It occurred to me watching a busker at the train station today that I, possessing zero artistic ability, have never actually gotten paid for any sort of artistic creative output. (Unless you consider software development “art” - I do not).
There seem to be loads of talented artistic Dopers, so this thread is to share your stories. You can be a professional musician, writer, singer, actor, mime, Thomas Kinkade, whatever. Or maybe somebody therw a dollar at you at a Karaoke bar, or Mom “bought” your fingerpainting. Any level, at any time, if you were paid for crfeative artistic output, let’s hear it.
I’ve been paid as a photographer. The odd wedding and the like. The most I was ever paid was for an ad photo that appeared in Billboard magazine. I think I got $200 or something like that.
I’ve also bartered my homebrew for all sorts of goods and services over the years.
I started a small theatre company five years ago. I produce and direct all the shows. Over those years thousands (not many thousands, mind you, but thousands all the same) of people have purchased tickets for my “art.” Plus we have donors who support us in addition to ticket sales. We’re a tiny non-profit company, so all the money goes straight to the org and I don’t personally take a salary or stipend, so technically I am not the one getting paid. Also, since theatre is a cooperative endeavor, this is not quite the same thing as selling a painting, but I suppose it counts.
I’ve been paid for my knitting. I knit a pair of pants for a friend’s toddler. They were really cute sock monkey pants and turned out really well. The original deal was that she would just pay for the yarn (about $25-30), but she like them so much, she insisted on paying me for them. She wrote me a check for $75.
I sold three paintings, although for not very much.
As for music, I taught lessons when I was in high school, plus I had a regular gig. I was in various bands in college and just out of college, and we made small sums with that. I have busked, but never made much that way.
I have had a couple of paid acting gigs, many years ago. Now, I sell my jewelry via the juried fine arts/crafts show circuit. I do pretty well. Not enough to quit my day job, though.
I’ve been paid to photograph a couple of friends’ weddings. Even though I didn’t want the job, they talked me into it. Everyone was happy with the results, so it worked out okay.
Friends and coworkers enjoy my photos and often tell me I should think about selling my work. To this day, none of them has offered to buy a single print, framed or otherwise.
My proceeds from my professional career as a musician total two Australian dollars. Back more than 30 years ago I had friends in a band that played in a pub, and one evening they invited me to join them playing the washboard. Unfortunately, someone forgot to bring the washboard, so I played on a tambourine instead. (My real instrument of choice is the bush bass, but I’ve never been payed to play on it).
More recently I’ve made a bit of money from being paid for the use of some of my photos that I have on Flickr. The best-paying photo was one used on the cover of this map of some Ohio cities. (The picture is of Marion County Courthouse).
My profession since about 1998 has been as a photographer (photojournalist for newspapers/magazines and now weddings), so yes. I’ve also been paid as a musician, although the last time I pulled money in from doing that was 2003. But I made some money doing since I was about 16, before I started the photography. I’ve once been offered money to buy one of my paintings (I dabbled for a couple years, but nothing serious), but I declined to sell it, since I had so few of them. The irony is, I don’t even know if I still have that painting. It wasn’t particularly good (I don’t think any of mine were. They just look like paintings of someone dicking around to me.)
Once, when I was working at McDonalds as the biscuit baker, I sculpted and baked a little alligator out of leftover dough. A customer saw it as I was showing it to someone else and offered to buy it, so I just gave it to him.
But people are weird about gators here. (Gainesville, home of the University of Florida).
I guess I have a high art made/art sold ratio. I don’t really draw for fun, only if I can see a direct use for what I am going to make.
I have made many silhouette portraits as gifts, and often sold them on markets. I once paid a meal doing silhouettes on the place du Tertre in Paris.
A hairdresser once saw me do the portraits and asked me to paint his street sign for him, which I did. Considering I don’t know much about paint, the sign was still in amazing good shape three years later.
Whenever I painted something, it was used. I have made drawings whenever I wanted to advertise something to sell. And I designed a game once that was used for several workshops.
I am not model pretty, but I have been a model for some surprisingly succesfull pictures. An artist friend of mine made some artistic nude paintings of me that were bought by our local museum of art. Other pictures of me, when I was pregnant, made by the same friend, were bought by Getty as stock photos.
I’ve made side money with my art / hobbies for many years.
As a musician, I’ve played in bar bands, gotten gigs as a church organist, done background vocals and demos for a couple of small studios and even sold one song that I wrote.
As a visual artist, I’ve sold several landscape photographs for the calandar company that I once sold advertising for. I currently design and make greeting cards that are sold in two small gift shops locally.
Nothing that will pay the rent, but I at least get materials / time compensated for some fun money.
I busked in central London by dancing about ten years ago - earned £10 for two hours work, didn’t think that was too bad. I was a professional actor as a child, had a few paid roles and was offered a place at a drama school as a result (I’ve always wondered how things would have turned out if I’d gone there…). I’ve also modelled for photos and been paid for it too, but only a couple of times.
When I was a teenager, I knitted stuffed animals, and I sold some at a craft fair. More recently, I’ve taken up pottery, and I’ve sold a few dozen pieces. However, it’s just a hobby and any “profits” are given to my county’s women’s shelter as a donation.
I took a year off doing shows but I’m hoping to build up my inventory and start again in the summer. I’ve gotten better, so I should be able to charge more, which works out well for the shelter.