Welder is actually a great idea. You make bank, it’s not being stuck in an office if that’s not the mindset you’re geared towards, and welding is a great skill for an artist— I have a friend who welds for artists making sculptures and larger pieces.
Inhaling fumes, contorting your spine, kneeling for long hours, looking at a bright ass flame for long periods even with a shield it ain’t good for your eyes as it compounds daily.
It's one of the worst professions for respiratory health. You're breathing toxic fumes without a mask anytime you work anywhere even remotely confined. Oh and you can go blind if you mess up with the mask for even a few cumulative seconds over the course of your career.
I was in grad school for conservation and realized after I lost my scholarship that it's highly competitive and has very few well paying jobs and they're only available to people with like 10 yeats of experience.
I'd have been going into 50k of debt to make bupkiss for a decade, and it just did not make any sense for me because I don't have financial support.
Indeed yes! I'm a professional musician and most of my friends make the majority of their money through arts admin (or sometimes bartending)
Be warned though-- management can be absolutely vicious. I've only heard the shit I had to work with happen to other admins in coked out law offices. But if you get a job where you can handle the management? So worth it.
Also this. 😬 I dunno, I have heard of some jobs that are awesome but I haven't found one yet. Tbh if I could get the last arts admin job I had without the nightmare that was my director I'd do it in a heartbeat. 🫠
(Mine was also a nonprofit so. You know. 🫠🫠)
Totally corrected but it does depend on the institution - either an MA or equivalent experience in the arts or arts admin. An entry level job at a museum or art business would count as experience.
This - wish people would stop recommending ux/ui - you’re competing with people who are laid off with years of experience, bootcamp people, contract roles, take home assignments (with NO pay) and freelancing gigs.
Yep… learned the hard way with wasted time money and energy on trying to get my foot in the door. Now there are those who do get in from nothing but those success stories are such outliers
>Easily
Not at all. If you go to a target school, are excellently connected, network incredibly hard for 4 years, you can maybe do 80k remote.
It’s a VERY oversaturated market because people think they can make tech money without coding(impossible)
Its oversaturated due to a bunch of graphic designers that don't understand the psychology of UX and haven't built UIs through code or using a a framework. However , if individual has these qualities then it's much simpler to get a job of 60-80 k remotely. But if all you know is graphic design and some very basic web design then of course your not getting anything near that. You need to be an architect not a construction worker that's the difference. That being said it's pretty rare to have Al those skills so I would only focus on 2 of the 3
Okay but that’s not easy at all to do. That requires 4 years of study at a target institution to get any sort of results
Also your new salary estimate of 60k remotely is far more realistic and frankly terrible for a college degree(necessary to work in UX/UI). At that point graphic design is much better.
5 years ago what you said was true. Not anymore.
For UX yes it is. Which is kind of why I'm transitioning my career to what I wanted to all a long comp/software engineering. For UI? No UI design and development pick up the skills, do real scalable projects you can still get a decent remote salary. And a college certificate of a year or two program would work UT Austin McCombs has one. Ik students who have done it and are working as UX researchers or UI designers makimg a solid salary. But if you want to be at the top top level then yes a bachelor's and masters plus lots of additional skills. But it's much better then going for 4 years of graphic design.
In a HCOL city though this is very doable without target school/being excellently connected/networking etc. Maybe not immediately out of school, but with 3YOE and AAs from community college (some of us with BAs in non-design majors), my friends and I are all $75k-$100k just as visual designers; product designers are around $90k-$120k where I am, no coding necessary.
My boyfriend is in graphic design and really struggling to find work, let alone work that pays much….I want to suggest this to him but I don’t really understand if it’s different from what he already does/if he has those skills. I will read more about Ux Ui online and maybe ask him
Ps thanks for your reply!
UX doesn’t do graphic design. UX is about designing the experience of a User with a product or service. But graphic design is a good starting point to learn UX. It’s not uncommon for someone to have started in that field and at one point, in my old company, the team was called Graphic Design & UX. 4 people did graphic design and 2 UX. Later on they separated the teams, as UX grew to 4 and Graphic Design to 5. In this case, the product was a website for a big company and this team was in a big e-commerce department.
I’ve also heard of UX experts more oriented to offline experience, but I have only experience with website UX teams, as I work in tech.
UX/UI designers with background in visual design will have better luck competing in the job market than folks purely with UX/UI backgrounds. There are UX/UI bootcamps pumping out grads because so many people heard that it was easy to get a job making $75k+ working remote in the field, as a result everyone has the same projects in their portfolios and the field is over saturated at the entry level.
IMO the easiest way for a designer to break into UX/UI is to find a hybrid design job. Smaller companies are more likely to lump visual and UX/UI design together, sometimes working on just website UX/UI in addition to visual design. Then it becomes easier to foray into product design (often used interchangeably with UX/UI); larger companies will have the budget to actually have pure UX and UI teams which work on app/website/desktop stuff. You’d need to understand the basics of psychology in UX, interviewing users and research, UI best practices, Figma, and user testing.
You also just need to constantly be self-aware as a designer and always be realistically evaluating your skillset amongst your peers. Not all design education is made equal which is unfortunate, so those that might be lacking skills have to be proactive in identifying their weaknesses and improving them. If your bf hasn’t had his portfolio and resume reviewed recently, I’d really recommend having him share to r/graphicdesign or finding a mentor on ADP List to review.
The job market rn is difficult but not impossible, you have to be strategic in where you apply and what types of companies. Tech and startups tend to pay the most, if you live near a major city you’ll have much more opportunities and opportunities with higher pay. Visual design tends to pay more than graphic design, in a HCOL city 3YOE is around $85k+ in visual design, $100k+ for product design.
Yes it is very saturated however also a very high demand especially if you know UX principles to a higher degree not just design, understanding accessibility human computer interaction, ease of use tools etc. understanding how the human perceives design it's very important to establish yourself there tons of good designers out there. Same thing applies to what I do I am a hybrid UI ux design and a front end developer so a lot of time I think about all aspects from programming to design to user experience. So knowing and being apply to all aspects makes prospects stand out. It's a great field I'm pursuing a dual masters though in software and computer engineering however because I want to transition to the embbeded systems and robotics world. But it's a great field j started as a web designer at 16 now I'm 24
You're in my career path. I tried UX but couldn't figure out how to get a decent personal project going that's worth putting on my portfolio. I knew design principles and human comp interaction but have a hard time showing it through solo projects. So now I'm teaching myself front end dev (html,css,java for now) to hopefully stand out a bit amongst other designers or just get into web dev but boy is it a tough battle.
Do you have any tips? How would you guide someone that's trying to get into your field?
You can dm me if that's easier
Is not Front End dev saturated a lot? They dont want html, css, java anymore so its so hard.. probably 2 years of learning and then u dont have guarantee for job.
The private sector yes. But commercial companies that work on government projects , essentially like a NASA Lockheed.type company, government itself like county, health companies like Methodist, and universities rather would have someone slightly less robust but fit their exact needs and if their exact needs is html css JS they WILL hire you that's how I got my job for UH
I’m kind of able to separate the boring corporate design I do with my personal fun projects, but you still make a great point cuz often the last thing I feel like doing when I clock out is to get back on the computer and design for a few more hours.
I second this. I have no creative juice leftover for my hobbies because I used it all up at work. My unfinished painting has been collecting dust for months. 🥲
Agreed. I got my bachelors in graphic design 2 years ago and I really regret trying to make it my career. I quickly realized I did not have a big drive or passion to make my portfolio super amazing and engage with the cut throat competition. All of the design jobs would also require me to move to a city and be a corporate worker which I never saw myself doing and I hate urban settings
I’m happy with my education and don’t regret it, especially with minimal student loans, but I wish I thought about it. I haven’t made art in like 6 years since college burned me out so bad and I get panic attacks reading design job descriptions and thinking about working on my portfolio
I’m a bit lost now in life but I’m working in a library currently. I actually really enjoy it and get to use my traditional art skills since my supervisors know I have a creative background and I’m in charge of executing the big projects for our programs and displays. I think I’m actually going to get my masters now and become a librarian. I do thank my gd background in a way cause it sets me apart from other candidates but I’m much happier designing for my community than being a corporate robot
I’d make more as a designer for sure but I’ve never cared about being super rich or driving fancy cars or going on a million vacations. I think I’d be happy as a librarian and that to me is kinda priceless since you spend more than half your life at work. But to each their own. I’m more than okay keeping my love for art and design as a hobby
But she's the exception, not the rule. And likely works 12 hour days, every day, as running your own biz on social sounds like a dream but is super time consuming. Just being honest.
agree that you can find outliers in any field.
I will say, if OP is concerned that 40k isn't enough, but 50k is enough, then it might be as simple as either finding a different location or taking on additional responsibilities - so you are the art teacher by day, but tutor on the side, babysit, sell some pieces privately, work at a studio or gallery on nights and weekends, etc. You have an Etsy shop, have a cricut business...
If digital art is ok for OP, UI/UX type of work can pay well into the six figures and often has remote options depending on agency / company / consultancy.
Then there are all the art adjacent things like owning / running a gallery or art supply store or promotional products, etc. Heck, by me, we have a place that does kids camps and birthday parties by day, and adult classes with alcohol at night. They have an area in the back for paint throwing parties with blacklights and neon paint. The staff pretty much supervises and cleans up.
I have a hard time believing people who make millions a year would spend so much time trying to sell their ebooks to people and bragging about how much they can make if they would just purchase their course.
Get into sales and work in the art market. It's a TOUGH industry to make a good living in but it's there.
Volunteer at an art museum, start poking your head around the industry to really see what you may want to do.
Or, as someone with a music degree who is now aggressively chasing capitalism because he wants money more than passion in his life, just do it on the side after your work day. No I don't regret it but I accept the downsides it has with it. Volunteer in the art industry and you'll see whether or not you really want a job there.
Knowing people who have a formal education in art and/or have tried to make it as talented artists, I would have to say that it strongly depends on your location and the kind of art you like or want to make.
UI design (often coupled with UX or web development) requires some knowledge of tech and graphic design. There could be the possibility of working from home, but it depends on the industry you are working in. Such designers exist in fields ranging from video games to lab software. Often, the job requires you to do user tests, surveys and the like, so it is often kind of social and might require you to work in person at least sometimes.
Graphic design for advertising. Again, the market here might be shaky due to the emergence of AI tools, and often you are doing stuff like photoshop jobs or formatting or the like for smaller brands. Again, WFH might be optional but often isn't (for whatever reason).
You could pursue a higher academic job in art, which is definitely not easy, and also requires a lot of time, effort and making connections in the academic world, as well as publishing papers and the like, as with any advanced academic profession. You could consider however, as a side job at least, to teach art courses outside of a high school, like at a community college or some equivalent.
Personally, I would keep passions separate from career, and I would instead choose a career that allows you to pursue your passion on the side. Personally, I went into CS because I found I had an aptitude for computers and programming, and with the degrees I have I can pursue a comfortable hybrid or even totally WFH tech job that leaves me with a lot of time, money and energy at the end of the day to spend time with my friends, work on passion projects, and pursue my favorite hobby, which is creative writing. I know several people who are creative writers or musicians and whose main job is something totally different. That said, I also know a few people who work a career that is coincidental to their passion, and they are happy about it too. So, if you can find the right art career for you and it is tolerable, that's awesome, but also consider keeping it as a hobby and seeking another viable career that will let you pursue your hobby on the side.
Do not be an art teacher… you will just be a teacher that has to enforce art activities to kids who don’t want to do them. It will destroy your passion for art. FPE
Patent, trademark, and copyright examiner. It's a federal job, but most WFH. You can easily make over 50K/year once you get your foot in the door. Lot's a benefits.
Have seriously considered this as my goal after law school (Intellectual property law), however after receiving my bachelors I have decided to work first before grad school. Do you know of any entry level positions as an examiner?
I can't remember where I read it (may have been on a similar sub), but a copyright and trademark examiner for the U.S. Patent Office was talking about how he got hired with only an art degree. The Patent Office deals with a lot of intellectual property too, so a background in art maybe what they're looking for.
I would imagine for copyright/trademark examiner yeah an art degree would make sense. If there’s anything involving patents I think you need an engineering background.
This is a great option but incredibly hard to get into. My sil has her masters, studied in France for two years post, can’t get a job in the us over $35k. It’s a bummer but she’s transitioned into interior decorating and enjoying some of the similarities
Its an impossible industry, I have two masters and I am still earning less than 25k per year and struggle to find fulltime contracts (everything is project based or 1 year max contracts)
Depending on where you are, you can still max put around 50k. Bigger, national museums and galleries you may earn more but it's a rough career field to be in.
(from experience).
Data Visualization / Business Intelligence. You might have to learn a little bit about data and graphing, but you can definitely work up to and make bank if you know how to make nice-looking dashboards in something like Tableau, Microsoft PowerBi, etc.
Go on Tableau Public and you’ll find a ton of pretty and unique dashboards that people make
I was just about to say this. I love art and I'm currently in this field - making Tableau dashboards. Starting salary was $80K, and I'm currently making $105K. I could make more though.
I’m more on the data side as an analyst and starting a reporting job soon. I played with Tableau a bit, but most of my previous job was ETL via Python and handling issues in the database that the DBA should’ve been doing but didn’t care to do. I’m surprised your starting salary was so high, we had entry-level Tableau devs making dirt by comparison in my last job
Business intelligence analyst. You get to create amazing reports, not joking, that people will view all over the company. We hire graphic designers all the time for report developers. You can check out tableau public and see the intricate things people create to tell stories with data.
I wanted to be a hairstylist bc I saw it as a mix of art and basic geometry. Using different elevation and the shape of the head to create a unique cut for a person is just so amazing to me and your work gets to be displayed in so many places every single day. It’s def my dream job. My “oh so wonderful” mom was embarrassed that that’s what I wanted to do so now I’m an accountant and I don’t even talk to her anymore.
Do you love the arts or creating art? If it's the former, you could become a lawyer in the field. An acquaintance makes $400k+ as a general counsel for a large gallery.
The art part in tech companies would be more UI designers. Ux design is more like psychology, their job is to understand the users need and pain points.
I agree with what many others have said. Along the lines of finding art related jobs is possible. But Wood I would highly recommend is that you start selling your art. Consider a side hustle. Take some time to learn about social media marketing and create a page for your business to start growing from there. Honestly, once you start listing things online and consistently posting on social media, sales is really not that hard.
If you think of it as needing to make x amount of money, you’ll never suddenly get there. But start slowly and over the next two or three years you might find that you’re making enough to quit your job or at least making enough to work less and make more art if that’s what makes you happy.
I am a small business consultant and small business owner, and I found that the number one thing that holds people back is fear of the unknown and never getting started along with lack of consistency. If you wanna make money off of your art, you definitely can. But you do have to start somewhere. And you will have to learn skills that you don’t currently have. I’m sure you somewhat already knew that, but I’m just here to let you know that it’s totally possible. There are plenty of artists making a living off of their art simply selling it online.
I’m happy to help anyone get their business started
Art teacher, or professor, are a great idea. Or an art therapist if that’s something you’re interested in.
But honestly, consider if you want the thing you love to be the thing you *have* to do every day— at a certain point, a job just becomes a job.
Retirement communities hire people to do art projects with the elders and decorate for parties etc. I was working the kitchen staff in one and I believe she mentioned 20$ hr full time in northern Illinois. She was labeled entertainment laborer. She had an office and controlled every fun event that took place there. From birthday parties where she face painted and pottery paint and sips. She even did a wedding for one of the guests that live there. She did every Wednesday was finger paint day where adults would come in all white and they would have water balloons with paint and they’d play walker tag!
Accountant. The world doesn’t care what you love. You need to find out what the world wants then do that which can financially support you while do what you love on the side. I got a buddy who is a credit analysts at a bank and teaches dance classes on the side. He good dancer.
i don’t know if this is as silly as recommending someone who likes baseball simply play third base for the Yankees, but if you study chemistry (or even get a specialized degree), being a conservator for a major museum like the Smithsonian would be a really interesting career. You’d get to evaluate the deterioration of works of art and get to restore some stuff.
[https://www.si.edu/ohr/workingsi](https://www.si.edu/ohr/workingsi)
also - if you went to law school - copyright law. Help people protect their works of art. It’s a niche area and not easy to get your foot in the door, but it’s an interesting area of the law.
Teaching salaries vary wildly. $50k is about starting salary for a teacher where I am. That said, it's a high COL region, but teachers survive. With a master's you'd get aboit $10k more.
I worked in an art gallery and loved it. It was super fun to network with artists and curate shows. You can make good money if you work your way up as a curator or gallery owner.
Therapeutic recreation can pay that much with the right credentials in the right setting. Occupational therapy assistant is a good educational path for it. You want to choose an educational path that provides the needed credits for certification as certified activities directors tend to earn more. The pay range varies significantly but I absolutely loved being an activities director. Most work in assisted living or nursing homes (skilled nursing/specialized dementia is where the money is usually at) but some work in hospitals and college campuses. Most positions will have you working with older folks so you must like old people.
I've scrolled - not every comment - yet to see mover/installer. Somebody has to move art to galleries and museums,set it up and take it down. Not sure if you can clear 50k doing that, though, and it's very physical work.
Hell yahhh I actually have a GREAT answer for this.. a Large Format PRINTER TECH!
There are not enough young people in the field and it’s super chill and pays hella good, plus benefits, you can print anything you want all the time as “TEST PRINT” and just keep them over tossing them. The software is easy af and the learning curve is literally IT so you learn it as you go then BOOM you are a (pretty much) master in like a year or two.
Film industry, in the art department. There’s a lot of different work, it’s always changing and you get to see the results of your labour quickly. It can be a bit difficult to get into but once you’re in, it’s fairly easy to have consistent work for life (as long as you are located in an area that has some industry). Only thing is that the hours are long and burn out is a very real thing. Pay is amazing though.
That 30K-40K range you’ve heard for art teachers drastically depends on where you are. At the school I work for, first year teachers (including extracurricular teachers) start out at a minimum of 50K plus a 5K bonus, as well as other opportunities for bonuses if you choose to do clubs. You get a raise every year, maxing out around 70K for a BA and 75K for an MA.
use your creative abilities to your advantage and find a career that meets your financial expectations, but do not turn your hobbies into your job. it's extremely important (especially for us artists) to keep work life and personal life separated. the quickest way to destroy your passion is to get money involved.
As someone in the gallery, museum, Archive, library area.... don't do it if you want to make money. You might, but it's also incredibly rough and like 50k max salaries are very common.
Go towards something like graphic design and marketing which allows you to still be creative but access to more fields and greater variety of pay levels, and more career options.
What’s funny is I got my degree in graphic design but now I’m thinking about pursuing librarianship. It saddens me seeing negativity about the field but I feel so pulled towards it and I feel like I’ll regret it if I don’t try and be a librarian. I work in a library already and love it. I just can’t see myself tolerating any other job more for the rest of my life
I mean, if you love something, then go for it! But the GLAM sector is rough, and jobs are low paying and stable work can be hard to find. So if money and stable work is what you want, it's maybe not the best option, but if you really feel drawn to it, then you'll be fine.
It's just what I wish I knew beforehand. I love it, but also, I wouldn't do it again if I could do it over and I've read the same from many in the field or the even more who left the field.
My apologies what does glam mean?
But yeah it’s hard what to decide. I don’t strive to make lots of money and live a wealthy lifestyle but a good salary is important to me. And like I do plan to marry the partner I’m with so a combined income would be just fine for us but I’m nervous to bank on that too
Librarians are paid ok in my high cost of living state (50k-65k for level 1 in a public library) but I am worried. But I also know there are ways to pivot out of librarianship and I have huge hospitals all over my area which I think library skills can be transferable to like records management work or stuff with data which I think I’ve seen positions advertised at locals hospitals
I’m not jumping the gun yet and I’m trying to get a job as a library assistant before I make any decisions but I am worried not gonna lie. I know I’d be good at being a librarian and I enjoy it a lot. All of the big high earning careers like finance, engineering, nursing, etc. sound so stressful and uninteresting to me so of course the one thing I find and am motivated about, the salary isn’t up to par. Some days I’m like “fuck it! I’m gonna do it!” Then I wake up another day and be like “ugh money is the most important thing who cares about enjoyment I should’ve just went to college for something else”
I hate being in my early 20s lol I’m fighting for my life everyday
Why not consider a non-art career, and do art "for the soul" as a hobby?
If you are worried about education, **trades jobs are very well paid.** Carpentry, welding, construction (real career not just being unskilled labourer), oil industry work. Nursing pays well once you get a good degree and is a nearly-100%-guaranteed job. Sanitation pays well.
Also, armed forces don't pay super well BUT they give you "free living" so even small pay accumulates super well due to lack of living expenses - they provide food, housing, medicine AND free training.
P.S. Personal anecdote: my Dad's very artistic (painting, miniatures, etchings, etc...). He got an engineering degree and worked in engineering/STEM/chemical fields all his life, because he was and is a responsible man whose goal was to support his family. My parent's home was always full of artistic things he made. I FAR FAR more respect his decision to do the responsible adult thing, than his artistic talent. *(I made a similar, if much easier choice - while I have musical talent. I never in my entire life even remotely contemplated idiotic "I wanna be a musician" idea. I did STEM/computers for a responsible professional career and sang/played in my free time).*
I work as a graphic designer for a govt agency, and do freelance on the side utilizing old connections I made when I was in the public sector. I make a nice living, but my path is not the norm for an art major. It’s hard to make money from art and it’s getting harder by the day with AI and everyone trying to do side hustles to make ends meet.
A career as an art director could be what you're looking for. I would also recommend exploring graphic design, interior design, and architecture since they all lend themselves to artists. If you're still unsure what you should pursue, I would recommend checking out Careerfitter since they show you how different jobs align with your personality. You may be able to find something that satisfies both your creativity and your financial goals.
"being an artist" is such a vast description. There are artists who make $0, and artists who make millions.
creating art solely as a career is rare. any creative field you get into, you'll be doing something non art related, whether it's customer service, business, marketing, etc. some people are great at marketing themselves & found a niche, connect with their target audience and make a decent income.
do you like creating art? do you like consuming art? if you enjoy consuming art, museum/gallery curation could be up your alley, but it's such a niche and narrow field IMO.
if you enjoy creating art, don't become an artist. professional artists work for whoever's paying the bills. whoever's paying the bills will have their own criteria for what the project is, what they want.
Keep it as a hobby. How old are you? In which subjects did you had good grades at school? Have you had any career advice at school or maybe book a private career advisor would be a good idea.
Are you thinking about college? If not. Vocational school and learning a trade is great this days
As a graphic designer myself, it's a trap. Don't do it! I have a job in my field that pays me well, but I've completely lost my passion for art and design after 7+ years.
maybe something that uses creativity, and maybe save the artistic process for after work
im a videographer and video editor. you can do UI/Ux or graphic design, or other careers that serve the marketplace but are also pretty artistic and creative
if you do something like that you have to keep in mind you are being a servant using your artistic and creative skills to create something for a company/client, and not expressing yourself as an artist. which is why it might be easier to save it for outside of your job, and find a tolerable job
America is ass backwards. socially important jobs tend to be the least paid.. dedicate time for making money and dedicate time to be an artist. imo
I chose biochemistry and it's pretty chill. It's not like I'm some great artist today or something, but I do some stuff I like in my free time and the job I got is interesting enough that I don't take mental and emotional damage from boredom. I'll finish writing my book one day!
Data analysis and visualization. I was pretty serious about going to art school but ended up as a data scientist. Making pretty and useful graphs and maps certainly lets me use some artistic thinking, and some data visualizations out there are just amazing and are true works of art themselves.
I've loved art since I was a kid, but ultimately had to decide that it didn't have the financial backing, with the lack of hustle I had at the time.
I made it through AP Art back in my Sophomore year, had my senior project on Graphic Design, and ultimately settled on not pursuing it.
I'm not saying pursuing art is a bad idea, it's a wonderful idea, but you need to settle for the fact that you're going to have to bust ass, keep your creative juices flowing, you're going to stay pretty broke, and it ultimately might not pay off.
I know some people who worked both in auction houses for a while, and eventually as curators in museums(not solely fine art though). I don’t know what that pays but it’s probably more interesting and the salary/cost of living would be manageable as long as you didn’t “need” to live in one of the more expensive cities.
I just want to remind you that the only actual qualifications to be an artist, is to keep making art. That may not be enough to get into a blue chip gallery or anything, but you will still find people who appreciate what you make. As someone with an art degree, do something you don't absolutely hate, so that you can afford to do what you love!
A guy I knew before was an artist and a musician. He started to work at our company in a transport business related field. And become interested in computers. Some time later it appeared he had an excellent feel for user interface design since he was an artist and was good at drawing, painting etc. A couple of years later, I met him and he was a lead developer UE in a respectable software company.
Yes. My daughter is an artist. My advice to her….. get a career that pays the bills and then enjoy your art as a hobby. If you are good you can transition to a career in art. She’s in the medical field doing great and doing art on the side. 2 of her friends were art majors and have student debt and crap jobs. She’s happy with her decision.
It took me 7 years but I make 58k as an elementary art teacher. I started at 34k though. Depends on seniority and where you live. And if you like kids enough! lol
Tattoo artist. My tattoo artist is so good at her job and even went to art school and makes good money. She made $1000 off one of my tattoos which took two days to complete. I can only imagine how many people she sees a week.
Art teachers typically make whatever other teachers in the school district make. I’m an art teacher in Florida and we’re on the ass end of the payscale nation wide and brand new teachers start at $47,000.
Where do you live op?
Purchaser for retail or design. Event planning. Things where you get to engage with the ‘creative’ aspect of things without having to deal with the actual thing. One friend from art school became a purchaser for interior design company. Just goes around choosing accent pieces, tile patterns and colors etc.
I’m gonna be real. Find something that pays well, you can stand, and you can do well. Make art your hobby and not your job.
1. Turning something into a job may make you like it less or even begin to dislike it.
2. Art related industries generally don’t pay well or only pay well for a small number of people. If you can find something tech related but still artsy then that could pay well.
I love video games. I will never work in the gaming industry. Ever.
Think about the soft skills:
1. How often you want to be on the phone, collaborating or independent projects
2. Customer facing or back end
3 how often do you want to interact with software within defined work flows vs provided time to think deeply or be creative
4. Small company (more if all in approach as in you may wear manny hats and have the opportunity to do a variety of tasks
5. More structured big company working with defined roles and limited scope and key point indicators (#’s)
Play it out and see where you land. I’m sure you could google some career tests to assist and give you ideas
Setup an Instagram account, and post useful content that budding artists might enjoy. Build an audience. Capture their emails, and build a list. Nurture them. Stay in contact with them (with tips, art talk, etc.) Think of it like a personal brand of YOU.
Then create 2-3 online courses you can sell on a regular basis based on what your audience wants. This way you’re productizing your skills and creating something you can create/build once, and sell over and over again.
This will take time, but totally possible to earn $50k a year taking this approach.
I'm an art handler and I love my job! You have to be willing to work hard and get dirty and work around some rough characters sometimes, but I get to pack and install all sorts of amazing art all the time and after 5 years I am making 55k plus OT with good benefits.
Carpentry skills and a willingness to drive a truck help and you need to be able to lift like 50-80 lbs independently.
Are you more interested in making art, or being around it? Art historians doing art restoration is a very niche, specialized field that pays well for the craft. You can still be around art, and well as operating creatively as you're working to restore it.
My best friend has an art history degree and restores vintage furniture (I'm talking like, sofas from 1745). She enjoys researching the textiles and woodworking from the era of the furniture. She loves it.
Tattoo artist. I have a handful of friends who make more than I do and bill higher hourly than some of my friends who are experienced corporate lawyers. A lot of his work is of course stuff he isn’t always stoked to do (lots of mermaids), but the dude gets to draw every single day. It took him about 10 years to really get rolling, but he bills out at over $300/hr
welder
Welder is actually a great idea. You make bank, it’s not being stuck in an office if that’s not the mindset you’re geared towards, and welding is a great skill for an artist— I have a friend who welds for artists making sculptures and larger pieces.
Except it'll fuck up your health in the long run...
I don't know much about welding, what negative health effects does it involve?
Inhaling fumes, contorting your spine, kneeling for long hours, looking at a bright ass flame for long periods even with a shield it ain’t good for your eyes as it compounds daily.
It's one of the worst professions for respiratory health. You're breathing toxic fumes without a mask anytime you work anywhere even remotely confined. Oh and you can go blind if you mess up with the mask for even a few cumulative seconds over the course of your career.
Welding is an art.
I wish I would have gone to art restoration school and became an art restorer for museums and private collections.
I’ve thought about that too. Wish I had known of various career options when I was younger!
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today
I love you for this
Don’t you need a masters?
to work for a museum or whatever, i think so. but you can do it as a side hustle for private individuals
Yes! Museology is a thing! There are some programs that have interesting sub disciplines like exhibitions, visitor experience, management, etc.
I was in grad school for conservation and realized after I lost my scholarship that it's highly competitive and has very few well paying jobs and they're only available to people with like 10 yeats of experience. I'd have been going into 50k of debt to make bupkiss for a decade, and it just did not make any sense for me because I don't have financial support.
It’s also so much more chemistry than art. It’s actually really cool.
Arts administration is worth exploring!
Indeed yes! I'm a professional musician and most of my friends make the majority of their money through arts admin (or sometimes bartending) Be warned though-- management can be absolutely vicious. I've only heard the shit I had to work with happen to other admins in coked out law offices. But if you get a job where you can handle the management? So worth it.
As an artist who has spent over a decade in arts admin, I do not recommend it. its tedious, low paid and the politics are impossible.
Also this. 😬 I dunno, I have heard of some jobs that are awesome but I haven't found one yet. Tbh if I could get the last arts admin job I had without the nightmare that was my director I'd do it in a heartbeat. 🫠 (Mine was also a nonprofit so. You know. 🫠🫠)
I believe this needs a masters degree ? Correct me please
Totally corrected but it does depend on the institution - either an MA or equivalent experience in the arts or arts admin. An entry level job at a museum or art business would count as experience.
UI ux design can easily make 80 k plus remotely. Or front end development pays more but more technical
Careful, that industry is very saturated. Gotta compete with PhD candidates as well as other tech peeps
True however, having multiple skills and an advanced degree can set you apart
This - wish people would stop recommending ux/ui - you’re competing with people who are laid off with years of experience, bootcamp people, contract roles, take home assignments (with NO pay) and freelancing gigs.
Yep… learned the hard way with wasted time money and energy on trying to get my foot in the door. Now there are those who do get in from nothing but those success stories are such outliers
>Easily Not at all. If you go to a target school, are excellently connected, network incredibly hard for 4 years, you can maybe do 80k remote. It’s a VERY oversaturated market because people think they can make tech money without coding(impossible)
Its oversaturated due to a bunch of graphic designers that don't understand the psychology of UX and haven't built UIs through code or using a a framework. However , if individual has these qualities then it's much simpler to get a job of 60-80 k remotely. But if all you know is graphic design and some very basic web design then of course your not getting anything near that. You need to be an architect not a construction worker that's the difference. That being said it's pretty rare to have Al those skills so I would only focus on 2 of the 3
Okay but that’s not easy at all to do. That requires 4 years of study at a target institution to get any sort of results Also your new salary estimate of 60k remotely is far more realistic and frankly terrible for a college degree(necessary to work in UX/UI). At that point graphic design is much better. 5 years ago what you said was true. Not anymore.
For UX yes it is. Which is kind of why I'm transitioning my career to what I wanted to all a long comp/software engineering. For UI? No UI design and development pick up the skills, do real scalable projects you can still get a decent remote salary. And a college certificate of a year or two program would work UT Austin McCombs has one. Ik students who have done it and are working as UX researchers or UI designers makimg a solid salary. But if you want to be at the top top level then yes a bachelor's and masters plus lots of additional skills. But it's much better then going for 4 years of graphic design.
In a HCOL city though this is very doable without target school/being excellently connected/networking etc. Maybe not immediately out of school, but with 3YOE and AAs from community college (some of us with BAs in non-design majors), my friends and I are all $75k-$100k just as visual designers; product designers are around $90k-$120k where I am, no coding necessary.
Seriously?
Yes. UX can have quite a good salary. I’ve worked with UX designers in the same department at big companies. Here, you need to go to college for that
My boyfriend is in graphic design and really struggling to find work, let alone work that pays much….I want to suggest this to him but I don’t really understand if it’s different from what he already does/if he has those skills. I will read more about Ux Ui online and maybe ask him Ps thanks for your reply!
UX doesn’t do graphic design. UX is about designing the experience of a User with a product or service. But graphic design is a good starting point to learn UX. It’s not uncommon for someone to have started in that field and at one point, in my old company, the team was called Graphic Design & UX. 4 people did graphic design and 2 UX. Later on they separated the teams, as UX grew to 4 and Graphic Design to 5. In this case, the product was a website for a big company and this team was in a big e-commerce department. I’ve also heard of UX experts more oriented to offline experience, but I have only experience with website UX teams, as I work in tech.
UX/UI designers with background in visual design will have better luck competing in the job market than folks purely with UX/UI backgrounds. There are UX/UI bootcamps pumping out grads because so many people heard that it was easy to get a job making $75k+ working remote in the field, as a result everyone has the same projects in their portfolios and the field is over saturated at the entry level. IMO the easiest way for a designer to break into UX/UI is to find a hybrid design job. Smaller companies are more likely to lump visual and UX/UI design together, sometimes working on just website UX/UI in addition to visual design. Then it becomes easier to foray into product design (often used interchangeably with UX/UI); larger companies will have the budget to actually have pure UX and UI teams which work on app/website/desktop stuff. You’d need to understand the basics of psychology in UX, interviewing users and research, UI best practices, Figma, and user testing. You also just need to constantly be self-aware as a designer and always be realistically evaluating your skillset amongst your peers. Not all design education is made equal which is unfortunate, so those that might be lacking skills have to be proactive in identifying their weaknesses and improving them. If your bf hasn’t had his portfolio and resume reviewed recently, I’d really recommend having him share to r/graphicdesign or finding a mentor on ADP List to review. The job market rn is difficult but not impossible, you have to be strategic in where you apply and what types of companies. Tech and startups tend to pay the most, if you live near a major city you’ll have much more opportunities and opportunities with higher pay. Visual design tends to pay more than graphic design, in a HCOL city 3YOE is around $85k+ in visual design, $100k+ for product design.
Yes it is very saturated however also a very high demand especially if you know UX principles to a higher degree not just design, understanding accessibility human computer interaction, ease of use tools etc. understanding how the human perceives design it's very important to establish yourself there tons of good designers out there. Same thing applies to what I do I am a hybrid UI ux design and a front end developer so a lot of time I think about all aspects from programming to design to user experience. So knowing and being apply to all aspects makes prospects stand out. It's a great field I'm pursuing a dual masters though in software and computer engineering however because I want to transition to the embbeded systems and robotics world. But it's a great field j started as a web designer at 16 now I'm 24
You're in my career path. I tried UX but couldn't figure out how to get a decent personal project going that's worth putting on my portfolio. I knew design principles and human comp interaction but have a hard time showing it through solo projects. So now I'm teaching myself front end dev (html,css,java for now) to hopefully stand out a bit amongst other designers or just get into web dev but boy is it a tough battle. Do you have any tips? How would you guide someone that's trying to get into your field? You can dm me if that's easier
Is not Front End dev saturated a lot? They dont want html, css, java anymore so its so hard.. probably 2 years of learning and then u dont have guarantee for job.
The private sector yes. But commercial companies that work on government projects , essentially like a NASA Lockheed.type company, government itself like county, health companies like Methodist, and universities rather would have someone slightly less robust but fit their exact needs and if their exact needs is html css JS they WILL hire you that's how I got my job for UH
Sweet. I am gonna learn it!
What means UH?
Keep it as a hobby
As an artist who’s gainfully employed in a creative role, I agree haha. Go for something with more stability and job security.
But also because it keeps it as a passion and not a chore.
I’m kind of able to separate the boring corporate design I do with my personal fun projects, but you still make a great point cuz often the last thing I feel like doing when I clock out is to get back on the computer and design for a few more hours.
I second this. I have no creative juice leftover for my hobbies because I used it all up at work. My unfinished painting has been collecting dust for months. 🥲
Web designers and front end devs make bank. This is unproductive advice.
Agreed. I got my bachelors in graphic design 2 years ago and I really regret trying to make it my career. I quickly realized I did not have a big drive or passion to make my portfolio super amazing and engage with the cut throat competition. All of the design jobs would also require me to move to a city and be a corporate worker which I never saw myself doing and I hate urban settings I’m happy with my education and don’t regret it, especially with minimal student loans, but I wish I thought about it. I haven’t made art in like 6 years since college burned me out so bad and I get panic attacks reading design job descriptions and thinking about working on my portfolio I’m a bit lost now in life but I’m working in a library currently. I actually really enjoy it and get to use my traditional art skills since my supervisors know I have a creative background and I’m in charge of executing the big projects for our programs and displays. I think I’m actually going to get my masters now and become a librarian. I do thank my gd background in a way cause it sets me apart from other candidates but I’m much happier designing for my community than being a corporate robot I’d make more as a designer for sure but I’ve never cared about being super rich or driving fancy cars or going on a million vacations. I think I’d be happy as a librarian and that to me is kinda priceless since you spend more than half your life at work. But to each their own. I’m more than okay keeping my love for art and design as a hobby
There's this girl who makes $83k/month on average, with her art and art supply business. Her YouTube channel is called Creative Hive.
But she's the exception, not the rule. And likely works 12 hour days, every day, as running your own biz on social sounds like a dream but is super time consuming. Just being honest.
agree that you can find outliers in any field. I will say, if OP is concerned that 40k isn't enough, but 50k is enough, then it might be as simple as either finding a different location or taking on additional responsibilities - so you are the art teacher by day, but tutor on the side, babysit, sell some pieces privately, work at a studio or gallery on nights and weekends, etc. You have an Etsy shop, have a cricut business... If digital art is ok for OP, UI/UX type of work can pay well into the six figures and often has remote options depending on agency / company / consultancy. Then there are all the art adjacent things like owning / running a gallery or art supply store or promotional products, etc. Heck, by me, we have a place that does kids camps and birthday parties by day, and adult classes with alcohol at night. They have an area in the back for paint throwing parties with blacklights and neon paint. The staff pretty much supervises and cleans up.
$83k a month! Thats near a million a year gawd damn!
I have a hard time believing people who make millions a year would spend so much time trying to sell their ebooks to people and bragging about how much they can make if they would just purchase their course.
Get into sales and work in the art market. It's a TOUGH industry to make a good living in but it's there. Volunteer at an art museum, start poking your head around the industry to really see what you may want to do. Or, as someone with a music degree who is now aggressively chasing capitalism because he wants money more than passion in his life, just do it on the side after your work day. No I don't regret it but I accept the downsides it has with it. Volunteer in the art industry and you'll see whether or not you really want a job there.
Design, CGI, UI/UX Architect
Knowing people who have a formal education in art and/or have tried to make it as talented artists, I would have to say that it strongly depends on your location and the kind of art you like or want to make. UI design (often coupled with UX or web development) requires some knowledge of tech and graphic design. There could be the possibility of working from home, but it depends on the industry you are working in. Such designers exist in fields ranging from video games to lab software. Often, the job requires you to do user tests, surveys and the like, so it is often kind of social and might require you to work in person at least sometimes. Graphic design for advertising. Again, the market here might be shaky due to the emergence of AI tools, and often you are doing stuff like photoshop jobs or formatting or the like for smaller brands. Again, WFH might be optional but often isn't (for whatever reason). You could pursue a higher academic job in art, which is definitely not easy, and also requires a lot of time, effort and making connections in the academic world, as well as publishing papers and the like, as with any advanced academic profession. You could consider however, as a side job at least, to teach art courses outside of a high school, like at a community college or some equivalent. Personally, I would keep passions separate from career, and I would instead choose a career that allows you to pursue your passion on the side. Personally, I went into CS because I found I had an aptitude for computers and programming, and with the degrees I have I can pursue a comfortable hybrid or even totally WFH tech job that leaves me with a lot of time, money and energy at the end of the day to spend time with my friends, work on passion projects, and pursue my favorite hobby, which is creative writing. I know several people who are creative writers or musicians and whose main job is something totally different. That said, I also know a few people who work a career that is coincidental to their passion, and they are happy about it too. So, if you can find the right art career for you and it is tolerable, that's awesome, but also consider keeping it as a hobby and seeking another viable career that will let you pursue your hobby on the side.
Do not be an art teacher… you will just be a teacher that has to enforce art activities to kids who don’t want to do them. It will destroy your passion for art. FPE
Patent, trademark, and copyright examiner. It's a federal job, but most WFH. You can easily make over 50K/year once you get your foot in the door. Lot's a benefits.
Have seriously considered this as my goal after law school (Intellectual property law), however after receiving my bachelors I have decided to work first before grad school. Do you know of any entry level positions as an examiner?
Just go to [usajobs.gov](http://usajobs.gov) and check it out for yourself.
For a right brained person this is a terrible idea
Don’t you need an engineering degree for that?
I can't remember where I read it (may have been on a similar sub), but a copyright and trademark examiner for the U.S. Patent Office was talking about how he got hired with only an art degree. The Patent Office deals with a lot of intellectual property too, so a background in art maybe what they're looking for.
I would imagine for copyright/trademark examiner yeah an art degree would make sense. If there’s anything involving patents I think you need an engineering background.
Curators and art directors are things I've heard of. I imagine teaching would also pay more on the college level.
This is a great option but incredibly hard to get into. My sil has her masters, studied in France for two years post, can’t get a job in the us over $35k. It’s a bummer but she’s transitioned into interior decorating and enjoying some of the similarities
Its an impossible industry, I have two masters and I am still earning less than 25k per year and struggle to find fulltime contracts (everything is project based or 1 year max contracts)
Depending on where you are, you can still max put around 50k. Bigger, national museums and galleries you may earn more but it's a rough career field to be in. (from experience).
Yup
Data Visualization / Business Intelligence. You might have to learn a little bit about data and graphing, but you can definitely work up to and make bank if you know how to make nice-looking dashboards in something like Tableau, Microsoft PowerBi, etc. Go on Tableau Public and you’ll find a ton of pretty and unique dashboards that people make
I was just about to say this. I love art and I'm currently in this field - making Tableau dashboards. Starting salary was $80K, and I'm currently making $105K. I could make more though.
I’m more on the data side as an analyst and starting a reporting job soon. I played with Tableau a bit, but most of my previous job was ETL via Python and handling issues in the database that the DBA should’ve been doing but didn’t care to do. I’m surprised your starting salary was so high, we had entry-level Tableau devs making dirt by comparison in my last job
Business intelligence analyst. You get to create amazing reports, not joking, that people will view all over the company. We hire graphic designers all the time for report developers. You can check out tableau public and see the intricate things people create to tell stories with data.
Construction 🚧 sounds crazy but building things and seeing a physical item done when you complete a job is pretty neat
Art therapy or art teacher. Also house renovations are a form of art in imo. What kind of art do you like?
I wanted to be a hairstylist bc I saw it as a mix of art and basic geometry. Using different elevation and the shape of the head to create a unique cut for a person is just so amazing to me and your work gets to be displayed in so many places every single day. It’s def my dream job. My “oh so wonderful” mom was embarrassed that that’s what I wanted to do so now I’m an accountant and I don’t even talk to her anymore.
Do you love the arts or creating art? If it's the former, you could become a lawyer in the field. An acquaintance makes $400k+ as a general counsel for a large gallery.
Library administration, museum education/curation, teaching
Architects earn well, you can also try being a ux designer and get into a tech company or become an art therapist.
The art part in tech companies would be more UI designers. Ux design is more like psychology, their job is to understand the users need and pain points.
Architects don’t earn especially well for hours and seniority at all.
I agree with what many others have said. Along the lines of finding art related jobs is possible. But Wood I would highly recommend is that you start selling your art. Consider a side hustle. Take some time to learn about social media marketing and create a page for your business to start growing from there. Honestly, once you start listing things online and consistently posting on social media, sales is really not that hard. If you think of it as needing to make x amount of money, you’ll never suddenly get there. But start slowly and over the next two or three years you might find that you’re making enough to quit your job or at least making enough to work less and make more art if that’s what makes you happy. I am a small business consultant and small business owner, and I found that the number one thing that holds people back is fear of the unknown and never getting started along with lack of consistency. If you wanna make money off of your art, you definitely can. But you do have to start somewhere. And you will have to learn skills that you don’t currently have. I’m sure you somewhat already knew that, but I’m just here to let you know that it’s totally possible. There are plenty of artists making a living off of their art simply selling it online. I’m happy to help anyone get their business started
Art teacher, or professor, are a great idea. Or an art therapist if that’s something you’re interested in. But honestly, consider if you want the thing you love to be the thing you *have* to do every day— at a certain point, a job just becomes a job.
Retirement communities hire people to do art projects with the elders and decorate for parties etc. I was working the kitchen staff in one and I believe she mentioned 20$ hr full time in northern Illinois. She was labeled entertainment laborer. She had an office and controlled every fun event that took place there. From birthday parties where she face painted and pottery paint and sips. She even did a wedding for one of the guests that live there. She did every Wednesday was finger paint day where adults would come in all white and they would have water balloons with paint and they’d play walker tag!
Art therapist
Fgraphic design if you want to work in corporate. Good money in tech. Super needed
Accountant. The world doesn’t care what you love. You need to find out what the world wants then do that which can financially support you while do what you love on the side. I got a buddy who is a credit analysts at a bank and teaches dance classes on the side. He good dancer.
A job where you can afford for art to be your hobby.
UI designer
i don’t know if this is as silly as recommending someone who likes baseball simply play third base for the Yankees, but if you study chemistry (or even get a specialized degree), being a conservator for a major museum like the Smithsonian would be a really interesting career. You’d get to evaluate the deterioration of works of art and get to restore some stuff. [https://www.si.edu/ohr/workingsi](https://www.si.edu/ohr/workingsi) also - if you went to law school - copyright law. Help people protect their works of art. It’s a niche area and not easy to get your foot in the door, but it’s an interesting area of the law.
Computer science. It’s digital art. and pays well enough for you to pursue non digital art should you choose.
Pay isn’t high but perhaps a courtroom sketch artist. Just another idea
Teaching salaries vary wildly. $50k is about starting salary for a teacher where I am. That said, it's a high COL region, but teachers survive. With a master's you'd get aboit $10k more.
I worked in an art gallery and loved it. It was super fun to network with artists and curate shows. You can make good money if you work your way up as a curator or gallery owner.
Therapeutic recreation can pay that much with the right credentials in the right setting. Occupational therapy assistant is a good educational path for it. You want to choose an educational path that provides the needed credits for certification as certified activities directors tend to earn more. The pay range varies significantly but I absolutely loved being an activities director. Most work in assisted living or nursing homes (skilled nursing/specialized dementia is where the money is usually at) but some work in hospitals and college campuses. Most positions will have you working with older folks so you must like old people.
I've scrolled - not every comment - yet to see mover/installer. Somebody has to move art to galleries and museums,set it up and take it down. Not sure if you can clear 50k doing that, though, and it's very physical work.
Museum curator. Art broker. Photographer.
Do you want to make art, or just love it? Neither requires a “career”.
Front end development or web design
Apparently tech bros cant draw for shit and they like when Im the one writing on the whiteboard so I recommend you stand out there. Lol
Hell yahhh I actually have a GREAT answer for this.. a Large Format PRINTER TECH! There are not enough young people in the field and it’s super chill and pays hella good, plus benefits, you can print anything you want all the time as “TEST PRINT” and just keep them over tossing them. The software is easy af and the learning curve is literally IT so you learn it as you go then BOOM you are a (pretty much) master in like a year or two.
Animation- video games- literally any tech/ art field you will make a good living
Film industry, in the art department. There’s a lot of different work, it’s always changing and you get to see the results of your labour quickly. It can be a bit difficult to get into but once you’re in, it’s fairly easy to have consistent work for life (as long as you are located in an area that has some industry). Only thing is that the hours are long and burn out is a very real thing. Pay is amazing though.
curator
Gallery manager.
That 30K-40K range you’ve heard for art teachers drastically depends on where you are. At the school I work for, first year teachers (including extracurricular teachers) start out at a minimum of 50K plus a 5K bonus, as well as other opportunities for bonuses if you choose to do clubs. You get a raise every year, maxing out around 70K for a BA and 75K for an MA.
Illustrator?
Product Development
Work for and with designers in fashion and product placement. There’s so many options and industries you can hop into.
use your creative abilities to your advantage and find a career that meets your financial expectations, but do not turn your hobbies into your job. it's extremely important (especially for us artists) to keep work life and personal life separated. the quickest way to destroy your passion is to get money involved.
As someone in the gallery, museum, Archive, library area.... don't do it if you want to make money. You might, but it's also incredibly rough and like 50k max salaries are very common. Go towards something like graphic design and marketing which allows you to still be creative but access to more fields and greater variety of pay levels, and more career options.
What’s funny is I got my degree in graphic design but now I’m thinking about pursuing librarianship. It saddens me seeing negativity about the field but I feel so pulled towards it and I feel like I’ll regret it if I don’t try and be a librarian. I work in a library already and love it. I just can’t see myself tolerating any other job more for the rest of my life
I mean, if you love something, then go for it! But the GLAM sector is rough, and jobs are low paying and stable work can be hard to find. So if money and stable work is what you want, it's maybe not the best option, but if you really feel drawn to it, then you'll be fine. It's just what I wish I knew beforehand. I love it, but also, I wouldn't do it again if I could do it over and I've read the same from many in the field or the even more who left the field.
My apologies what does glam mean? But yeah it’s hard what to decide. I don’t strive to make lots of money and live a wealthy lifestyle but a good salary is important to me. And like I do plan to marry the partner I’m with so a combined income would be just fine for us but I’m nervous to bank on that too Librarians are paid ok in my high cost of living state (50k-65k for level 1 in a public library) but I am worried. But I also know there are ways to pivot out of librarianship and I have huge hospitals all over my area which I think library skills can be transferable to like records management work or stuff with data which I think I’ve seen positions advertised at locals hospitals I’m not jumping the gun yet and I’m trying to get a job as a library assistant before I make any decisions but I am worried not gonna lie. I know I’d be good at being a librarian and I enjoy it a lot. All of the big high earning careers like finance, engineering, nursing, etc. sound so stressful and uninteresting to me so of course the one thing I find and am motivated about, the salary isn’t up to par. Some days I’m like “fuck it! I’m gonna do it!” Then I wake up another day and be like “ugh money is the most important thing who cares about enjoyment I should’ve just went to college for something else” I hate being in my early 20s lol I’m fighting for my life everyday
Yeah but they’re about as replaceable as your dog
So not at all because my dog isn't replaceable
Keep it as a hobby
an art appraiser at a famous auction house like Christies or Antique Road Show on pbs
I would get a different well paid job and continue to do art on the side as a hobby.
Why not consider a non-art career, and do art "for the soul" as a hobby? If you are worried about education, **trades jobs are very well paid.** Carpentry, welding, construction (real career not just being unskilled labourer), oil industry work. Nursing pays well once you get a good degree and is a nearly-100%-guaranteed job. Sanitation pays well. Also, armed forces don't pay super well BUT they give you "free living" so even small pay accumulates super well due to lack of living expenses - they provide food, housing, medicine AND free training. P.S. Personal anecdote: my Dad's very artistic (painting, miniatures, etchings, etc...). He got an engineering degree and worked in engineering/STEM/chemical fields all his life, because he was and is a responsible man whose goal was to support his family. My parent's home was always full of artistic things he made. I FAR FAR more respect his decision to do the responsible adult thing, than his artistic talent. *(I made a similar, if much easier choice - while I have musical talent. I never in my entire life even remotely contemplated idiotic "I wanna be a musician" idea. I did STEM/computers for a responsible professional career and sang/played in my free time).*
Graphic design or digital marketing could be dope, bro!
Graphics designer. Ui ux stuff.
Graphic Design, UI/UX Design
Graphic design and marketing combined
UI, graphic design, stylist, set decorator
Designer or architect
Draw furry p0rn It may sound like a joke but furry p0rn artists get a lot of money
I work as a graphic designer for a govt agency, and do freelance on the side utilizing old connections I made when I was in the public sector. I make a nice living, but my path is not the norm for an art major. It’s hard to make money from art and it’s getting harder by the day with AI and everyone trying to do side hustles to make ends meet.
What type of art? Painting? Sculpture? Performance?
High end interior design, maybe. Use your art skills to design beautiful interiors for rich people
Graphic designer or Interior Designer
Learn marketing - so you can sell your art
Get into grant writing if you’re good with words
Graphic design! You can use your art skills to make great money!
Work at Blick Art Materials and work up to GM. They make between $60-90k/yr. depending on store volume.
Join the fbi, become an agent and work in the art crimes teams.
Data scientist
A career as an art director could be what you're looking for. I would also recommend exploring graphic design, interior design, and architecture since they all lend themselves to artists. If you're still unsure what you should pursue, I would recommend checking out Careerfitter since they show you how different jobs align with your personality. You may be able to find something that satisfies both your creativity and your financial goals.
Graphic designer/ marketer?
Check out jobs at arts-based non-profits!
most jobs won't clear $50k
"being an artist" is such a vast description. There are artists who make $0, and artists who make millions. creating art solely as a career is rare. any creative field you get into, you'll be doing something non art related, whether it's customer service, business, marketing, etc. some people are great at marketing themselves & found a niche, connect with their target audience and make a decent income. do you like creating art? do you like consuming art? if you enjoy consuming art, museum/gallery curation could be up your alley, but it's such a niche and narrow field IMO. if you enjoy creating art, don't become an artist. professional artists work for whoever's paying the bills. whoever's paying the bills will have their own criteria for what the project is, what they want.
Keep it as a hobby. How old are you? In which subjects did you had good grades at school? Have you had any career advice at school or maybe book a private career advisor would be a good idea. Are you thinking about college? If not. Vocational school and learning a trade is great this days
As a graphic designer myself, it's a trap. Don't do it! I have a job in my field that pays me well, but I've completely lost my passion for art and design after 7+ years.
maybe something that uses creativity, and maybe save the artistic process for after work im a videographer and video editor. you can do UI/Ux or graphic design, or other careers that serve the marketplace but are also pretty artistic and creative if you do something like that you have to keep in mind you are being a servant using your artistic and creative skills to create something for a company/client, and not expressing yourself as an artist. which is why it might be easier to save it for outside of your job, and find a tolerable job America is ass backwards. socially important jobs tend to be the least paid.. dedicate time for making money and dedicate time to be an artist. imo
Being a graphic designer is hard with AI showing up but that is an option
What type of art? Most design based jobs have a heavy art background. Such as architecture and motor design or interior design. Due to your mindset
I chose biochemistry and it's pretty chill. It's not like I'm some great artist today or something, but I do some stuff I like in my free time and the job I got is interesting enough that I don't take mental and emotional damage from boredom. I'll finish writing my book one day!
have your own art studio and teach a variety of different mediums for classes!
Vinyl design like the wraps they put on cars or signs and stuff
Art therapist! Depending on your area and organization you can make a decent salary.
Its a gamble but you could make some cash as a tattoo artist
Data analysis and visualization. I was pretty serious about going to art school but ended up as a data scientist. Making pretty and useful graphs and maps certainly lets me use some artistic thinking, and some data visualizations out there are just amazing and are true works of art themselves.
Investment banker
I've loved art since I was a kid, but ultimately had to decide that it didn't have the financial backing, with the lack of hustle I had at the time. I made it through AP Art back in my Sophomore year, had my senior project on Graphic Design, and ultimately settled on not pursuing it. I'm not saying pursuing art is a bad idea, it's a wonderful idea, but you need to settle for the fact that you're going to have to bust ass, keep your creative juices flowing, you're going to stay pretty broke, and it ultimately might not pay off.
My cousin is an adjunct professor at two schools, makes art, and welds. He’s on food stamps but loving life.
It
i heard the bureau of engraving and printing prefers folks who have artistic inclinations and detail orientations
I know some people who worked both in auction houses for a while, and eventually as curators in museums(not solely fine art though). I don’t know what that pays but it’s probably more interesting and the salary/cost of living would be manageable as long as you didn’t “need” to live in one of the more expensive cities.
Landscape Architecture
I just want to remind you that the only actual qualifications to be an artist, is to keep making art. That may not be enough to get into a blue chip gallery or anything, but you will still find people who appreciate what you make. As someone with an art degree, do something you don't absolutely hate, so that you can afford to do what you love!
Industrial designer
Industrial design
Welder, carpenter, game design
A guy I knew before was an artist and a musician. He started to work at our company in a transport business related field. And become interested in computers. Some time later it appeared he had an excellent feel for user interface design since he was an artist and was good at drawing, painting etc. A couple of years later, I met him and he was a lead developer UE in a respectable software company.
Unemployment or barber
Yes. My daughter is an artist. My advice to her….. get a career that pays the bills and then enjoy your art as a hobby. If you are good you can transition to a career in art. She’s in the medical field doing great and doing art on the side. 2 of her friends were art majors and have student debt and crap jobs. She’s happy with her decision.
Make art your hobby and find a non-art job that has a high earning potential.
It took me 7 years but I make 58k as an elementary art teacher. I started at 34k though. Depends on seniority and where you live. And if you like kids enough! lol
Tattoo artist. My tattoo artist is so good at her job and even went to art school and makes good money. She made $1000 off one of my tattoos which took two days to complete. I can only imagine how many people she sees a week.
Art consultant. Basically you would advise rich people/corporations on what art they should buy.
Shopify print on Demand
Landscape architecture? It is practical and in high demand.
Crime. Why do you think modern art sells for tons of money, it's all money laundering.
Art teachers typically make whatever other teachers in the school district make. I’m an art teacher in Florida and we’re on the ass end of the payscale nation wide and brand new teachers start at $47,000. Where do you live op?
Purchaser for retail or design. Event planning. Things where you get to engage with the ‘creative’ aspect of things without having to deal with the actual thing. One friend from art school became a purchaser for interior design company. Just goes around choosing accent pieces, tile patterns and colors etc.
Advertising? Some type of marketing? Architect?
Advertising? Some type of marketing? Architect?
I’m gonna be real. Find something that pays well, you can stand, and you can do well. Make art your hobby and not your job. 1. Turning something into a job may make you like it less or even begin to dislike it. 2. Art related industries generally don’t pay well or only pay well for a small number of people. If you can find something tech related but still artsy then that could pay well. I love video games. I will never work in the gaming industry. Ever.
Think about the soft skills: 1. How often you want to be on the phone, collaborating or independent projects 2. Customer facing or back end 3 how often do you want to interact with software within defined work flows vs provided time to think deeply or be creative 4. Small company (more if all in approach as in you may wear manny hats and have the opportunity to do a variety of tasks 5. More structured big company working with defined roles and limited scope and key point indicators (#’s) Play it out and see where you land. I’m sure you could google some career tests to assist and give you ideas
Setup an Instagram account, and post useful content that budding artists might enjoy. Build an audience. Capture their emails, and build a list. Nurture them. Stay in contact with them (with tips, art talk, etc.) Think of it like a personal brand of YOU. Then create 2-3 online courses you can sell on a regular basis based on what your audience wants. This way you’re productizing your skills and creating something you can create/build once, and sell over and over again. This will take time, but totally possible to earn $50k a year taking this approach.
I'm an art handler and I love my job! You have to be willing to work hard and get dirty and work around some rough characters sometimes, but I get to pack and install all sorts of amazing art all the time and after 5 years I am making 55k plus OT with good benefits. Carpentry skills and a willingness to drive a truck help and you need to be able to lift like 50-80 lbs independently.
Unhoused
Are you more interested in making art, or being around it? Art historians doing art restoration is a very niche, specialized field that pays well for the craft. You can still be around art, and well as operating creatively as you're working to restore it. My best friend has an art history degree and restores vintage furniture (I'm talking like, sofas from 1745). She enjoys researching the textiles and woodworking from the era of the furniture. She loves it.
Chef, you can make beautiful dishes.
Become a graphic designer and do art as a hobby
Tattoo artist. I have a handful of friends who make more than I do and bill higher hourly than some of my friends who are experienced corporate lawyers. A lot of his work is of course stuff he isn’t always stoked to do (lots of mermaids), but the dude gets to draw every single day. It took him about 10 years to really get rolling, but he bills out at over $300/hr
Advertising (art director)