What terms should I use for internet artists who are unpaid or get paid a little but not their main source of income without implications of being unskillful on the word ‘‘amateur’’? , I’m referring to the source of income that internet artists have and not skill, there are good and bad amateurs and good, bad and mediocre professionals, like for example, Sharknado is a bad movie made by professionals and great Star Trek fan films are made by amateurs. Any terms should I use for internet artists who are unpaid or get paid a little without the word ‘‘amateur’’ sounding like they’re unskillful? calling them simply artists is not enough and term ‘‘hobbyist’’ isn’t enough either.
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Please try and think about the forum placement for your threads. This was not a Factual Question but more of an opinion and further a question mainly about creatives. So Cafe Society is a much better fit than Factual Questions .
Freelance.
dilettante
influencer
creator
non-pro
“Talented artist” (no reference to income)
“Enthusiast” (implies that income is a minor consideration)
If you desire a single word that encompasses every nuance set out in your OP, I can’t think of one.
“Amateur”. The word doesn’t have the negative connotations you seem to think it does.
Good question. Freelance suggests compensation. Prosumer describes a market segment that covers some of who we’re talking about but doesn’t capture the purpose of the gear or the user’s output.
I agree that amateur isn’t right. Amateurish is not a compliment.
I’d argue that it does, as it has a secondary definition of “one lacking in experience and competence (emphasis mine) in an art or science” (m-w.com).
True, but PC has run amok and seemingly forever. LOL
Accomplished? My hobby of making primitive bows and arrows has very few professionals but we have several very high-level accomplished artists among us.
I think “artists” is fine. Unpaid artists, if that distinction matters to you.
So if some guy just got sacked from some big studio thing and is raising money through Patreon for a short film he is suddenly a non-pro? I agree with @Spice_Weasel
AFAIK, English lacks single words for “Someone who does something for a living but sucks at it” and also lacks words for “Someone who does something as a side gig or purely for fun / satisfaction, and is awesome at it”. Most of our words contain an assumed correlation between skill and getting money for it.
Having said that, in other contexts I’ve used the terms “hobbyist” and “professional”. Which in their narrow senses capture the main part of the idea the OP seems to want.
Professional [whatever]s are people who are paid to do the [whatever]. No less, and (mostly) no more. There’s a presumption of at least journeyman skill at it, but we all agree there are sucky paid workers who are still “professionals”. Somebody has to finish last in their class.
Hobbyist [whatever]s do it for satisfaction, not wages. No less and (mostly) no more. There is no inherent reason they’re less skilled, and no reason to assume they’re less-skilled.
It’s an interesting discussion, because I am an unpublished writer. There are many reasons I am unpublished, but my lack of writing skill isn’t one of them (other than the skill of finishing the damned job.) I lack the motivation to try to sell myself, because that is a distinctly different set of skills that I don’t have, and would have to learn.
It would irk me, especially on a bad day, to hear my writing referred to as a hobby, or me as an amateur. Because I think it implies less investment of time and work than I’ve actually put in.
But I don’t write to publish - it would be nice someday, but that’s not why I do it. As a writer friend once put it to me, “I would write if I was stranded on the moon.”
I have often seen people described by the medium they use to put their work out like “SoundCloud rapper” or “YouTube guitar player.”
That word can have negative connotations - it implies someone who doesn’t take what they are doing seriously.
I think the words for that person are “unemployed” or “independent” artist. Neither of those capture what the OP is after, I think. “Independent” is closer, but if somebody says they are an “independent artist” I’m going to assume they are a professional that is not affiliated with a major commercial firm, not that they are a hobbyist who sometimes sells stuff.
And that is the closest I can come, and a “hobbyist who sometimes sells stuff, and has over 20 years of experience in ceramic arts” is a long way from a single word.
Agreed. Someone here once called me a dilitante social worker because I wanted to be a mother. It’s definitely got negative connotations.
I know. 
It does and it shouldn’t. I am trying to change it. It implies the lackadaisical attitudes of young women with wealth. Like it was their fault women were placed in this elevated and yet subservient role in high society in which they couldn’t hold down jobs or learn anything that might be of use.
Meantime I don’t have a vagina and I don’t have wealth and yet I seem to have many lackadaisical attitudes about almost everything.