Being an Artist as a Job

Many people have been skeptical of being an artist as their main job because of the rumours they have heard, like: “Most artists end up starving on the street,” “Being an artist isn't a real job!” “Artists make no money,” or “It simply won’t work out” but imagine a world without artists doing their commissions on their job. There are tons of art jobs all around us and open positions and room for new art jobs, so yas we do in fact need artists and it's not less than any other job in the world. Being an artist is a valid job that should be taken seriously and one that you can live on.

There would be no Mona Lisa, The Starry Night, Sunday Afternoon or the paintings of the Sistine Chapel, or any of these, and that wouldn't be all. You wouldn't have animated movies from cartoons to special effects in Marvel movies. You wouldn't have backgrounds on your computer, the walls of your house painted or any paintings to go on those walls, you wouldn't have any designs on your clothes, and you couldn't get anything customized for you.

Those are some things that have included people making those from their own mind and artistic talents. You see career options for artists are not just limited to paper and canvas that get framed and sold.

Some career options for artists that are not related to the things I said above would be like taking photography which is great for pictures in your home stock photos to use on your presentations, those photos you see on advertisements or just photos on a website which leads to another job; website designing. Website designing is very important to day because of course every website has one.

Now there is also tons of artist jobs when it comes out to your home like interior designing to help place all the art pieces you have bought and put them up on the wall, landscape design for a relaxing garden or a pool, an architect, furniture designer, and builders. Try thinking of all the art required jobs and you can definitely come up with more than the few I put on this list. I have now put down a good list of jobs that are art related/require art I need to also say that you could open your own art shop or any thing like the list above. You can make your own art gallery of paintings to sculpturing but this is what peoples main concern is; money.

Many people think, ok well, yes, you can make a good amount of money on those everyday jobs but can you really make enough money by selling art? Yes. You absolutely can do it. Yes it is very competitive in the art industry and you have to be really dedicated to your work to manage to sell. But first you would have to sort out your priorities. Would you rather spend more time on money or enjoying your job? When you look back on your life would you rather you had a artistic but enjoyable job or a comfortable life? Would you rather get a regular job and spend the money on art supplies and do art without caring what other people would think or sell the art but have to make sure there is a crowd who wants what you make. You have to find what's right for you.

Ok know back to the money part. Most successful visual artists more then $90,050 per year, while doing their hobby. The average amount of money made for the average artist professionally selling art is $53,400 per year, which is equal to $25,26 a hour. The lowest earning 10% earned less than 19,150 a year. Luckily more people get to be in that top 90,000 then the lowest 19,000.

Now time to talk about another part of the job that makes things pretty difficult. Employment. About 4,290 out of the total of  11,830 visual artists that work for themselves get around $50,000 per year (49,930 to be exact). Where you do your job also matters a lot weather it's online of a physical shop. The most popular state for artists that has the best opportunity is California. For visual artists there is about 4,420 positions that make around $63,880. New York comes in second with 1,120 artists making $55,770. If you are going more for how much money you can make Maine annual mean is $95,830, washington in second with 64,090 with California in third. If your going for more easy employment Los Angeles has the highest employment levels 2,690 making $67,390 a year.

In conclusion it is not true that being an artist means you will end up starving on the streets but it actually means you get to pursue your dreams as a painter, a digital artist, a potter, and whatever other creative ways of expressing yourself that's out there.