting.

But like many creative careers, mine didn’t begin full time. I worked part-time for five years while I built my skills, gained experience, and slowly developed a client base. One of the smartest early decisions I made was buying a less expensive quilting machine. It did everything I needed it to do, and the lower investment meant I could turn a profit more quickly. That machine paid for itself and gave me the confidence to grow. Read more>>

Vanessa Andrade

I didn’t always feel confident in choosing hair styling as a profession. My father always imagined me in an office in a career where he thought I’d make good money and didn’t think hair would be a good fit. I did not want to disappoint him but I chose a salon life. The main struggle with confidence was not so much about not having a corporate job, it was that I knew I did not want to become a salon/business owner so I spent the first few years doubting myself and my capability of being successful. But it was only until I truly learned to love my work that I started seeing the big picture, which is: You don’t have to be a salon owner to make more money, and if you love what you do and train and learn new things all the time, the right clients and the money follows. Read more>>

Evan Smith

I live in Nashville, Tennessee, and have the privilege of working full time creating social media content for music artists. It’s been so fun getting to do this work full time, but it’s taken me three years of pursuing this intentionally to get here. At the beginning of 2022, I got my first invitation to go on tour with a band to create social media content. I really enjoyed it, and I had many people suggest to me to move to Nashville and immediately go full time. However, I was still a college student and I had a job working in marketing at a finance firm. At the time, I didn’t think I was ready to uproot my life and move across the country to pursue this. Read more>>

Russell Baer

I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent the past 25 years working as an entertainment photographer, doing what I love and making a living from it. This journey has come with its share of risks and has required a strong belief in myself. I began my career in my early 20s, experimenting with photography while surrounded by actors and models in the entertainment industry. I had recently moved to Los Angeles from New York, where I had been studying for the past 3 years at drama school and had originally thought I wild be continuing that path in LA. Read more>>

Alexandra Fresch

I have been very fortunate to be able to support myself financially in working only in the creative arts sector. After being exposed to glass in high school, I attended The Ohio State University for glass art. During and after college I worked at Cedar Point Amusement Park’s Glassblowing Theatre doing daily public demonstrations on the process of glassblowing. This taught me how to not only how to make work under the pressure of many visitors watching, but also how to describe the process so that everyone watching could understand. That skillset I still use daily as glassmaking is really a performance art, that people love to experience live. Read more>>

Jessie Page

I have been incredibly lucky to have made a living in theatre since I was eighteen! I sort of fell into the costume side of the industry, but ended up loving it and have worked in costumes ever since. I got a job at the Arvada Center because my mom worked in the costume shop and they needed a dresser for one show. I have been there ever since! I then started my career as a costume designer in summer of 2019 and have been designing steadily since then, as well. Read more>>

Damien Rhone

It’s definitely much harder to earn a full-time living being a creative. You’re in this chosen few it feels like, cause now you’re in this freelance tax bracket as well. it’s sort of like an independent artist. Everything is getting paid out of pocket. It can be a gift and a curse if you don’t manage your money well. I’ve been able to succeed in it. It took time and trial and error. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Read more>>

I have consistently earned a living from utilizing my artistic skills. I began my career in the early 1970s as a commercial artist and Art Director. During that time, I freelanced at night, creating advertising and editorial illustrations. In 1983, I received my first book cover Illustration commission from Barbara Ulin, an art director at Dell Publishing in NYC. That was the first of over 250 romance, western, and young adult book covers. In the early 1990s, I began to create fine art paintings. Self-motivated rather than commission-motivated. I focused mainly on the female form, including angels, pin-ups, nudes, and musicians. Read more>>

AJ Funk

My journey to making a full-time living from what was once a side hustle began in 2021, after I was unexpectedly laid off from my day job. I started DJing in 8th grade, and what began as a hobby quickly became a passion. By 14, I was working my first job while DJing small parties with my friend Mike. I kept at it through high school while juggling other jobs—dishwasher, stock boy, candy striper, and summer jobs with my mom, always learning and practicing my craft on the side. Read more>>