Artists Don't Have to Starve!

The myth of the "starving artist" strikes fear in the heart of nearly anyone who has a longing to dive into a creative career. Many people elect not to take a risk on working in the arts because they are worried that they will never succeed financially. However, if you look around you then you will see that there are quite a few working artists who are making a solid living today. These people choose to push past the fear and pay heed to their need to create. The ones that succeed in making a life this way are sometimes those who just get lucky but more often than not they are the people who make smart, practical decisions that help them to balance their finances as they pursue a career in the arts. The ten tips in this article can help you save money as a working artist so that you can enjoy your career without being that proverbial starving artist that lurks in the back of your mind.

1. Choose to Live in an Artist Housing Co-op

The thing that most of us spend the most money on each month is our rent or mortgage. If you can find a way to reduce the ongoing cost of living as a working artist then you can make it a lot more feasible for yourself to work full-time on your art. Artist co-ops are a great option because they are specifically designed to offer the kind of support that a working artist needs. For example, Artists' Housing Incorporated in Maryland has been providing affordable housing for artists in a co-op environment since the 1980s.

Of course, artist co-ops aren't the only option for affordable housing. Other options for saving money on housing so that you can afford your life as an artist include:

Rent out the unused rooms in your home for extra income. You can rent them to roommates or to vacationers in your area.
Downsize to a smaller, more affordable home.
Move to a more affordable location.
Apply to be an artist-in-residence which covers your housing for a specified period of time while you do your work.
Barter artistic work (such as painting a mural in someone's home) for temporary housing.
Become a full-time housesitter instead of owning / renting your own space.

The key here is to make practical efforts to reduce your housing costs in order to be able to live on less.

2. Apply Regularly for Grants and Fellowships

One of the best ways to get income as an artist is to get support for your work in the form of artist grants and fellowships. This typically requires that you have some background of exhibiting your work in galleries. Then you go through an application process. It is a tedious and time-consuming part of getting funds as an artist, which is why a lot of artists either don't pursue this route or try it only once or twice. Consider this to be a part of your job and apply for those funds regularly to help support yourself as an artist.

3. Invest in Yourself

If you want others to invest their money in you (either through grants or by purchasing your art work), you have to be willing to invest in yourself. This risk-taking action is what stops a lot of budding artists in their tracks. They fear that they'll never recoup their investment and will end up a "starving artist" with nothing to show for it. You have to be willing to overcome that risk and make that investment. This may mean taking out a loan or putting some of your savings into your art business. At first this may seem counter-intuitive to the whole idea of saving money as an artist but if you make a smart and calculated investment in yourself then it can really pay off in the end.

4. Work at Your Art Full-Time

This may seem obvious - that you have to work full-time if you want to be a full-time artist. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't take this commitment seriously. They don't put a full 40+ hours of work into their art and that is a major reason that they don't succeed as full-time artists. When you waste time, you waste money. Failure to put time into your work is going to result in failure to accrue the income you desire as an artist.

5. Diversify Your Sources of Income

It is important to find many different sources of income as an artist. One might succeed for awhile while another doesn't. You will have back up resources if one resource fails. In addition to your own investment and your grants / fellowships, you may get income as an artist from many different sources such as:

Private sales through galleries
Awards from various exhibitions and contests
Commissioned artwork
Commercial art jobs, either ongoing or one-off
Online sales through Etsy, Artfire or your own website
Sales of books and ebooks about your work
An art blog that generates income through sponsorship and ads

By refusing to rely on a single source of income as an artist, you provide yourself with a steady supply of options for full-time work. As your income grows, make sure that you don't neglect to invest your money in long-term income-generating plans such as a high interest savings account for yourself.

6. Eliminate what You Don't Need to Spend Money on

Building up your income as an artist is only half the battle. You also need to get serious about eliminating all unnecessary costs to reduce the total amount of funding that you actually need in order to do your ongoing work. Some of the things that artists spend money on when they may not actually need to include:

A separate art studio: Could you just work from home? Could you move to a smaller or shared art studio?
Website design: Would it be worth it to do this yourself instead of outsourcing the cost?
Classes: In some cases formal classes are an asset to your art but they aren't always necessary.
Conventions, expos and other art travel: Fun, yes, but again not always a necessary expense. Weigh the options.
Technology: Do you need all of the gadgets that you think you do in order to create your art?

Ask yourself if you really need to pay for these things. In some cases you may but it's always worth a review.

7. Stockpile Supplies from Free and Cheap Sources.

As an artist one of your largest expenses is going to be the cost of your supplies. Some mediums are naturally cheaper than others, of course, but all of them require that you constantly update your supplies whether those are paints or video equipment or clay or something else entirely. Learn to seek out free and cheap sources for your supplies and stockpile them when they are on sale so that you are never stuck in a bind and required to purchase items at full price.

Great sources of free and cheap art supplies include:

Clearance sales at local art stores
Online auctions including eBay
School auctions
Annual library book sales
Craigslist, Freecycle and other sites where people give away free stuff
Specialty stores that offer reduced rates for artists. For example, check out SCRAP in San Francisco.
Online or local artist swaps
Artist co-ops

Have you checked out all of the discounts we offer through our art coupon codes?

8. Surround Yourself with Other Working Artists

This helps you save money in a surprising number of ways. First of all, you have a source of inspiration and a support system to help you stick to your money-saving, art-making goals. Second, these folks understand the need to save money so they're happy to go to cheap and free events with you. And finally, you have a built-in group of people to swap art supplies with!

9. Teach What You Know

One of the ways that you can generate extra income as an artist is to teach art. You can do this formally in a classroom, of course. However, that isn't your only option. You can teach workshops at local events. You can host your own inexpensive art classes in your home. You can create video lessons and sell them online. Don't underestimate the value of what you know.

10. Have the Guts to Believe in Yourself

The number one thing that you can do for yourself as an artist is to believe in your ability to be successful with your art. This will drive you to constantly find new ways to save money in your every day life so that you can continue to work as an artist. It will drive you to work full time and sell your work. It is the key ingredient in the recipe for art success!