The Top 5 Ways for Artists to Make Money Online in 2024

Happy New Year friends! In this post I discuss the top 5 ways for artists to make money online in 2024 and beyond.

Of course, there are many different ways to make money online as an artist or creative professional. This is based on my own research and business earnings. I’ve been selling my own art online for over 8 years, and am now sharing my knowledge and experience with you!

I hope you will find this information helpful, and give you some ideas and inspiration for your own art business.

Watch the video below:

In this video I break down my art business earnings in 2022 to provide some insight into the best ways for artists to make money online in 2024 and beyond.

The top 5 ways artists can make money online in 2024 are:

Print on Demand
Digital goods and products
Education
Affiliate marketing
Consulting and client projects

I go into a lot more depth on each point and show concrete examples in the video so make sure to watch until the end! Also consider subscribing to my Youtube channel as I don’t share every single video here on my blog.

Looking for even more inspiration on how to make money as an artist? Check out my post 101 Ways for Artists to Make Money – The Ultimate List

Let me know in the comments below what were your top income streams in 2022? I’d love to know more and keep the conversation going since the online space is constantly changing and different for everyone.

You might also be interested in these posts:

Wising you all the best and tons of success in 2024!

Cheers,

How to Paint Dreamy Landscapes in Procreate

~ Julie ~ Leave a comment

dreamy landscapes in procreate skillshare class

Do you want to learn how to create dreamy digital landscapes in Procreate, while learning the basics of the app? Then this class is for you!

Join me as I teach you how to paint these 4 different stunning digital landscape paintings in the Procreate app for Apple iPad. This class is great for both beginners and more seasoned Procreate users!

Watch the class introduction below:

In this class, I will guide you through each step of the process of creating these beautiful digital landscape paintings while demonstrating some of the basic tools and functions of the Procreate app.

I’ve also created some custom brushes and a colour palette exclusively for the students of this class!

This class is perfect for beginners, or already established Procreate users who are looking for a fun and beautiful project to share on social media or elsewhere.

If you have your iPad charged up and ready to go, then you’re ready for this class.

So let’s get started!

Click here to watch Dreamy Landscapes in Procreate: Create 4 Stunning Digital Landscape Paintings – and get 1 free month of Skillshare membership!

For the class project, you can share one or more of the digital landscape paintings we created in this class. If you share your project on Instagram, be sure to tag me @julieerindesigns and I will share it to my Instagram stories!

digital landscape paintings in procreate

The supplies you will need for this class are:

an Apple iPad
the Procreate app
an Apple pencil
the brush pack and colour palette provided in the Resources section of the class

Selling Art Online for Beginners

~ Julie ~ 2 Comments

Are you an artist who wants to start selling your art online? I’ve got you. Just follow the steps below to get started!

Selling Art Online for Beginners

1. Build a portfolio of high quality work

In order to start selling your art online, you should have a decent sized portfolio for potential customers to choose from. Aim for 10-25 artworks or products you want to list for sale.

You can either make a batch of new artwork, or dig up some old pieces that could work digitally or physically to sell and repurpose them.

I also want to emphasize that quality and unique-ness is more important now than ever. There is a ton of competition out there so make sure your designs are good and unique enough that you won’t get lost in a sea of competitors.

Not quite there yet? Keep practicing and honing your craft. No one really is born with some amazing artistic ability, it takes times and practice to develop skills. Over time you will get there and build your portfolio in the process.

2: Decide what type of art you want to sell

Next, you’ll have to decide what kind of art you want to sell, which will depend on your medium, style, and goals as an artist.

Identify your audience and how you want to sell your art.

Are you going to sell art prints?
Are you going to sell physical artwork, such as paintings?
Do you create sculptures, jewellery or some other physical product?
Are you interested in designing t-shirts and/or home décor products to sell through print on demand?
Do you want to sell digital products like cell phone wallpaper or graphic assets for designers?
Are you interested in selling NFTs?

All of these are viable ways to make money selling your art online. You can choose just one or a combination of these.

Want even more ideas? Check out my list of 101 Ways for Artists to Make Money!

3. Digitize your artwork

If you don’t already have your art in a digital format, you’ll need to digitize it in some way. Either by scanning or photographing your physical artwork in high quality with good lighting.

Scan or photograph your artwork in high resolution.
Try to get sharp lines and true colors by using a tripod and good lighting.
Post process in a program like Photoshop to fix colors, or clean up scans.

Check out my video tutorial below on how to digitize your artwork using Photoshop and Illustrator.

4. List your artwork for sale on your chosen platform(s)

Upload your designs or create listings on your chosen platform.

If you are going the Print On Demand route, only add to products that look good and work with the design. You may need to customize the design for different products, like having a version with a transparent background for stickers and t-shirts.

For physical products you can sell on your own website, social media or Etsy. Make sure the photos look good and it’s clear what you are selling. Also make sure it’s simple and easy for a customer to purchase from you.

5: Market your products

Marketing sounds hard but there are actually so many ways to market your artwork online!

You can use social media or a shopping website like Pinterest. There are many ways to market your artwork these are just a few ideas.

Share your products and artwork on social media. You can use a mock-up generator like Place It to help show the designs on physical products without having to purchase them yourself.
Create an Instagram, Twitter, and/or Facebook page dedicated to your art. (Ideally, choose one you use frequently so it’s not a burden to learn or use daily).
You may consider building a website, which can be a hub if you sell on multiple platforms. It could be a blog like this, or just a simple portfolio of your work.
To dive deeper into marketing, watch tutorials on YouTube or try Skillshare to hone your business skills or even artistic skills as your business grows.

Consistently create new designs so you can figure out what works and what doesn’t, then make more of what resonates with your audience.

Consistency is key!

I hope you’ve found this guide to selling your art online useful. Feel free to leave any additional tips or questions for me in the comments below!

If you want to learn even more make sure to check out my Skillshare class! From Design to Product: Sell Your Art Online through Print on Demand.

Cheers,

Easy Pattern Design in Procreate – Ogee and Argyle Pattern Tutorial

~ Julie ~ Leave a comment

I recently created this fun and easy pattern design tutorial in which I teach you how to make an ogee and an argyle pattern with the Procreate app for Apple iPad.

In this tutorial I take you step by step through the process of making these 2 easy seamless pattern designs, an ogee and argyle pattern, right on your iPad in Procreate. Watch the video below!

Check out my other digital art tutorials over on my Youtube channel.

In this video I take you through the following steps:

Creating an argyle pattern using simple shapes and lines
Creating an ogee pattern using symmetry tools
Testing both patterns to ensure they repeat seamlessly using the snapping and magnetics tool

You can make all sorts of variations of these patterns to use for backgrounds, print on demand products or anything else you can think of.

Pink Argyle Pattern Socks in **my Redbubble store**

I hope you’ve enjoyed this easy and fun Procreate pattern design tutorial. You might also like my other tutorial on how to create seamless patterns in Procreate, which you can see here.

I’ve also got a video for Procreate newbies which includes several tips and tricks to help you get started with the app.

I’ve been kind of obsessed with creating designs and patterns in Procreate over the past year. So I’ll likely be creating more tutorials and videos on this topic in the near future.

Let me know in the comments below if this is something you’re interested in, or if there’s something else you’d like me to cover!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great rest of your day.

Cheers,

25+ Instagram Post Ideas for Artists

~ Julie ~ 3 Comments

Are you an artist struggling to come up with ideas on what to post on Instagram? Whether you use your feed, reels, or stories, there are so many ways to share your art on Instagram!

In this post I’m sharing over 25 Instagram post ideas for artists.

A few things to consider: Create value for your audience. Whether it’s something pretty to look at, sharing information, or a relatable story in the captions. Interact with your audience. Ask a question. Get people excited and engaged with your content!

Instagram Feed Posts Ideas:

1. Finished artwork

2. Works in progress

3. Photos of yourself with or holding your artwork

4. Introduction posts. Share a photo of yourself in your studio with a quick introduction for new followers

5. Close ups of your artwork, either a WIP or tease of a final piece

6. Mockups of your artwork on products (download from your POD stores, make your own, or use a mock up generator service like Place It)

7. Real life photos of your artwork on products

8. Join trending hashtags and art challenges like #artvsartist or #dtiys (draw this in your style)

9. Art supplies – review or showcase the tools you use to create your art

10. Studio shots/ behind the scenes

11. Shareable quotes (created by you, using your own artwork)

12. Celebrate an occasion or holiday with a related artwork or design

Instagram Reels Ideas:

13. Timelapse videos of yourself creating an art piece

14. Tutorials demonstrating your process, how to use a specific tool or product

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Julie Erin Designs | Artist (@julieerindesigns)

15. Trending video memes with an art or art business spin on it

17. “Day in the life” (of an artist)

18. Still images along to the beat of a song

19. Using trending filters on your artwork

20. Animated artwork (can be really simple)

21. “Satisfying” art process

Instagram Story Post Ideas:

Anything goes on stories, they are less formal and go away in 24 hours.

22. Behind the scenes – going for a walk to gather inspiration, your art studio etc.

23. Teasers for new artwork or content (tutorials, blog posts etc)

24. This or that, showing 2 of your artworks and ask your audience which one they like more

25. Announce a sale and use a link sticker to link to your shop(s)

26. Ask your audience a question (poll)

27. Share a new blog post or video on Youtube or another platform (link with sticker)

28. Share a new (or old) post or reel from your feed to your Stories

29. Celebrate an occasion or holiday, sometimes there are stickers for this so you can share with a wider audience

Looking for more Instagram tips for artists? Check out this blog post!

You can also check out my own Instagram feed for even more post inspiration.

I hope you’ve found this list of Instagram post ideas for artists helpful!

Cheers,

How to Draw a Mandala in Procreate

~ Julie ~ 1 Comment

Want to learn how to draw mandala art in the Procreate app for Apple iPad? You’ve come to the right place because I’ve posted a tutorial on my Youtube channel showing you how to do just that!

The symmetry tools in the Procreate app make it super easy and fun to create beautiful mandala designs on your iPad.

I figured the easiest way to explain how to draw mandalas in Procreate is to just demonstrate in this quick video tutorial! However, keep scrolling if you prefer to read the instructions in a list format.

In this video I demonstrate the following:

Two types of symmetry tools to draw mandalas in the Procreate app.
A few mandala drawing tips and tricks.
How to use gradients to get different color variations.
How to make your own gradients.
Using hue/saturation for even more color variations.

How to Draw Mandalas in Procreate Step by Step

Create a new square canvas. Ex. 3000 x 3000 pixels.
Go to Actions > Canvas > Drawing Guide > Edit Drawing Guide
Click on Symmetry > Options > Radial
Toggle Rotational Symmetry on or off as desired.
You can change the color of the drawing guide with the colored line at the top of the screen.
Click Done.
Start drawing your mandala from the center of the canvas and work your way out.

I hope you will see how quick and satisfying it is to draw mandala art in Procreate!

To add further complexity to your mandala art, download my Mandala Drawing Templates for Procreate:

mandala drawing templates procreate brush set

Don’t have Procreate but want to learn how to draw mandalas on paper? I have a Skillshare class for that!

Modern Mandala Art: Draw and Color 2 Stunning and Unique Mandalas with Julie Erin Designs on Skillshare

Looking for even more mandala content? I have some other blog posts you might enjoy:

I’ve also got more Procreate tutorials including how to make seamless patterns in the app.

I hope you’ve found this tutorial helpful, and I’ll see you in my next blog post. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Cheers,

How to Make a Seamless Pattern in Procreate

~ Julie ~ 4 Comments

Did you recently get an iPad with the Procreate app? If so, congratulations! If you’re a surface designer like me, you’re probably wondering how you can make seamless pattern designs in the Procreate app!

I’m here to show you my method of creating seamless offset patterns in Procreate. Keep in mind there are multiple ways to achieve the same result!

Check out my video below for step by step instructions to make seamless patterns on your iPad with Procreate.

How to make a Seamless Pattern in Procreate

Begin with a square canvas (ex. 4000 x 4000 pixels).
Draw your motifs (I drew some simple strawberries).
Arrange your motifs so they are somewhat close to the center of your square canvas.
Create a group from your motifs and duplicate it.
Hide your original group.
Pinch the new group together into 1 layer.
Create a new layer and fill it with a solid color background (can be any color, it doesn’t matter).
Group the layer with your motifs with the solid background layer.
Duplicate this group 4 times.
With snapping and magnetics ON, move each of those layers into the 4 corners of the document.
Now you can delete those solid background layers.
Turn back on your original group of motifs and arrange them so they fit nicely between the others.
Now you have your seamless pattern tile!

If you want to test your pattern swatch to make sure it all lines up correctly, I’ve shown you how to do that too in the video above.

Once you have your final seamless pattern you can export it and use it for many projects or upload your patterns to print on demand stores so they can be printed on products!

Here’s an example of what I created with my strawberry pattern. I added some more florals to it.

(You can shop this design in my Redbubble store by the way!)

I hope you’ve found this post helpful and you learned how to make a seamless pattern in the Procreate app!

You may also be interested in these posts:

Cheers,

How to Digitize your Art for Print on Demand

~ Julie ~ 1 Comment

Do you want to learn how to digitize your art for Print on Demand websites?

You’ve come to the right place, because I’ve been selling my art online for over 7 years. During that time I figured out how to produce the highest quality work for my stores. I have sold thousands of products featuring my artwork through my Print on demand stores, from hand drawn line art to watercolor paintings.

For example: I created a t-shirt from my drawing of a ladybug from the Mandalatober challenge (an art challenge I participated in on Instagram.)

This technique will work on your hand drawn line art, doodles and illustrations, or even paintings, as long as they are small enough to fit in your scanner bed.

In this tutorial I will take you through the following steps:

Scanning your art into Photoshop.
Doing some preliminary clean up of the artwork in Photoshop.
Cleaning up the artwork and smoothing out lines in Illustrator, using the Image Trace tool.
More Photoshop tricks for prepping the artwork to upload to the Print on Demand sites.
Required file types you need for the Print on Demand sites.
Several tips and tricks along the way.

I created this video to take you through the process of digitizing my own hand drawn artwork, using a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator. I figured this would be the easiest way to demonstrate this process, rather than trying to describe it to you.

This tutorial is only a small part of my comprehensive class on how to sell your art online – From Design to Product: Sell Your Art Online with Print on Demand websites.

You can watch the whole class for free when you sign up for a 1 month trial of Skillshare membership!

I hope you’ve found this tutorial useful, and learned how to digitize your art for Print on demand websites properly! If you want to learn more about how to sell your art through Print on Demand websites, check out these posts:

If you’re looking for ways to create purely digital art for use on Print on Demand websites, you may enjoy this class on how to Create Your Own Sublimation Designs.

Cheers,

Trendy Aesthetic Cell Phone Wallpaper

~ Julie ~ 6 Comments

I decided to create some more aesthetic wallpaper for your cell phones! Many of these are also available on Popsockets and Phone Cases in my Amazon store.

Just right click and download them to your phone and then choose Set as Wallpaper (on Android).

The first one has some delicate white butterflies over a pink and blue ombre gradient.

pink blue butterfly mobile phone background

Next we have this chic and modern geometric design with golden lines forming triangles over a light pink background.

modern gold and light pink geometric aesthetic wallpaper

Lavender and checker patterns are both super trendy at the moment, so I combined them into this simple but chic wallpaper design.

Alcohol ink is also having a moment right now so I created this modern blue and gold alcohol ink wallpaper entirely digitally. It looks like the real thing!

blue and gold alcohol ink aesthetic wallpaper for mobile phone

Keep the summer vibes going all year round with this turquoise blue summer pool water background. I used a photograph I took of an actual swimming pool for this one.

summer pool water turquoise ocean wallpaper

For the last one, I couldn’t leave you without one of my signature mandala designs in rose gold over a white marble texture.

rose gold mandala on marble phone background

I hope you enjoy your new aesthetic cell phone wallpaper!

Cheers,

But wait, there’s more! You may also enjoy these mandala cell phone wallpapers.

Society6 Can Cooler Review

~ Julie ~ Leave a comment

Since summer is in full swing I thought it’d be a good time to do a Society6 can cooler review.

I’ve had them for a few years now and they’re pretty awesome!

These can coolers, also known as can koozies or coozies, live in my “camping box” and get tossed around quite a bit. They’ve been on several camping trips and beach days with me.

I’m pleased to say the designs have held up nicely, as you can see from the photos!

But the main thing is how well do they work? They insulate very well. Like 30 degrees on the beach (85 F) and I can finish the whole drink while it stays cool well. To me that is a total win. I no longer have to pour out the rest of my drink because it got warm and gross.

The Society6 can coolers are are also very light weight. This makes them perfect to throw into a beach bag or take on a backpacking trip.

As you can see they can fit both regular sized cans as well as bottles!

Society6 Can Cooler Features (according to their website)

Holds a 12 oz can
Lightweight stainless steel construction
360 degree wraparound artwork
Double-wall vacuum insulation to keep drinks cold or hot for hours
Includes plastic twist-on top
Hand wash only

They are perfect for camping, taking to the beach, backyard BBQs or any other time you need to keep your drink insulated.

And did I mention these can coolers feature my own designs?

turquoise water purple galaxy drink koozies

If you like these designs you can find them in my Society6 shop! They have thousands of other designs so there is truly something for everyone.

If you liked this post you may also enjoy my other product reviews:

Cheers,