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.

Nicholas Chuan

This is my third year as a full time illustrator. When I was younger, I used to draw a lot, and I got my hands on Photoshop when I was around 14, and since then I played around it as a hobby, and because I am a huge football fan, I often combined two of my biggest interests into one – which is creating football posters and wallpapers. Read more>>

Briana Spence

I stumbled into design unexpectedly. I had never taken an art class, and I didn’t touch my first MacBook until my senior year of high school. I knew I was creative, but I didn’t expect design to become my all-consuming passion. I signed up to be a graphic design and web development major, having no idea what I was getting into. I don’t think college is for everyone, but I learned a lot and was able to start a freelance side hustle before I graduated. Read more>>

Brooklyn Mill

I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work going on two years now, but I started the idea of this business about 4 years ago. When I started my business, I was working full-time and going to school. I ran my business “part time” for about two years while working a job. A big part of my business now is attending art shows around the state of Idaho. I can’t remember exactly who suggested I start doing in person events, but it was the only way to sell my product directly to my customers. So while I was working, I would take time off to do shows on my weekends. In the first two years I only did a handful of the reputable staple shows, however, I realized that if I did more in person events that at least averaged the same as the shows I have been doing in revenue, I could turn it into my full-time job.  Read more>>

Gerardo Encinas

I have been fortunate enough to earn a full-time living as a fashion designer. It hasn’t been easy; the journey has been demanding but incredibly rewarding, blending passion with persistence and continuous learning from both successes and setbacks. As a child in Mexico, I used to sketch designs in a secret notebook. Fashion has always been my passion. I loved looking at the pictures in the fashion magazines my mom used to own. Despite this early passion, I pursued a diploma in international business in college, a career that has helped me in various aspects of my fashion design business. Read more>>

Maria Watkins

Two years ago, I started posting my low-waste life on TikTok, and I can’t even imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t. I didn’t actually intend to make a career out of it when I first started posting, I was just having fun sharing my life. I worked a regular 9 to 5 job doing graphic design for a nonprofit, and about six months into joining TikTok, I started accepting brand deals and ads just to make some side income. Read more>>

Kevin Thomas

Making songwriting and music my main source of income most definitely came with a cost. I’d be lying if I said the road behind me was an easy one to walk. My journey in music is very unique to me I feel. Now with that being said I’m very Greatful and Blessed to get to do music for a living. When my career began I had recently went through a horrible divorce and was suffering through a lot of mental health issues. My days began with alot of emotion and little to no sleep. I was falling off of a cliff with no ledge to hold on to. I was at rock bottom only way to go was up and I chose to go up thankfully.(And before I go into how I was able to make it fulltime I wanna say I took the extreme route and I may not recommend doing what I did haha) I made huge life altering decisions such as quitting my job working for the federal government, filing bankruptcy and giving away everything I had ever worked for up to that point in my life. I done the extreme. Read more>>

Kerry Kazmierowicztrimm

I have been fortunate enough to make a full-time living from my creative work for the last two years. For several years before that, I earned about half my living through creative work, and the other half through part-time work as a dog-sitter, personal assistant, etc. Early on, getting work as a writer came through a wide variety of avenues: answering an ad for a playwriting job on Playbill, getting referred by a friend, introducing myself to artistic directors, etc. My first gig as a video game writer—which is how I now make most of my living—came about, very tangentially, thanks to a show I wrote and produced at the Hollywood Fringe Festival back in 2018. Someone who came to see my play later described it to a director/producer friend of theirs at a pool party. That producer/director reached out to me and asked to option the script for a feature film.  Read more>>

Liya Safina

My situation wasn’t just about earning from creative work; it was about doing so as an immigrant while also assimilating into a new country. This was almost 10 years ago when I moved to New York from Moscow, hoping to work in creative educational methodology and digital innovation. But reality hit hard. I spent over eight months applying for jobs, often making it to the final rounds of interviews—six, seven, eight rounds—only to lose out to someone from the U.S. My work was creative and innovative, but I couldn’t break through, and I got no feedback on why I wasn’t selected. Read more>>