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.
Catherine Asanov
Absolutely—I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from my creative work, but it definitely wasn’t like that from day one. It was my high-school art teacher, Mr.Lark who saw a vision in me and helped me. Read More>>
Aria Hwang
Personally, I suppose, earning a full-time living from creative work is hard for anyone. But I really made progress during the past few months. During college, I studied music production and tried to be a film/game composer. But things were tricky back in college. I learned a bit about composition, but still far from being a professional. Read More>>
Jacci Farlow
Life quite literally began on a shoestring for me back in 1977 when I arrived in New York City. By the time I left in 1990, I’d gone from scraping by to earning a six-figure salary. My early career was all about shoes — illustrations, posters, magazine work — and the real magic came from meeting the right people at the right moment. Read More>>
Phil Williams
I have been able to earn a full-time living from creative work but it’s a somewhat loaded concept from the outset: in reality, the creative work itself is never really what earns the money, it’s the means or ability to sell that work you need. Read More>>
Kaché Stewart
I’ve been able to earn a full-time living as a hairstylist for a little over eight years now. My journey actually started out of frustration at my last traditional job. I was on break one day reading You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, and the line ‘Quit that dumb job!’ hit me hard. Read More>>