Ways to monitize our skillset as artists.

Rockley Bonner

Making a list...

-Working for a company
-Freelance
-selling tutorials, art books, resources
-Dota 2, TF

any others?

mikhga

Asset stores can be a great way of making money, for example Turbosquid or Unity Asset Store. Some of the best ways of making money there is to make either really generic art sets, like bundles of generic home appliances or furniture, or complex heavy machinery, like airplane engines or construction vehicles.

MagicSugar

- Kickstarter: you make a product IF you get funded although at Indiegogo you get the funds regardless if you don't make your target

- crowdsource t-shirt, make-our-viral-video sites: you make an entry, if selected you get money

- live online consultation, maybe paid by the hour; instead of cam whoring you and your client talk/do art.

-ads...there are others besides youtube where the deal is you submit content for free and based on views you get money; if you have deep seo skills, you can rake monthly cash via running affiliate sites. I've seen a lot of tricks from sites that suck people in like question and answer sites, of course .gif humor sites.

-contests where you offer services to non-artists; can't really be more specific cuz since I've found this to be rare, but I've done it and got fat gigs out of it.

-you parlay your skillset to non-online art jobs even if only part-time; depends on your situaton/ need for immediate cash. Example, I've used my art folios to apply for videorecording racetrack action, working at a sports arena, painting murals at a local big mall. Works wonders versus just presenting boring resume.

RyanB

RJBonner wrote: »

Making a list...

-Working for a company
-Freelance
-selling tutorials, art books, resources
-Dota 2, TF

any others?

Selling the original artwork used to make the game. If you use traditional methods to create your concept art, textures, backgrounds, etc. you can sell them online through Etsy and similar sites. A painting for a game box cover can be worth thousands. You also keep the right to reproduce the original art even though you sold the original (assuming your contracts don't give away your rights).

For indie artists, this has the potential to create a lot of extra income from their games.

Dylan Brady

+1 for magic sugars last point:
looking for ways in which your program knowledge extends too other industries
(know 3ds max? look for CAD/Arch vis work, know PS? look for graphic/web design gigs)
its a great option because there's lots of people looking for SUPER simple stuff that don't know their ass from the elbow when it comes to digital imaging. can use a character art portfolio to convince the client you know CAD. and btw CAD is rreally easy so if you need to learn it on the job you just do it. you make it work.

MagicSugar

Closed a freelance gig Friday night, so maybe sharing can net me karma points again.:poly121:

Couple more avenues.

-Pheed. Basically Twitter plus option for paid subsciption channels. Don't expect to get rich fast if you're a nobody with average content. Youtube's going this way if not already have implemented this.

-You hire yourself out as a con (comicon, animation con, game con, etc.), workshop, seminar "expert". Even guys who don't have real skills but have the title of "Director" can fool organizers to pay them or maybe give them free transportation and lodging for their industry opinions or advice. Or free table to sell whatever at a comicon, for example. You do your talk or as a panel guest then sell crap after. Schools are good gig targets too. Too lazy to walk or fly, use webinars.

maximumsproductions

Just throwing this out there for potential but if you have a personality/decent skills you could probably live stream initially to a game forum like team liquid and with ads you could slowly collect money with more and more viewership.

RyRyB

MagicSugar wrote: »

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-You hire yourself out as a con (comicon, animation con, game con, etc.), workshop, seminar "expert". Even guys who don't have real skills but have the title of "Director" can fool organizers to pay them or maybe give them free transportation and lodging for their industry opinions or advice. Or free table to sell whatever at a comicon, for example. You do your talk or as a panel guest then sell crap after. Schools are good gig targets too. Too lazy to walk or fly, use webinars.

To piggyback on this, summer time means lots of camps for kids and teens. If you live in an area with a video game-rich environment, you could find temporary employment and/or volunteer opportunities as a camp instructor. Never done it myself but it could be a great way to network off the beaten path.