They say that a true artist must be hungry. But, for sure, none of them will agree with this. There are many ways to do what you love and still make good money. Many people just don’t know how to do it. Or they are too lazy to look for options. For them and all other artists, we offer 7 ways to make money on the Internet.

Services website

The easiest way to introduce yourself to a wide audience and show your talent is a personal website where your portfolio will be posted and the services offered will be described. Of course, you can’t do without competent promotion of a web resource, but Internet marketing can bring quite significant results. Don't forget about groups in social networks and personal blog!

Freelance exchanges

If, in addition to artistic talent, you know how to express your thoughts clearly, then you should think about writing specialized articles. To do this, you need to register on freelance exchanges, fortunately, there are a great many of them, for example, fl.ru. There are always orders on the topics of drawing, photography, art workshops and the like. Your personal experience, knowledge and, of course, desire will help in revealing any of them. So, we find the order, write the text and receive payment! Such services also post advertisements for the search for web designers, illustrators, as well as private advertisements: many are looking for artists who can draw a portrait from a photograph or a reproduction of a painting.

Photobanks

These are special services where any artist can offer their works for sale in electronic form. In this case, the same drawing can be sold several times, but the photo bank itself will take a small commission from you.

Creation of information products

Websites selling hand-made works

There are a lot of online platforms where you can sell handmade works. The most popular on the Russian Internet is the Crafts Fair. In addition to your personal online store, you can maintain your own blog, share news, and publish your own master classes. Among foreign sites, it is worth taking a closer look at Etsy.com, which is the largest in the world. The “live” community includes more than 30 MILLION (!!) of your potential buyers. In addition, the Russian interface allows you to quickly figure out what’s what.

No one will argue that the creative process is fascinating. So why not show the world how you create masterpieces? Make a video for 2-3 minutes, add some special effects, music and don’t forget to indicate your website or group. A large number of views and “likes” are guaranteed to you.

Specialized sites

Probably, this point should have been put first, since specialized sites for selling artwork are the easiest and fastest way to make money from your creativity. But we act according to the principle “Through thorns to the stars” and do not look for easy ways, right? So, the three most popular resources where you can post your works for sale: Illustrators.ru, Hiero.ru and artmagazin.ru. Don't thank me) You're always welcome!

To successfully operate on the Internet, self-promotion is necessary. Register on forums, join communities, post your work, comment, discuss - become noticeable! And don't forget to draw!

Today, many artists successfully work on the Internet. They earn good money, can afford to travel a lot and support their family. However, this lifestyle is fraught with many pitfalls for which you need to prepare.

Firstly, independent activity will require organization and composure. When becoming your own boss, it is important not to relax and not put off work. This is the only way you will begin to receive good material returns.

Secondly, be prepared for unstable earnings. At least in the first months of independent work. Regardless of the chosen direction of activity, time must pass for your name to become known and recognizable in professional circles.

Third, be prepared to learn new things. For example, to create a good website, you should learn the technical side of the issue. For those who have chosen computer graphics, you need to have a good understanding of work programs, etc.

If you have available funds, you can order a website. Otherwise, do not rush to leave the stable workplace. Gradually “prepare the ground”: study topics on website building, programs, popular areas, etc.

How can an artist earn money?

There are many ways for artists to make money on the Internet. If you don't want to stray from real drawing, pay attention to interactive art salons that sell works by contemporary pencil, pastel and brush artists. Conclude an agreement, and your works will replenish the “shelves” and become available for purchase.

Artists who can clearly explain and clarify the nuances of their work can try their hand at teaching. The first option is to create your own courses. For example, in the form of a blog, website or CD for sale. The second way is to give lessons. Drawing today is very popular and fashionable (a kind of mainstream), so there will be a lot of people interested.

If you are ready to learn something new, master computer graphics. You can post the created images on numerous microstock sites, where designers, webmasters, publishers, graphic designers, etc. are looking for them. In order for your earnings to become stable, you need to create a large portfolio, define your style and work with several resources at once. If consumers like your images, within three to four months you will feel good financial support.

Pay attention to the unique online exchanges for artists. There you can find orders for remote work. However, be patient and ready to compete.

Not a single wall by itself will save you, his father once told him,
walking with him along the fortress walls of Winterfell.
- The wall is strong by the people who defend it.
.

Hello, reader!

§2. Freelance exchanges and sites with advertisements

I’ll tell you: freelancing is remote work. A freelance photographer or freelance artist works remotely. You sit at home, in a cafe or on the beach, do your work and send the finished version to the customer via the Internet. The customer can be located anywhere on the globe. You receive payment to a bank account, to a card, to electronic wallet.

If you work through , then everything becomes much simpler. The same as in the case of photo banks. The exchange itself attracts new customers and takes over the interaction with them (receipt of payment, order delivery, etc.). The customer will not be able to “cheat” you or deceive you in any other way. Money for work comes to your account at the exchange, from there you can withdraw it to a bank or card.

On the Internet, for example, drawing portraits from photographs is very popular. A person sends you a photo, you paint a portrait, scan the drawing and send it to him via the Internet. Or you send the original portrait by mail or transport company.

They also often ask me to draw a picture for an article. For example, I often order such drawings. So if you are a good artist, then write to me at [email protected]. Or better yet, through personal messages on social networks (links to my accounts).

Customers live on freelance exchanges and classifieds sites. Both there and there you can both search for orders and publish offers about your services.

Here's the freelancing market.

Advertisement sites - .

§3. Website offering your services

We are creating a website on which we describe what we can do and how much we want for it. We indicate contacts. We get clients from the Internet and make money on their orders.

That is, we use the site as an advertising channel. To enhance the effect, we create a high-quality website and promote it. You can also attract potential customers to your website using online advertising services.

Instead of a website, you can create a page on social networks, a free blog, or use a website builder.

How to make a popular website -.

All the ways to create your website -.

Free blogging services are lurking.

Website builders with hosting are waiting for you (for money) and (relatively free).

§4. We create an information site

In this case, we describe on the site not our services, but our skills. And we make money on the site through advertising and affiliate programs. Let me explain.

You know how to take photographs, draw or otherwise create drawings, pictures and photographs. The Internet is full of people who want to learn how to take photographs, draw or create drawings, pictures and photographs in other ways. They are looking for information about this. You post this information on your website. Together with advertising (contextual, banner, direct) and/or with your affiliate links. The more visitors to your site, the more clicks on advertising (views, in the case of banner and direct ads) and clicks on your affiliate links, the more money you earn.

It is clear that in this case you must be not just a photographer or artist, but a photographer or artist who also knows how to write coherently.

This option is good if you have enough orders, but no money. Such an information site will give you the opportunity to monetize your skills without interrupting your work. Share the secrets of your craft, and the site will provide you with passive income.

It’s worth starting with a combination of contextual advertising and affiliate programs. It’s better for her to continue.

Partnerships - from online stores with photo products or goods for artists, books about photography and drawing, and everything in that vein. In principle, you can attach different affiliate programs to the information site of a photographer or artist. For example, an article with photographs of the ten most beautiful places in Thailand would fit well with a link to a service for booking airline tickets and hotels. It will also attract attention in the text with the ten most popular paintings of the Louvre. As you can see, the principle is simple and can be replicated widely and for a long time.

Our newsletter has repeatedly talked about accumulating wealth through affiliate programs. We were talking specifically about making money from online airline ticket booking services.

We discussed in great detail how to make money from affiliate programs of online bookstores.

We are talking about the principles of making money on affiliate programs via mailing lists. There are also several nuances and hidden points.

With a list of aggregators of affiliate programs and affiliate programs for different topics -.

Other ways to make money on the site -.

§5. We write and sell articles about photography and drawing

This is the case when you are not exactly such a photographer or artist, but rather an amateur or interested. And the first two options are not suitable for you due to a lack of skill, knowledge and skills.

And you go to article exchanges, look for orders there for articles on photography, drawing and the like, send an application to the customer, if he approves of you - write an article according to the given parameters (indicated by the customer), if it suits him, then to your account in the exchange payment arrives (agreed before placing the order), withdraw money (as a rule, money from the exchange is withdrawn to an electronic wallet, from which you can send it to your card, mobile phone or bank account).

Everything is simple.

I’ll tell you more about working as a copywriter (writing articles is copywriting).

The stock of articles is languishing in anticipation of brilliant copywriters.

I’ll show you how to create an electronic wallet in pictures.

§6. Newspapers, agencies and other exotics

Various online media (newspapers, magazines, online publications) sometimes require photographers and artists. Advertising agencies need them too. Web studios also use drawings with photographs (they create websites). Continue the list yourself.

Go to the website of a potential employer, look for contacts, get in touch, they hire you - you work, no - look for a job as a photographer or artist further.

With links to the websites of large newspapers and magazines -.

And news agencies - .

§7. On the road

There are hundreds of other ways for a photographer or artist to make money on the Internet. I have listed the most widespread and accessible ones. Go for it!

That's all about work for photographers and artists. In the next issue we'll talk about...

Congratulations to you, great health and wealth!

St. Petersburg cartoonists have come up with a website for selling ironic images.

In order for “funny pictures” to bring not only pleasure, but also some kind of income, cartoonists from St. Petersburg Vyacheslav Shilov, Victor Bogorad and Igor Aleshin launched the website Cartoonbank.ru. Without the slightest business experience, the three of them founded the Mediagraphics company, which sells original illustrations to newspapers, magazines and websites. Now on their website there are more than 32 thousand images from 88 authors from nine countries. Cartoonist and CEO of Mediagraphics Vyacheslav Shilov told the site about how the stock of licensed ironic images works and what the prospects for their business are.

46 years old, cartoonist from St. Petersburg, founder and CEO of the company "Media graphics", developing a bank of cartoons Cartoonbank. Graduated from St. Petersburg State University, member St. Petersburg Creative Union of Artists. Co-founders of Mediagraphics: Victor Bogorad, 68 years old, cartoonist, graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Arts; Igor Aleshin, 55 years old, cartoonist, graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Aerospace Instrumentation, works as a programmer.

How it all began

In the 90s, I worked as a full-time cartoonist in St. Petersburg newspapers, first in Nevsky Vremya, then in Evening Petersburg, and there and there I wrote a daily column.

At Nevskoe Vremya one day a plump package with drawings and an offer of cooperation from the USA arrived. This is what several syndicates of cartoonists in America did before the Internet era - they simply sent pictures to their editorial offices. I thought that since the technology exists, we can apply it here too. And he began sending drawings to newspapers all over Russia - by mail, in a large A4 envelope. About a year after the start of mailings to client publications, there were already at least a hundred. If the drawings were printed, they sent me money. After some time, I began to receive royalties from mailings - like several editorial salaries, and the growth continued until the crisis of 1998. Then all business across the country collapsed, and I also immediately felt it myself.

By the way, I even arranged “our response to Chamberlain” - at some point I plucked up the nerve, found a database of American newspapers and sent them an offer of cooperation by mail. 99% did not answer, but about five out of surprise published drawings by the Russian artist. It was funny - they sent checks from the American outback, I went to the Baltic Bank, they were also surprised, they checked them for a month, and then cashed them. And one newspaper actually sent a travel editor to St. Petersburg to write about the cartoonists of St. Petersburg. We are still friends with this journalist, many years later in America I met him again in an amazing way.

Drawing by Vyacheslav Shilov

When the Internet began to actively develop, instead of mailing lists, I launched electronic mailing lists and opened a simple website Best-cartoon.spb.ru- and invited several of his artist friends to work so that the editors would have a larger selection of illustrations.

Bank of ironic images

Somewhere in the mid-2000s, the idea of ​​a more serious resource for caricature stuck in my head - a modern Internet tool for selecting ironic images. I shared it with friend and famous cartoonist Victor Bogorad. And he put me in touch with Igor Aleshin, who, at the same time, as it turned out, was also thinking about this topic. Igor is an excellent cartoonist, and part-time professional programmer, a great specialist who worked in the States under a contract (before his departure we met a couple of times, there was a casual acquaintance) and then returned to St. Petersburg. This is how our project for three happened - Cartoonbank.ru.

The domain was registered in 2006, the name was chosen by analogy with the English-language website of The New Yorker magazine, a famous humor resource. Cartoon is "caricature" in English. Literally it turned out to be a “bank of cartoons,” although we officially position ourselves as a “Bank of Ironic Images” - we have a whole list of categories on our website, from collage to strip.

We opened the LLC in 2010, and at the same time we launched the website privately. The start was postponed for four years - we struggled with doubts and carried out preparatory work; we did not want to create something of poor quality and ill-conceived. Igor Aleshin took upon himself the entire technical side of the issue - the development and support of the site; I am responsible for documentation, content, groups on social networks, communication with authors, partners, advertising; Victor Bogorad - gave money for the start, 100 thousand rubles.

We didn’t even spend it all at once - we left a “safety cushion”. Paid for registration of a legal entity, hosting, domain, rent mailbox(we receive the originals of contracts with authors for it). We spent a little on contextual advertising, but didn’t see much effect and abandoned it.

There are now only two people on staff - me and my deputy, who has the right to sign documents so that my absence does not affect the company. Our salaries are purely symbolic. We don't have an office, we don't need one. We also use the services of an outsourced accountant.

How everything works

Our site is an intermediary between artists and editors. In essence, this is the same photo bank, only with caricatures, or rather, with ironic images. At launch, the site had 6 thousand images. Even before the start, we semi-secretly told our artist friends about the project, signed agreements with them, and taught them how to put drawings on the site.

From the very beginning we decided that the work would be of a certain level and quality. Yes, there were those who were offended or upset that we did not take his drawings, but we have a step-by-step selection process and the first step is accepting the author into the project. Currently, the site has accepted 88 authors from nine countries, but we have not accepted many more artists. Politely, but we refuse. The decision was made collectively by voting, and overall we like the result. We already have more than 32.5 thousand images.

Drawing by Victor Bogorad

According to the agreement, the author transfers to us non-exclusive rights to his works. We transfer this right to the buyer - using a license for the selected image. A limited license costs 250 rubles - for websites and newspapers with a small circulation. 500 rubles - for publications with a circulation of more than 15 thousand copies. There is also an extended license for commercial use, for example, for advertising or printing on T-shirts or other media (in this case, you can print an unlimited number of copies for subsequent sale), it costs 2,500 rubles.

The artist's fee is 40 percent of the cost of his work

Moreover, we “save” up to 5 thousand rubles of total fees, and then pay them, otherwise it would be very confusing with documents - to transfer every 40 percent of 250 rubles. The amounts are small, and the bank takes money from each payment, this is simply reasonable savings. The rest goes to us: for resource support, accounting, taxes (we work “in white” and pay all royalties), digital image processing (we order such a service if necessary). In fact, there is little left.

A curious collision with foreign authors. We only make payments in rubles and we can only transfer fees to a ruble card. Yes, we have artists from the USA, Israel, Canada, but they are all former compatriots, and they have mothers, brothers or friends who have ruble cards issued by banks in Russia. So we transfer the fees to them. While we are solving the issue this way, we are trying to get out of it, they are writing powers of attorney. But a Brazilian, an Italian, a Portuguese asked us to come to Kartunbank - and we can’t take it! Currency controls are holding us back.

At first, and we started with twenty sales a month, we had to chip in with our own money to cover expenses. We have not changed the prices for licenses since the launch, so now we are thinking of increasing them, as well as expanding the range of licenses. The authors begin to grumble, saying that you are selling it too cheap - and they are right from their point of view.

Today, an average of 100-130 sales per month is already the norm. In terms of money, this is 30-40 thousand rubles, which allows the resource to live fully and independently, but does not bring us any tangible profit. Although we didn’t expect huge incomes - we have a business at the intersection of art. We make a website for our own pleasure, and we earn our living in other ways, as before, before Kartunbank.

Drawing by Igor Aleshin

The maximum we were able to sell was 200 images per month. And we are still paying back those 100 thousand starting points - there is very little left. As a rule, people buy pictures more actively for holidays and election campaigns.

We have connected payment system Robokassa from the Moscow bank "Ocean", a little later - Paypal, when he began working in the Russian Federation. The first clients worked only under a contract - we entered into a contract by bank transfer, allocated them “electronic money”, and they paid for the picture within a month. And now - at least with mobile phone Pay by SMS, although we also continue to work under contracts with legal entities.

Smaller market means fewer purchases

The author himself puts his pictures on the site, we have developed detailed instructions. For him, this is an archive of images that is available at any time and anywhere in the world. There is a dependence: the more pictures are displayed, the higher the sales.

The same picture can be sold nine to ten times, we have such hits. The leaders are Viktor Bogorad and Igor Kiyko; over the entire existence of the project, they have sold more than 800 cartoons each, and they receive several payments a year. And one of the reasons for this is that they put the most drawings on the site, and were not lazy.

In total, about 7,000 licenses of various types were sold during the project’s operation.

Initially, we focused mainly on newspapers, although we realized that the press was moving to the Internet. For lately The situation on the media market has changed a lot, not for the better. About 15 years ago, the media market was saturated, they were happy to print cartoons on sensitive social topics, and even published humorous Friday supplements. Nowadays the Internet rules more, and newspapers are being closed en masse.

The trend does not please us: a smaller market means fewer purchases. In addition, those publications that are still afloat avoid caricatures. The reason for this is political leapfrog. The Charlie Hebdo scandals, artificially inflated by propaganda, have an unpleasant echo in our country. The editors began to be afraid of caricatures - as if something might happen, such an unconscious fear and, in general, an unhealthy situation, a wary attitude towards caricatures.

Some unpleasant and strange laws adopted by our State Duma in recent years also do not add optimism. You could say all this is hitting us as a business. We have already put the 18+ badge on the site out of harm's way. Now we’re thinking about how not to desecrate someone’s feelings - we have quite sarcastic cartoons, Yolkin alone is worth it, there are ones about religion and about our celestials.

Drawing by Sergei Yolkin

We even posted a warning on the website: if you, dear visitor to the project, suddenly experience an uncontrollable attack of resentment, write to us, we will definitely consider your case! Yes, it’s getting ridiculous, but what to do? But they haven’t contacted us yet - apparently, they’re too lazy to write or no one wants to make a fool of themselves yet.

And at the same time, we have a circle of regular customers: there is a site that consistently buys up to 30 images a month for its humor department, we have our favorite friends - the magazine “Krasnaya Burda”, regular customers. Among the newspapers that constantly cooperate with us are Novaya Gazeta (St. Petersburg), Trud, and Parlamentskaya Gazeta; they even buy from distant Birobidzhan. Works are also downloaded from abroad - from Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland; We don’t know who, we think they are former compatriots.

More than a website

Cartoonbank also works as a brand - organizers of exhibitions and conferences contact us, our artists traveled to Poland, Germany, they participate in international seminars as representatives of the project. I was invited to China as a project manager, and at the animation institute I gave a lecture where the work of our artists served as an example - I talked about the gags that they use in drawings. So “Kartunbank” is, in many ways, an image project.

Drawing of Boris Ehrenburg

Some authors write to us with gratitude - we started drawing for people again, and not for the table! This is like helping artists, as a point of application for their creativity. During our work, unfortunately, three authors have passed away. We re-signed an agreement with the relatives of two of them - and we pay them 50 percent, that is, in fact, we don’t earn money from them ourselves, but this is support for the families, and it’s as if this author is still with us, through his pictures.

How else can you earn money

We have several opportunities to earn money, in addition to selling pictures in the media, and we are very focused on these forms of cooperation. True, we thought that everything would go faster and more fun - and orders would pour in when we collected a large number of images. However, we do not observe a constantly intense flow. Why? In my opinion, there are several reasons. The first is stagnation due to the attitude towards caricature, which has generally changed for the worse. Secondly, many pictures are simply stolen, unfortunately. Third, there is insufficient “promotion” of our capabilities, despite the fact that there are many of them.

1. Printing our images on different media- bags, T-shirts, mugs, etc. We have a partnership agreement, but only with one site that does this. There is a “button” on our resource - the client can immediately see how the image will look on the item and place an order. Our partners produce everything on a turnkey basis, ours is just a picture. By the way, there are visits from this partner’s website to Kartunbank, and they also promote the service. The cost of a picture for these purposes (and this is considered an individual order, and not an unlimited edition for sale) is 250-500 rubles.

2. You can order a full-fledged exhibition from us. Any subject. Buy licenses - make prints, frame them - and you're done. So, for example, we had a joint project with the Gatchina Museum, and with the Museum of the Leningrad Region - both were quite successful. There was a project with the Planetarium - there the works were shown in exhibition mode on a huge screen. Any organization can put up an exhibition - be it a dental clinic or a gold mining company: they hung it in the office or held a conference with such an unusual addition. We have drawings - for any request. The license costs only 500 rubles (for now).

Drawing by Oleg Dergachev

3. You can print calendars with our designs. There were also such orders, but you can count them on one hand.

5. Our artists can give master classes on caricature. Once we were asked to conduct a master class for children in Erarta, this is a museum of modern art in St. Petersburg, for not very much money, but money. Another time they asked us to officially “select” caricaturists for a street festival to draw cartoons. We were even invited to Smolny once, to a conference for the media, we were partly promoting ourselves there, but the authors were paid as for participation in the project, according to the contract.

6. You can publish an entire humor magazine with pictures from Kartunbank, and, imagine, a publisher once approached us - and even released an excellent pilot issue - with a circulation of 10 copies. However, things didn’t go any further for him; he started organizing concerts rather than collecting advertising for the magazine. However, the possibility remains!

7. You can print cartoon postcards. We have our own experience - one of the authors (I also helped him, it was interesting) invested in printing postcards - a total of 38 items, spent 60 thousand rubles. The cost of printing one postcard, it seems, was 3 rubles back then. They were sold for 15 rubles apiece to stores, and they increased their commission, and the postcard reached the buyer for 30-50 rubles. The money was “recaptured” quite quickly. There seems to be a prospect, but this is a separate area of ​​business that needs to be taken seriously, and neither my partner nor I had the time or energy for this. We are also artists - we work with our personal customers all the time. But this line of business, in principle, can be developed by anyone through Kartunbank - buy a picture for 2,500 rubles (and with a system of discounts it’s even cheaper) and print at least 10 thousand postcards for sale - I’ll give you an idea!

Drawing by Vyacheslav Shilov

8. Using our illustrations you can design books- we sell pictures for books for only 250 rubles.

9. Our drawing can be integrated into a permanent website design, but this will already be a commercial license for 2500 rubles.

10. When there was an active political life in the country, during elections, cartoons were often bought for leaflets, 2500 rubles each, also as political advertising. They asked for a package of documents - licenses, an agreement - we always provided this without any problems. There has been no activity in this regard for the last two years, but the opportunity itself has not disappeared.

If you love to draw and want to make money from your hobby, this article is for you.

You don't have to be a professional artist to make money with your drawings online. Dear graphics tablets also don't make much sense. In most cases, all you need is a lot of desire, paper and colored pencils.

I will talk about one method of sales, which I have personally tested and proven its worth.

Profitable topics and platform for selling works

It must be said that the main factors determining the financial success of an artist’s illustrations are the themes of the works, as well as the competent choice of the site on which these works will be placed.

It is clear that demand is formed by the public’s interest in a particular event, object, or character. But what is interesting to society? What information has the highest view rates?

That's right, this is news. Eccentric headlines, emotional intensity, forecasts of the likelihood of wars, economic collapse, natural disasters. Scandals, gossip and rumors that have their own heroes.

The heroes of these news will be the main characters in your drawings. These are people famous all over the world: leaders of states, politicians, artists, athletes...

There is a huge demand for images of such people! And this demand increases to incredible proportions when hype rises around them in the media space.

Choosing a platform through which you will sell your work is also extremely important. And the main selection criteria should be the presence of high traffic of potential customers and specialization.

As for traffic, the picture is as follows: in terms of traffic, photo stocks are completely superior to other Internet sites. The leader in popularity, quantity of content and its sales here is the photo bank Shutterstock (Shutterstock.com).