How to Make a Living as an Artist

Video Transcript

"Okay folks, in this clip we're going to talk about how to make a living as an artist. Unlike some professions, there are literally dozens and dozens of ways that you can make a living as an artist. If you have the ability to sketch, draw, paint, design, you have many, many options available to you. One around you could go into is graphic design. These days a lot of that's done on computer, not as much freehand anymore but using computers has really opened up an artist's world in giving us yet another tool with which to create and so a lot of people lean in that direction. If you're a little bit more technologically inclined and don't like to get your hands dirty quite as much, that might be a really good option for you. There's a lot of creativity and a lot of versatility in that, there's a wide variety of jobs for designers. Another way to make a living as an artist would be to become a graphic novel artist or an animator maybe. These are very, very different from graphic design, obviously, you need to have a broader understanding of dimensions, shapes in terms of the human form and also movement, that's the key as well, to create panels in a comic strip or especially to create animation and to be a hand drawn animator which it is kind of a rare breed these days but to be either one you have to be able to understand the human form, how the body moves and to be able to draw within those parameters. There is a great deal of money to be made in this field 'cause it's very - there aren't too many people who are good at this particular skill so if you find yourself really passionate, feeling passionate about drawing these types of images, then absolutely go for that, the best way to do that is to build up your portfolio and then to submit it to different either agencies or actual publishers or animating houses themselves. Get your foot in the door and work your way up from there. Another way and in my mind this would be just about every artist's dream is to move to some place like New York, Paris, Italy, some yeah, exotic foreign location anywhere like that, open up your little art gallery, your very own little art gallery and just paint. Design, draw, whatever from your own studio, and then you know have people you know walking off the street and to appreciate your work, you know have it displayed in galleries across the world and you know, live the good life basically. Now this is your dream and aspiration and if you feel that you have the skill and the passion, go for it, I think that's the most noble way in my mind to make a living as an artist. To do it literally on your own, living off your work, you know, you're your own boss, you make your own hours, it really doesn't get much better than that. If you become a success at it, then, the sky is the limit. You officially arrived. And these are just a few of the ways to make a living as an artist."