We’ve seen way too many talented creatives quit because they couldn’t make it work financially. No doubt, the financial challenges of pursuing a creative or artistic career are daunting, but we felt there wasn’t enough discussion around how to make it work. So, we connected with artists and creatives who’ve been able to earn a full time living from their creative work and asked them to share their stories with our readers.

Jordan Horton

Yes, I have been fortunate enough to transition into earning a full-time living from my creative work. However, the path to get there was far from an overnight success. From day one, my creative journey was a combination of passion, perseverance, and continuous learning. Read more>>

Allison Gillies

Hello “CanvasRebel”, Through perseverance and resilience, I have made a full-time living as an Educator and Artist. I had several jobs through high school, college, and life – including waitress, food prep, barista, sales of books and art supplies, landscaping, Biology lab assistant, assisting curator at a Museum of Science and History, accountant, caring for canines, etc. Read more>>

Lola Michele-Kiki

For a long time, I second guessed my ability as a drag performer. In a city where drag is so competitive, it was very intimidating to think I could do this full time. After 10 years of persistence and hard work, I’m lucky to live off my art 100% Read more>>

Ray Keys

So far, I have been able to earn a living pursuing music full-time. I started gigging in my junior year of high school when a group of friends asked me to join their jazz quartet. That’s all I did for a while. Read more>>

Bhat Boy

My leap to becoming a full-time artist was an existential crisis brought about when my place of work was bombed in an IRA terrorist attack. It was about one year after I had graduated from Art College. I had studied painting, then, after graduating, got a job at Barclay’s Bank in London. Read more>>

Anastasia Mak

I have been a full-time artist for 16 years, and today there are diverse revenue streams in my business, including my website, galleries, art events, licensing, and teaching courses. Every year, I make adjustments depending on the business intent I set for it – some years end up being very event-heavy, and others are busier with self-development and other types of projects. Read more>>

Grayson Berry

I have been earning a full-time living as an Actor-Director for the past 5 years or so.. Shooting in different markets has been especially fun, and I never mind hotel rooms. I’m grateful each and every time I get the pleasure of being on set. So much so that I’ve abandoned my cell phone for the joy of taking it all in. Read more>>

Gary Pratt

When you do the things you love in life it doesn’t seem like work. It’s a passion that God placed in your heart. People thrive when they do what they love. Read more>>

Nkeiruka (Nk) Igbonagwam

Absolutely, I’ve been fortunate to turn my passion into a full-time living. After leaving my part-time job at Dyson, I immersed myself in networking and self-promotion. Gradually gaining recognition, viral dance videos propelled my brand, leading to collaborations with major brands and celebrities. Read more>>

Roberta Alvarado

I remember when I was maybe 27 and working in a cafe. I would write notes to myself on an order pad and tuck them in my pocket. One note said, “I feel that unhappiness is when you swim against your current.” As I write this, I am celebrating my second year in business. I reflect on how much my life has changed and I can say that I am proud of myself. Read more>>

Hannah Holt

I am lucky enough to be able to make a living from my creative work. But it took some time and a lot of work to get here! I started calligraphy as a hobby in 2013 and slowly turned it into a side hustle in 2020 – something that made me a little extra money, but didn’t have any plans to take it full time as my day job at the time was still something I wanted to do. Read more>>

Graham Bishop

I often question how I’ve gotten to a place of living solely off of doing creative work, but it makes sense considering how outlandish the practice is where I grew up (Northern VA). Read more>>

Fernando Vives

Since I was 12 years old I started playing as a DJ. At first it was a lot of work and many sacrifices, long nights where I had to install the equipment, play music and then uninstall everything. There were many years where I worked doing this type of gigs and despite all the effort there was something in me that always told me to continue no matter what or where the next gig was. Read more>>

Jayden Young

Embarking on the journey to turn my passion into a sustainable livelihood has been a rewarding adventure. It took time and dedication, but the experience has been nothing short of amazing, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other profession. Read more>>

Scott Lykins

Never rush the process. After 3 decades in music, the one consistent thing in my music career has been the people around me. The driving force behind performing over 1,500 concerts in 39 countries and getting paid to travel the world came from gratitude every day that God put me in the position to enrich the lives around me through the true stories of our lives. Read more>>

Jane Bellante

I’ve been a mixed media artist for over 30 years, and I’ve done everything when it comes to having a creative business. I’ve sold jewelry out of the back of my trunk at a flea market, and I’ve been in juried shows where 100,000s of thousands of people attend. Read more>>

Hannah Rose

At the beginning of 2020 – just before the pandemic started – I was laid off from my job in Tyler, TX. I was just out of college working at our local World Market and had plans to move to San Fransisco to work for the home office. At this same time, I had just booked my very first gig performing live music at one of the bigger venues in town. Read more>>

Danielle Tucker

Embarking on a career as a vocalist, I never imagined the diverse and fulfilling path it would take me on. My journey to earning a six-figure income as a creative professional is a testament to the power of perseverance, adaptability, and the strategic development of multiple income streams. Read more>>

Adele Herman

Growing up in a medical-centric city, I was often asked why was I going to pursue creativity as a career. Why was I not going into the sciences? Why in the world was I going to get an Art + Design education? But the answer is simple, because there is no other way to live life than by being creative. Read more>>

Joshua Magallanes

There was a time I was making a living from my creative work. It started as a hobby and sorta grew from there. A lot of hussle and putting myself out there. A lot of “no”s but the “yes”s made it all worth it. I learned a lot about myself and what it is to navigate. Los Angeles nightlife. Now that I’m living in Palm Springs, I have taken my passion for cannabis and My passion for drag and I’m combining those two. Read more>>

The Colour Monday

I think that all of us have the goal to make our passion our full time job. At this time, this is not the case. But we hope that one day, we can do what we love and enjoy the work that we do as artists. Putting 100% of our time and energy into this love affair we call being musicians. Read more>>

Michael Burton

I have been a full-time self-employed musician since 2017. The journey has been quite interesting to say the least. Making music since the year 2000 at the age of 15, I was under the impression the only way to be a successful artist is to be signed by a music label. Read more>>

Kevin Wallace

The Center is a unique and authentic Ojai experience tied to the place and its history. We also have an historical connection with the art world, due to both Annie Besant co-authoring the first book on non-representational art, influencing Kandinsky, Mondrian, Klee and other great artists, but also through Beatrice Wood’s long history as an artist, which included being tutored by Marcel Duchamp in his studio as part of the 1917 New York DADA Movement. Read more>>

Goldie Jones

I have been extremely fortunate that I have been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, in a number of different ways. I decided to make a major career shift right before the pandemic when I decided to transition from working in commercial production into working in film and TV as a writer/director. Read more>>

Madalline Browning

I have been living off of my art full time for about 8 years. A dream i never imagined would ignite. I graduated with an associates in art / major in photography from a community college in North Carolina, while pursuing my career as a hair stylist. Then i ran away to the West Coast for 11 years diving into ganja industry. Read more>>

Zia Domic

I started my blog as a creative outlet after my son started kindergarten – my path as an actor became increasingly frustrating as the mother of a young child and the industry itself. I have always loved fashion so putting outfits together as well as being in front of the camera came easily to me Read more>>

Shelbi Toone

Fueled by creative determination, I’ve forged a full-time living through my artistic endeavors. Acknowledging the constraints of adhering to conventional job markets, I ventured into entrepreneurship in 2010. Over the past thirteen years, my journey has been marked by continuous evolution, building a reputation for reliability and creative support. Read more>>

Dayquan Moeller

I’m an artist who doesn’t earn a full-time living from my creative work, and I’m okay with that! I have supported myself with a variety of different gig work from sound designing a theatre production to editing my friends’ writing. Currently I am doing door-to-door canvassing to campaign for better wages for hotel workers in Long Beach. Read more>>

Harvey Fitz

Indeed, earning a full-time living from my creative work has been a gratifying journey. It wasn’t an overnight success, but rather a gradual process of passion meeting persistence. Initially, it wasn’t a full-time pursuit as I balanced other commitments, but as my creative endeavors gained momentum, the transition occurred. Read more>>

Dorese Bilal

I did eventually begin to make a full time living from photography however it wasn’t since day one. I actually was working in Quality Assurance at a Bank and ended up getting news that lay offs would be happening soon. I took that news and processed what that meant for me I would be out of a job in less than a year. Read more>>

Ben Behunin

I decided very early on that being a starving artist was totally over-rated. My father was an entrepreneur, but financially he was marginally successful. I wanted something better for my family. I wanted to be true to myself and my art, but I didn’t want to put myself and later my family in financial peril in order to pursue my passions. Read more>>

Alexandra Harris

Creativity is like breathing for me. It’s the way I see the world and move through it. Summing up all of the broken and misshapen parts into a beautiful and useful flow that allow all the world to make sense. It is a dream of mine to be able to make a living through writing, drawing and painting. Read more>>

Allen Morris

I’ve been able to earn more than a living from my work in recent years- so much so that I’ve been able to take less, but more fulfilling work. That didn’t happen overnight, though, and I’m always working like my back could be against the wall again at a moment’s notice. Read more>>

Paula Jane Newman

Earning a living full time as an artist is getting harder and harder due to the social economic challenges and the wealth gaps globally. I have learned that equating my artistic value based on monetary compensation is ridiculous nowadays. Read more>>

Jason Spicer

It started with only wanting to create just to create any money that came from it was just an added bonus. People would offer to pay me, which helped me realize that I could monetize my skill. I started as an airbrush artist, which put me in the realm of creative customer relations and learning how to satisfy a client by bringing their visions and ideas to reality. Read more>>

Abigail Platter

The elusive “full time art job.” I’ve cobbled my own full time art job by having 3 part time jobs. I work as an adjunct professor teaching my favorite subjects- drawing, painting, and illustration, I work at a church doing design, illustration, and art direction, and I’m currently earning my MFA in Illustration. Read more>>

Erik Pedersen

The biggest hurdle many people encounter when trying to go full time in an audio field of work is how to make a consistent living. I struggled with this same problem when I first moved to Atlanta in 2021. I had just graduated with my B.A. in Commercial Music and was eager to begin working in the professional studio environment. Read more>>

Johnny Mastro

I have been playing music and leading a band full time for 28 years. There was no plan and it happened naturally when I met a lady named Laura Mae “Mama” Gross in 1993. She encouraged me to keep practicing and gave me the confidence I needed. Read more>>