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.

Delaney Moghanian

I believe that the key to being able to make a living through your art is to find a way that doesn’t kill your joy. Since beginning my career, I’ve heard advice from countless people (solicited or not), that all proclaim that they know “the way” to succeed and the pitfalls to avoid. I was told that if I pursued a job in the arts I wouldn’t make money, or that I would have to choose between passions. I heard so much conflicting advice early on that I realized there is no one way to success, and anyone telling you so is likely insecure about their own path. There are countless, variable routes that have just as much enrichment in their journey as they do in the reward. While our egos may proclaim our worth is more (true), we are also in a constant state of growth and can forge a path that leads us to our dreams. Read more>>

Ty Rashad

This has been a 10-year process of ups, downs, risks, but most importantly bought lessons. In 2014, starting to freelance using my personal essentials apart from foundations for the array of clients served. My aunts and older cousins would pay me to do their daughters for formal events, such as prom. I would buy their shade of foundation for the appointments, before you know it, I had a variety of different shades and even started purchasing additional products overtime. As I was building a name around the high schools and in church, by offering my services, a founder in the San Antonio cosmetology industry by the name of Toni Campbell recognize my unique style and brought me into her salon as her assistant. Read more>>

Irena Azovsky

I’ve always been extremely passionate about music and started to get involved in the local music scene in New York City as a high school student. Growing up in NYC really inspired me and influenced my music taste. Everything, from going out to bars and nightclubs to interning for indie record labels and a music magazine has contributed to my love for various genres of music. DJing has been my side hustle since I was in college and I’ve earned money for the services provided on many occasions, which I’d like to add is the best feeling in the world – getting paid to do what you love. Read more>>

Nkumu Katalay

I earned most, if all my, of my living, until a year ago when I started working at Morgan Stanley, combining a full time regular job to a full time artist life, from the arts, which combined live performances, teaching workshops, doing presentations for special cultural origins educational events, collaborating with schools for art programs, teaching after school programs and teach private drum or dance classes. Read more>>

Velile Ntoni

No I haven’t it’s still really hard but I I’m also a chef so that helps with the bills and being able to leave day to day Read more>>

Juan Carlos Torres

My artistic career has been challenging but very rewarding. At the beginning of my career, it was difficult to fully focus on my creative process due to financial challenges and the risks that an artistic career might represent. However, I believed in myself more than anyone else and never doubted for a second that I wanted to be an artist. This helped me sustain myself while I built my artistic career. Over time, key milestones like building a strong personal brand and networking with other artists helped me gain visibility. Small and medium-sized projects allowed me to create a solid portfolio, which eventually led to larger opportunities. Read more>>

Sonya Talamantes

From the moment I set foot in the Arts center in college I knew that creativity would be my guiding star. My Bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts wasn’t just an academic achievement; it was the beginning of a lifelong passion for visual storytelling and artistic expression. Working behind the scenes of production taught me that even creativity takes drive, hard work and a community of people, thus setting the stage for the next chapter of my career. Read more>>

Ella Pitman

I currently earn a full-time living as an artist and Creative Operations Coordinator. This is a proud achievement earned with over a decade of work and investment in my creative education, training, connections and performance across various mediums. I have always had a deep gnosis of my need to live as an explorative and vocational creative. I have always understood the difficult work it would take to support myself and how many unique obstacles I would be up against – not that I thought I wasn’t capable or that becoming a working artist is any more or less difficult than becoming a working-something-else, but it has long been apparent that US lawmakers, school systems and employers aren’t exactly known for their track record of supporting, respecting, incentivizing, or appropriately compensating creatives. From the word “go”, I jumped into the murky, sometimes uncharted waters of my creative practice prepared to work for what I truly wanted, fight for the world I desired to see, and defend my place in the universe as Creative knowing it would, more often than not, be devalued and unpopular. Read more>>

Morgan Seiter

Last summer was actually the first time I was able to make a full-time living from my creative work. It wasn’t easy, and it definitely wasn’t like that from day one. When I first moved to LA, I was hustling hard. I put most of my expenses on credit cards while trying to find steady work, and for about six months to a year, I had to work a 9-5 job and do side hustles just to make ends meet. Things started to shift when I signed with multiple agencies across different states—Colorado, California, Utah—and I also self-submitted through platforms like Casting Networks. Little by little, the work started coming in, and before I knew it, I was getting booked consistently. Eventually, I reached a point where I was working 5 days a week, which felt incredible after the long grind. Read more>>

Tyler Varnell

The journey to becoming one of the most sought-after Saxophone-DJ’s in Southern California has been a wild one! After college, I worked in the startup space then commercial real estate and felt overworked and underappreciated. So I left the corporate world and decided to become a professional saxophonist! I had no idea what I was doing. I started performing on saxophone with a few bands in bars and clubs, then performed for my first few weddings and was totally hooked. There was something so magical about weddings. All of your favorite people celebrating and partying and having a great time on the most special day of your life. Read more>>

Erran Booker

I can say that I have been able to craft a modest income from my creative work. It has been an interesting journey with various twist and turns and financial ups and downs. It has been a constant learning process in learning the “business” of movie making. I have been blessed in my path to gain experience in almost every area of production. Sound production and design, acting, editing, gaffing, lighting, writing, directing, shooting, being a production assistant. The opportunities I took to be in front of the camera showed me the process of filmmaking both from the independent, string of a shoestring budget, to the low 6 figure independent budget. That’s when I fell in love with filmmaking. The one thing I have yet to accomplish is successful investor fund raising. My experiences allowed me to feel confident enough to step away from a very well paying career and take a chance on me and I can say that it was one of the best decisions I made. If there was one thing that I could have done to make this experience better is to have started earlier. Take certain opportunities that would have provided, at the very least, valuable life experiences. Read more>>

Heather Mcbride

I have been self-employed full-time since 2020 and I wouldn’t change it for the world. While it was incredibly stressful making the decision to quit my other jobs in January of 2020 and the world shut down in March, it taught me a lot about what I am capable of and how to pivot while running a business. It also taught me that I love micro weddings and elopements and I was able to focus on that, becoming an expert on planning an elopement in Philadelphia. Read more>>

Cory Taylor

Yes, I’ve been fortunate enough to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it didn’t happen overnight. My journey started with a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and balancing different jobs while I built up my artistic reputation. I’ve always had a business mind, and running successful ventures alongside my music has helped sustain me. Early on, I didn’t rely solely on my music for income. I worked hard to fund my projects, whether it was buying my first house at 18 or starting multiple businesses, from restaurants to real estate, and eventually launching TME Studios. Read more>>

Cue Perry

Transitioning to full time Artist was a long journey. Its both exhilarating and challenging. Embracing the vibrant art scene of the city, I navigate the complexities of establishing my voice while drawing inspiration from the rich cultural tapestry around me. The journey involves long hours in the studio, a relentless pursuit of skill, and the need to build connections within a competitive environment. Balancing the pressures of financial stability with the desire for creative expression. This path is not just about personal growth; it’s also about contributing to a broader narrative, inspiring others, and finding my place in a historically underrepresented field. Read more>>

Christopher Hester

When I first moved to LA, I imagined what my life would be like as a full time creative and I even put up sticky notes on my bathroom mirror to remind me of that goal. Here we are almost 4 years later to the exact date and I have been able to accomplish that! With the help of finding good representation, continuing to work on my craft and lots of failure along the way , I have mastered the art of thriving on entertainment work alone . For anyone starting out, the advice I would give would be : Read more>>

Krista Gordhamer

I’ve always wanted a career in creativity, but I didn’t start out there. While in art school, I fell into a corporate insurance job where I worked for nearly a decade. I was eventually laid off and decided I was going to apply my art degree to a new career in art education. I enrolled in a graduate program to earn my teaching license and then worked as an art teacher for 5 years – my first year at a high school in South Minneapolis, my last 4 were at a K-8 charter school in Ham Lake. Read more>>

Sanat Charankar

The first time I earned revenue from my creative work was at a school fun fair, where I sold my sketches for 50 INR (about 0.59 USD). One of the most memorable moments was when the school principal purchased one of my pieces. While it was thrilling, however I quickly realized that the effort of creating numerous sketches far outweighed the financial return. This sparked a key insight: I needed to find a more refined, versatile way to use my skills that better matched the rewards for the time and creativity I invested. Read more>>

Sio Jaya

Yes I obtained it through a fairly long creative process and did not get the results immediately, of course through the stages that most artists usually go through. Read more>>

Eliza Reisfeld

I have been fortunate enough to make a full time living as an Illustrator, drawing and doing what I love. It is a gift I don’t take for granted, even though it’s taken a lot of work, grit, and belief in myself to realize this dream. Growing up I was surrounded by ambitious people with straight forward paths…many of my friends and family have become doctors, lawyers, and engineers and I admire them wholeheartedly for all their hard work, dedication and focus. But building a career as a creative is much less clear cut, and I had to face a ton of unknowns to make it a reality.  Read more>>

Gillian Newland

I’ve been earning a living solely as an artist for 10 years now. Most of my income comes from freelance work, (usually in book publishing) and selling prints of my artwork at comiccons and craft fairs around the country. Although I went to art school, I fell into these two particular creative arenas a little by accident. A year or so after graduating from Sheridan college (2005/2006) I participated in a group art show at Xspace Gallery in Toronto. I was really lucky because the publicist for Tundra Books happened to see the show and she liked my work. I got an email inviting me to come into Tundra’s offices with my portfolio and I ended up getting a job illustrating a children’s book for them. The book industry in Canada is a tight family and so after that first book project I was fortunate to be contacted by other publishers. Read more>>

Adam The Shinobi

I would say mainly consistency, At a time when I was working at Dollar Tree i remember no matter how tired I was, or how drained I felt from the week, I had to finish a song. Because I knew one day it would pay off and show me that this is what I can do for the rest of my life. I feel like consistency will take you far. You also see personal growth as you keep up with your craft. Overall, with all these things, it’s made it to where I can have a full time living. Because I was able to be consistent. Posting music, using trial and error. I knew if one song didn’t work, just roll with the punches and post another. Because eventually one will stick and once you get that “aha” moment, you’re golden. Read more>>

Eliot Engelmaier

Earning a full-time living from my creative work is not something I have been able to do, but it is also something that I have actively decided not to prioritize. For me, the goal of monetizing my work seems counterintuitive to my relationship to it. I sometimes make work slowly, sometimes work rapidly, and sometimes make no work at all. My artistic pursuits are the area of my life that feels most intuitively driven by my emotional and intellectual wants and needs. When I have an idea for a project or words that feel worth writing down, I try to trust my impulses and motivations as purely as possible. Putting financial pressure on this process is something that I feel would diminish the value it brings to my life, and the sincerity of the work I produce. Read more>>

LiYing Huang

After graduation, as an industrial and visual designer, I put together my portfolio and built a website to showcase my work. I attended a career fair where my current company discovered my creative projects and expressed interest. It wasn’t an immediate process from day one, but having a strong portfolio and attending events like career fairs were crucial milestones in landing a full-time role. Knowing what I know now, I would have networked even more and refined my portfolio earlier to speed up the process. Read more>>