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.

Leo Testoni

I decided to become a musician early in life after watching a duo perform Brazilian jazz — just upright bass and piano. That moment changed everything for me. More than 20 years have passed, and I’m still in love with music.

Throughout all these years, I’ve always made a living from music. There have been turbulent times and others with less worry, but never an easy path. I believe my generation — the one that experienced the shift from analog to digital — really felt the challenges of adapting to a new reality, like music being available for free everywhere (on websites, TV, and streaming platforms). At the same time, artists receive little to nothing for their work. Read more>>

Kymm Mclean

Years ago I was trapped, but it didn’t appear so on the outside. I had a new house, new car, fiancee and successful position as an office manager at an architectural firm. The American dream.

Only it wasn’t. My job was mundane and definitely not creative. I began to dread driving to work. Each day my soul died just a little more. I had dreamed since a child of working in the beauty industry. Not in a salon or spa but rather my own mobile beauty business. There wasn’t a business model to follow, those services weren’t even offered in my city. Read more>>

Molly Kempson

I have been making a living from making and teaching art for 11 years at this point, and I attribute to some advice I was given in graduate school: “make good work, show up when you say you will, and be easy to work with.” As a self-employed artist, I make and sell letterpress prints and teach linocut carving and printing classes. I also have worked for others for most of these 11 years facilitating art-making with a wide range of people.  Read more>>

Danny Abel

Somehow I’ve managed to make a full-time living from being a musician. It’s really been a huge mix of experiences to do this, and while it can have moments of uncertainty, I’ve been able to do it professionally for almost 20 years now. I can’t say there’s a single path to this. I think a big part of it is not boxing myself in. I love listening to and playing many styles, so that helps as a freelancer for getting gigs with tons of different musicians and bands. But aside from that, it’s realizing that being a professional musician doesn’t have to mean playing huge stages, or being famous. Read more>>

Meghan Kylie

On January 13, 2024 I l..drove to my scheduled work day at a nursing home, and could not get myself out of the car. I had realized it was my body telling me that I couldn’t force myself to do that work anymore; at least not full time; at least not in that format. And so I drove home, reached out to my supervisor, and quit, with no concrete plan. Since then, I have released my debut album and have been building my new life, piece by piece. While I have not quite reached “full time hours;” I can say with confidence that I am projected to “get there” by the end of the year. Read more>>

Kaitlin Mahony

I am still in shock that I am able to make a living by doing what I love! I have always wanted to go into the fashion design field since I was a little girl, so kept my focus and created a path for myself. I started taking fashion classes in high school, then majored in Fashion Design at Marist University, and quickly got swept into the fashion industry as a designer right after I graduated. Read more>>

Samuel Delgado

Yes, I currently make a full-time living from my creative work, but it wasn’t easy or quick.

I started with a clear passion for art and for telling stories through tattoos. In the beginning, I took on all kinds of work, worked long hours, and earned just enough to keep going. But little by little, I developed my own style, and that’s when people started coming to me for what I could offer—not just for a tattoo. Read more>>

Ally Cantrell

I’ve got an unconventional twist to my story about earning a full-time living as an artist, and I think it holds a lesson worth sharing. Yes, I have made a full-time living from my art. But I chose to step away from it, returning to part-time work on purpose.

Most of my adult life, I balanced being an artist with what people like to call “real” jobs. In 2017, I finally went all in, then launched my own business – BunnyPigs – in early 2018. I specialized in custom pet portraits. The thing took off like wildfire. That year, I made more money than I ever had in any office gig.  Read more>>

Jordan Alexander

I say it all the time, I am truly so happy and blessed to be able to make a living as an artist/creative.
I never saw myself working a “regular” job or a desk job. My “office” is the salon.
I’ve always had such a strong passion for hair and never did I think, I’d be living the life I live now. I remember early on in my career, I would walk into the salon nervous and anxious, not knowing what my day would look like or what projects I would be walking into. It definitely took a while for me to gain the confidence & knowledge that I have now. It definitely didn’t happen overnight, it took time, practice, dedication and lots of mistakes. Read more>>

Lauren Brantley

Yes, I’ve been able to grow Lauren Ashley Design into a thriving, full-scale design studio that supports both my family and my creative purpose — but the path to get here wasn’t a straight line. Like many businesses, it began as a dream and a side hustle. I had a deep passion for interior design and a vision for helping people create homes that feel both beautiful and truly livable. Read more>>

Steven Whyte

Yes, I’ve been fortunate to earn a full-time living from my creative work for the majority of my adult life—but it certainly wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen overnight.

I was about 20 years old when I received my first major commissions: portrait busts for the Lord Bishop of Lichfield and the Speaker of the House of Commons. That early success gave me just enough momentum to believe it could be a real path. But my parents had made one thing clear when I told them I wanted to be an artist: I’d have to find a way to make a living at it. So I approached this career with both passion and a very practical mindset from the beginning. Read more>>

Murphy Li

Yes, I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work—though it definitely didn’t happen overnight.

My journey started with a deep love for music and storytelling, which eventually led me into the world of sound for film and television. After studying film and working on a number of student projects in Beijing Film Academy, I transitioned into working professionally as a sound mixer and sound designer. For a while, I juggled multiple side jobs just to keep my creative career going. But over time, I built a network, honed my skills, and slowly started landing bigger projects and long-term collaborations. Read more>>

Yongxi (Vivian) Lin

Flower Girls is the most meaningful project I’ve worked on. I completed my undergraduate studies in Illustration, and I am currently studying Printmaking. I love both Illustration and printmaking and want to bring them together. They are illustrations I created before. The original artworks were 7.5×11 inches watercolor and ink paintings. I made them into limited edition two-color screen prints on 9×12 inch white paper while keeping the image size the same at 7.5×11 inches. In the beginning, I wasn’t very familiar with screen printing, so some details were lost in the process. However, as I gained more experience, my technique improved, and you can see the progress reflected in the prints. I never considered reprinting them, as these imperfections are part of what makes the series unique and special. Read more>>

Kelly Olshan

As an artist and arts manager, I see both of these endeavors as creative work. In that sense, I earn a full time living from my creative work. However, I’m not a full time studio artist.

Financially, I make the majority (~80 – 90%) of my living in arts management, working as a Program Officer for the nonprofit arts service organization New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). There, I focus on professional development for artists, Read more>>

Ty Hawn

I’ve been full-time tattoo artist for closing in on seven years now, it’s through a love of the craft and the constant drive to make it a successful endeavor that I’ve gotten this far. I’ve done some form of art pretty much my whole life and though I had a connection to tattooing at a younger age through friends that were in the industry, it wasn’t until later that I decided that it was a passion that I wanted to pursue myself. I was lucky enough to have a friend willing to teach me how to translate my art skills that I had already acquired into tattooing, and from that point on I was hooked. I think it’s an art form that takes time to understand as you can go down many paths with it, but having a drive and taking the time necessary to grow and learn how to work with different situations, helps you. Read more>>

Andrea Cermanski

I spent 18 years as a public school teacher, working my way up to what felt like the perfect position – teaching English, Photography, and Art at the high school level. My last nine years were in a dream art teaching job that I genuinely loved. But when Covid hit, everything shifted. Like many people, I started questioning the path I was on. Read more>>

Rick Sharp

I have been a working artist all my life. I have made a decent living from my art both in California and Hawaii. My work is distributed widely by my publisher which allows me to concentrate on creating art instead, marketing, producing and distributing it to the public. I’ve been lucky to have this arrangement for the past 15 years. Read more>>

Jennifer Valdez

I began my floral, flower farming, and event planning company as a passion project alongside my full-time job. I spent countless hours learning about floral design, sustainable farming practices, and the intricacies of event coordination. This initial phase was crucial for building a strong foundation of skills and knowledge, allowing me to refine my craft and understand the market without the immediate pressure of financial dependence on the business. I invested heavily in education and hands-on experience, often working late nights and weekends to cultivate my skills and build a portfolio. Read more>>

Noah Larson

I have been making knives as a means of income for 8 years. The last 3 years have been hyper focused on culinary knives with my current business, Larson Made. Like many creative professions, making constant income is very difficult. I don’t think being a craftsman or artist translates very well into our current economy in the United States. I had to redefine what profit meant to me because it is truly different for every business. If you base your business and metric for success on other businesses out in the world you will always be chasing your tail. After redefining profit in January this year I will be able to finally pay myself a borderline livable wage. Read more>>

Lynn D. Pratt

When I first started painting with watercolor, I started it as just a hobby. I was a full-time architect running my own practice with two young children. Watercolor painting was just supposed to be something to fill my downtime to relax. I picked up a brush and watercolor paint and was completely hooked. I started painting in all of my spare time and doing some small featured artist shows and local art shows. After a year of painting, I knew I could not sustain two careers at the same time so I started taking less architectural clients and painting more. Over the next year I ended up closing my architecture practice completely and painting full-time. This was never the plan from the beginning, but a gradual progression over time and turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made! Read more>>

CJ Tyson

From day one. My very first memory is around 1 or 2 years old, of a morning my parents were getting ready for work. My mom plopped me into the corner of our brown flower print polyester sofa and turned on MTV, when they played music videos only. Whitney Houston’s, I Wanna Dance With Somebody. music video is the first time I remember being inspired, drawn to something consciously. Reflecting from present to that first memory, every dot connected, each milestone to living my dreams has art infused within it. Creating it, being in a space created to create, being around those who are doing the creating have been the constant variables. When people say they eat, sleep and breathe something, I truly do. My every living second is consumed with art, even the not so fun times. Read more>>

Anja Poehlmann

I’ve been a full-time photographer and filmmaker for over 5 years now. Having started just 6 months before Covid meant that the first 18 months were very tough financially. I was just about to gain momentum when everything came to a screeching halt – I basically couldn’t work and make any money for a year. I used this time to really understand what it meant to run a business and how to market my services and over time, I’ve grown an audience and learned what it means to use my creative work to make a living. Read more>>

Riley Smith

For about 4 – 5 years starting just before the pandemic, I was able to make a living through my creative work, largely through cartoon illustrations for the heavy metal community. This was under the brand name Death Metal Pop Art which I’m working on turning into a more scalable business. Read more>>