Classes for the Self Made Artist

Making money as an artist comes down to choosing the right revenue stream for where you are right now — and then actually building a system around it instead of winging it. The most common paths are selling art on products (Etsy, print-on-demand, your own shop), art licensing (getting paid when a company uses your design), digital products and courses, and direct commissions. Most successful art businesses use more than one.

The mistake most artists make is trying all of them at once without a strategy. I built Gingiber into a multi-million dollar business by going deep on one stream first, then layering others on top. The Artist's Side Hustle walks you through exactly how to choose your first revenue stream and build from there.

The best art side hustles depend on your skills, your art style, and how much time you have. Here are the ones that actually work for working artists:

Print-on-demand (POD) — upload your designs to Redbubble, Society6, or Printful and earn royalties without holding inventory. Low risk, lower margins.

Etsy shop — sells prints, originals, and digital downloads. Works best when you have a clear niche and consistent style.

Art licensing — companies pay to use your designs on their products. Higher upside, longer sales cycle.

Digital products — brushes, templates, patterns, mini courses. Make once, sell forever.

Teaching — workshops, online courses, YouTube. Scales your knowledge into income.

My courses cover all of these — and help you figure out which one to start with based on where you actually are right now.

Procreate is one of the most powerful tools a working illustrator can have — and it's also one of the most overwhelming to start alone. Most tutorials teach you features. What you actually need is to learn how to develop a signature illustration style in Procreate, not just how to use the brushes.

That's exactly what Make Your Art teaches. It's designed for traditional artists who are ready to draw digitally — people who already know how to make art but need a trusted, structured path to doing it in Procreate. By the end you'll have a recognizable digital style that actually feels like yours.

Building an art business from scratch means getting clear on four things: who your art is for, how you'll sell it, what your brand identity is, and how you'll show up consistently without burning out. Most artists skip straight to the selling part — and then wonder why it's not working.

I started Gingiber at my kitchen table and grew it into a multi-million dollar business carried in over 1,200 stores nationwide. Then I built a second multi-million dollar business teaching artists how to do the same. The curriculum inside the Self Made program mirrors exactly what I did — brand first, systems second, income third.

Putting your art on real, sellable products — calendars, tea towels, greeting cards, fabric, home goods — is one of the most satisfying revenue streams available to artists. The process involves preparing your files correctly, understanding product specs, choosing the right manufacturer or print partner, and setting up your shop to actually convert.

My Design Your Own Products courses walk through this step by step. Whether you want to create your own calendar line or design tea towels to sell online, the process is learnable — you just need someone to show you exactly how it's done.

Art licensing is when a company pays you — either a flat fee or a royalty — to use your artwork on their products. Your illustration ends up on a greeting card, a fabric line, a phone case, a candle label. You get paid. They handle production and distribution.

I've licensed my work to William Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Moda Fabrics, Chronicle Books, and many others. It's one of the most scalable revenue streams available to illustrators because the same piece of art can be licensed to multiple companies over time. Art licensing is now its own standalone program — if that's the path you want to go deep on, that's where to start.

Growing your artist income streams isn't about doing more things — it's about doing the right things in the right order. Start with one stream, build it to something consistent, then layer a second on top. Trying to run five revenue streams at once before any of them are working is the fastest way to burn out and quit.

The framework I teach in Build a Brand & Create Income maps out exactly which streams to start with based on your art style, your audience size, and your available time. 50,000 artists have gone through my programs — the roadmap works.

It sold out of its first print run in four months — not because of a massive marketing campaign, but because artists kept handing it to other artists and saying "you need to read this."

The Artist's Side Hustle, published by Hay House, is a no-fluff roadmap for building real, sustainable income from your art without quitting your day job or burning yourself out. It covers revenue streams, audience building, pricing, and the business fundamentals most art schools skip entirely. If you want a starting point before committing to a course, the book is the right first step.