What are the viable paths for making a living as an artist today?

There are really three primary paths. First is the gallery model, but that’s not viable for most artists—it’s the realm of unicorns. Second is doing shows and fairs—you get a booth, pay booth fees, and set up at shows on Saturdays and Sundays. This is totally viable but hard on the body with a lot of driving. Third is creating an online business where you do the marketing, treat it like a business, run sales and marketing campaigns, capture emails, and sell directly on your website. This third path is what’s most advocated for because it’s accessible and scalable. There’s also teaching (painting, photography, leading photo tours), and owning your own gallery is an emerging trend that some artists are doing very well with.

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Asked by general teaching point · Answered by Patrick · Art Business Webinar · 2026-05-29