We live in a society that often considers creative pursuits to be hobbies. We are generally expected to carry them out in our spare time, as and when we can fit them in. This is represented in school syllabus, where more time and attention are poured into academic and progressive subjects such as the sciences, business, and mathematics. It is also reflected in the high levels of pay that often come hand in hand with pursuits building on these skills and specialisms.
Those who make a lot of money from the arts tend to be considered one-off cases who are granted celebrity statuses such as Damien Hirst representing the art scene or J.K Rowling spearheading successful novelists. But believe it or not, you can indeed make a living from your creative talents without intending to make millions or become a household name in the same way that you can make a living through office work or a retail position. If this sounds good to you, read on!
Here are a few different ways to make a regular income from your creative talents!
Writing
Many people think that to make a career from writing, you need to produce a novel or series of short stories of sorts. But we are constantly surrounded by written content, and people have been paid to put it out there. In fact, the average person reads just four novels a year. Compare this figure to the news articles you read each and every day. The announcements written on screens in train stations reporting on the service. Product descriptions on sites where we browse potential purchases. Contracts we take out. The small print in advertisements. Ingredient lists on food packaging. The list goes on and on. Much of the written content we read is actually that which is produced by people who write on a daily basis to make a living.
So, how do you join their ranks? A good place to start is writing guest posts for other people’s blogs. This allows you to get a hold of your own style and to get into the swing of writing regularly, clearing any writers blocks that you might experience. This also helps you to expose your work to a wider audience and build an impressive portfolio. Find a full list of sites that accept guest posts by using 1418 Authority Guest Posting Sites Sorted By Category. Once you’ve written a few guest posts, you’ll find that you can easily get into the swing of writing regularly, to a brief, and on a whole range of subjects. You will be in the perfect position to start your own blog where you can post regularly, and profit from advertisements as your readership and traffic to your site grows. You can also land more permanent positions with companies who have blogs of their own, need online product descriptions, or want regular written updates and announcements to post on their social media feeds.
Drawing
There are various careers that require the creative eye and steady hands that come hand with being able to draw well. Now, when we think of successful artists, the greats often spring to mind. We think of classic painters such as Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, or Michelangelo. Impressionist works flash across our minds: Van Gogh, Monet, and Manet. Some of us will even settle on Surrealists such as Picasso or Salvador Dali.
But we are all well aware that it’s extremely difficult to make money from art for art’s sake and now that the majority of people have decent cameras on their smartphones, demand for commissioned portraits has significantly dipped. So, how are you meant to make money from being able to draw? Well, the answer is to focus on the commercial. Think of how many images we are faced with on a day to day basis. Sure, they might not be watercolours, oil paintings, or hung on canvases. But they are still there. Most images that we are faced with nowadays tend to be digital.
Companies use them for various reasons. Logos are one of the most popular forms of image used in business and play a significant role in branding, as they are visual indicators that can associate almost any product with a company. Someone with a skill for drawing needs to design these! Images are also required for products and packaging themselves. Worried that engaging with this kind of art for profit might sacrifice your artistic integrity? Throw your worries to the curb. Everyone needs to survive. Think of the Chupa Chup logo – one of the most instantly recognisable commercial pieces of artwork out there. Do you know who created it? Salvador Dali! Yet he’s still celebrated as one of the all-time greats! So, don’t worry about engaging with commercial art and design to support yourself in your life and other artistic ventures.
An alternative career that can come from an aptitude in drawing is that of the tattoo artist. More and more people are looking for competent tattoo artists, as tattoos are increasingly losing their taboo and are becoming more accepted in wider society. Of course, this is an entirely different process from drawing with pen and pencil on paper. But the skills are easily transferred and with practice and training, you could become brilliant in next to no time!
Photography
Photography is an art. You have to have an eye for angles and lighting. You also need a creative touch to make your pictures stand out from the crowd. On top of this, you need a working, technical knowledge of your equipment, which can grow to include cameras, tripods, flash equipment, box lights… the list goes on and on. However, photography is one of the most flexible creative talents that you can make a whole lot of money from.
First, it has commercial value. Companies need product photography that will sell their goods, as well as more creative shots for slideshows, photo reels, their catalogues, and their social media feeds. Then there’s the fashion value. The fashion industry needs photographers to catch runway walks, conduct editorial shoots, and make multi-page spreads in glossy magazines. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of personal clients out there who want large life events documented, such as weddings, anniversaries, parties, and pregnancy or maternity shoots.
Sure, creative talents may be something that you focus your spare time on developing when you have free time from the work that brings bread to your table. But it’s important to remember that they are just as valuable as any other skill and something that you could potentially forge a career out of!
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