In the video below, I'm presenting five (+1 bonus) less-known (or underrated) ways for artists to make money off of their art. Depending on your background as an artist, some of these ways may seem obvious, and others may discover new ways they can profit from their art. I'm giving a brief introduction with a few examples in the video.
Your Character Here (YCH) commissions
Adoptables
Artwork Licensing
Selling Assets
Online Tutorials/Courses
Bonus: Insights into your Art Process
This blog post is the collection of resources I have gathered and that I have been referring to during the video. If you want a brief presentation of the five less-known ways, give the video a watch!
Resources
Your Character Here (YCH) commissions
Lonary has done a lot of very beautiful YCH commissions. Below are examples: ✦ https://www.deviantart.com/lonary/art/Close-YCH-Auction-172-840627836 ✦ https://www.deviantart.com/lonary/art/Close-YCH-Auction-272-957176524 ✦ Example of a pre-made clothing design but with an empty character: https://www.deviantart.com/lonary/art/Open-YCH-Design-Commision-264-975452286
Zapper wrote a short but great introduction to YCH commissions including a bit on auctions, termonologies, and pros and cons. https://furrieseverywhere.com/ych/
Adoptables
Zeryuo has written a very detailed guide to Adoptables and also touches on the subjects of YCH and auctions. The guide has also been translated into several languages. https://www.deviantart.com/zeryuo/journal/A-guide-to-adoptables-594803527
Malusdraco wrote a short guide to getting started with Adoptables. https://www.deviantart.com/malusdraco/journal/So-you-want-to-start-selling-adoptables-part-1-890301035
On Open/Closed Species specifically:
CyDopts has written a guide for their closed species called Gleamstic. It is a great example of guidelines for closed species. Use it as inspiration for setting up your own closed species rules/guidelines. https://www.deviantart.com/cydopts/art/Gleamstic-Closed-Species-Guide-845542349
WikiFur's description of Species. Species-adoptable are often seen in furry communities but are not limited to those specifically at all. They have just written so much good content and guides on the subject. https://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Species
The Furryhandbook wrote a great introduction to closed vs. open species. https://furryhandbook.wordpress.com/2017/07/18/closed-v-open-species/
Selling through Auctions
Magnolia wrote a great little guide on getting started with adoptables and also describes different kinds of auctions to sell through. https://blog.unvale.io/create-and-sell-your-own-adoptable-characters/
Karijn-s-Basement wrote a detailed description of how to sell adoptables through auctions but most of the information can be applied to YCH commissions as well. https://www.deviantart.com/karijn-s-basement/journal/Adoptables-Auctions-339096764
Licensing Artwork
Here's the book, THE GRAPHIC ARTISTS GUILD HANDBOOK: PRICING & ETHICAL GUIDELINES, that I recommended in my video: https://graphicartistsguild.org/the-graphic-artists-guild-handbook-pricing-ethical-guidelines/
On Art Is My Career you can find this very informative introduction and guide to licensing artwork in general. https://www.artismycareer.com/management/how-to-license-your-art-a-beginners-guide-to-artwork-licensing/
Cat Coquillette wrote a guide on licensing artwork specifically with Print-On-Demand services in mind. It's a great read for those of you who want to try out with POD services like RedBubble, Society6, etc. https://catcoq.com/blog/art-licensing-with-print-on-demand
Selling Assets
Procreate's own PDF guide on how to create brushes: https://education-downloads.procreate.art/pdfs/MakeABrush-ProcreateLessonIdea.pdf
Unity Asset store https://assetstore.unity.com/
Unreal Engine Marketplace https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace