Passive Income Ideas For Artists To Start In 2026 🎨💸

[00:00] As artists, we pour so much of ourselves into our work, but wouldn't it be amazing if our art could just keep working for us? Even when we're not holding a brush, making art can be incredibly time-consuming, and when you're constantly creating to keep up, it can lead to burnout very quickly.

[00:14] That's why building passive income streams is so important for artists, because it allows your work to support you when you're not actively creating it. In today's video, I'm going to be sharing some powerful passive income ideas for artists that will hopefully help you to expand your income and hopefully get some time back.

[00:29] These are streams of income that you could set up once and just let them flow while you focus on creating the work that you love. So whether you're looking for a little bit of extra support or dreaming of creating a full-time income from this, this video will hopefully give you some tools to bring in some more abundance through your creativity.

[00:44] And I also have a ton of other resources like this on my channel. So if these things sound interesting to you, definitely stick around and let's dive in. The first passive income stream is online courses or tutorials. This is something that you can record once and sell forever.

[00:56] You could do this on like Skillshare or Udemy or just even on your own site. You could set up something like a stand store as well. Just some sort of platform that would allow you to sell your course. And there are so many different courses that you can make as an artist.

[01:09] It doesn't have to be just you teaching art. You can create courses about being an artist as well. I broke some ideas down into some categories. Like you can make courses about art techniques and skills. Like making a course in whatever your expertise is.

[01:21] Like if you're a watercolor artist, make a beginner's guide to watercolor. if you have like a really niche art form like wood burnings make a course on that you could teach color theory you could teach everything you know about figures drawing landscape painting just

[01:33] whatever your expertise is you could turn it into a course or a different style of course you could create is something more centered around like creative expression and style you could do a course on art journaling or a course on how to find and define like your personal style as an

[01:48] artist or you could lean into more of the business side of things like how to start an art business building a personal brand as an artist like there's so many different things you could do you could even lean into like artist lifestyle like using art as a mindfulness practice or create

[02:01] like a 30-day course to help people form creativity as a habit like there's just so many things I could go on and on and on you guys get the point but there is just a vast library of ideas for artists

[02:13] specifically to make courses from and like if my favorite artist dropped a course like I'm a thousand percent buying into that like if I could see their techniques and their expertise or just their creative process that is so valuable to me personally and yeah it could just be a good

[02:29] opportunity for you as a creative so that is definitely a passive income stream to look into the next passive income stream is print on demand products you guys probably already know what print on demand is if you're a regular viewer of my channel you definitely know what print on demand

[02:41] is but short and simply it is what the name says print on demand products printed as they are ordered and sent out to your customer. This is a great opportunity for us because it basically has no overhead costs. I made a whole video guide for artists. I'll put it right here. But it just

[02:56] breaks down how to start print on demand and why it's so good for artists. You should definitely check it out after this video if that's something that you're interested in. But it's a great entry to creating products from your work. The next passive income stream is art licensing. This is

[03:10] basically where you give companies permission to use your artwork on their products, on packaging, in their advertising campaigns. Like, you just give them the rights to your artwork, basically. And in return, you get paid, usually in the form of royalties.

[03:22] The cool thing about this is you don't have to, like, manufacture or market or do anything. Like, if you walk into a store like HomeGoods, chances are most of the art that's, like, in the art print aisle is licensed art being printed by, like, a home decor manufacturer.

[03:36] You might walk into a store one day and see your art on stationery. You're basically just allowing companies to pull from your work and use it for their own production and distribute their own products. You can start art licensing by reaching out to brands directly, but the main way that I've heard of doing this, I've never personally done this,

[03:52] but there are whole art licensing agencies that you can get in contact with or you can list your artworks on platforms that connect artists with companies that are looking for designs The next passive income idea I have for artists is digital downloads

[04:04] This is one of the simplest ways for artists to earn passive income. This could be anything from printable wall art, to coloring pages, to creative templates, to a digital planner that you designed with your artwork throughout it.

[04:16] Again, this is something that you can create once, and you can sell this product over and over and over again without any extra effort. and the best part is it's pretty much straight profit because it's just a digital file. You're not having to physically ship anything.

[04:28] Anytime someone buys a digital product from you, they receive a file instantly for them to use. They can either print it at home or, like, I've bought digital files in the past of planners and I just use them on my iPad screen. I'm just going to rapid fire some digital product ideas for artists.

[04:41] I could make a whole video on this alone because I feel like there's so many. But you could do coloring pages. You could do art prints. You could do phone wallpapers. You could do wall calendars. You could do greeting cards. You can make your own brush pack for Procreate.

[04:54] You can make your own custom font. People could buy it and install it on the computer. You can make tutorial like PDFs of how to make your art. You can create printable journaling pages, scrapbook elements, affirmation cards, printable bookmarks.

[05:07] You can make social media post templates, like cute little Instagram graphics that people can download and edit for their social media. Literally, I could go on and on and on. There are so many different types of digital downloads that you can create. and it's cool because you can mix art and functionality

[05:20] so your buyers can get both your creativity and something useful. If making digital products sounds interesting to you but you're not sure where to start or if you've been struggling to make graphics that look actually professional, I really recommend checking out Kittle.

[05:32] It's a really helpful design platform and it takes so much of the stress out of making digital products that not only look good but also feel polished and ready to sell. If you want to give your customers something that's both helpful and visually beautiful,

[05:44] Kittle is the perfect place to start. They have so many cool templates to start from and to inspire you in your design process. I used Kittle myself to make my digital product, which is my digital download coloring book pages. And this platform has just saved me so much time while still giving me results that I'm proud to put out into the world.

[06:00] Let me just show you an example project using Kittle. I'm just going to make a little gratitude journal digital download as an example. I used one of their templates and brought in this little watercolor frog that I painted. but then I switched it to the flower that I also drew because I just liked the more minimal look

[06:15] and this is what my cover ended up looking like and I also made a little page to go with it. So here is the final result and this file is what you would sell and offer to your audience. Obviously you can make it way more personal with more of your artwork but I just did this to show

[06:30] you guys what you guys can do. If you're ready to start building passive income with digital products Kittle makes that process so much easier. If you guys want to try Kittle out and transform your design process, I will leave a link below this video. And I also have a discount code for you

[06:42] guys. You guys can use my code RIKKYYT for 25% off. And I want to give a huge thank you to Kittle for sponsoring this video. The next passive income idea for artists is stock art slash graphics. Ow.

[06:54] Stock art slash graphics. This is different from art licensing. This is like a product for other creatives. So this is creating stuff for platforms like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, or creative market. You can sell things like illustrations, icons, textures, fonts, patterns.

[07:12] You upload your work once and then companies, designers, or like other creatives can purchase licenses from you to use it in their creative projects and you earn money each time it's downloaded. What's cool is that your art can be reused endlessly after the initial upload. Like

[07:26] you could make a watercolor texture and it could potentially be downloaded like hundreds of times over the years. If you're still confused on what I'm talking about, just go to like creativemarket.com and just look at their website, which is, you'll understand what I mean. I'll just give you guys

[07:39] an example. Like this person has Mediterranean backgrounds. Like it's their painted artwork that you can purchase that you can purchase and turn it into whatever you want Like here another one abstract backgrounds like there are tons and tons of things like that on here so you could be the

[08:00] creator of those things they even sell like website templates and stuff like that I don't know anything about coding but you could make like a beautiful website template so that is definitely something to look into the next passive income idea is making ebooks or guides and you

[08:14] make your like ebooks as an artist like just hear me out one second it could be as simple or as detailed as you want them to be it's like making like a step-by-step guide on how you did your painting you can make a behind the scenes art process book or you can make inspirational

[08:29] journals that are infused with your artwork again an ebook can sell infinitely without you having to restock or ship anything if you made a guide on how to start art journaling or how to start an art business, or sharing your personal process from how to start a painting from start to finish.

[08:45] These kinds of resources are really valuable for your audience. And because it's digital, you can keep it updated very easily. Like something like a course, you'd have to go back and re-film it and re-edit if it wasn't relevant anymore. Like an e-book, you can just edit quickly

[08:57] and keep it up to date. And you can sell this directly through your website, through Etsy, through a stand store. It's a one-time effort that can keep generating you sales for years to come. My next passive income idea for artists is memberships and membership platforms.

[09:10] Think like Patreon or I don't know if it's Ko-fi or Ko-fi. I think it's Ko-fi. Buy me a coffee. I don't know. K-O-F-I. Like that's a popular one. But yeah, you can make a Patreon exclusively for art, behind the scenes of your process,

[09:25] exclusive tutorials, or just like resources for your audience. You can also use paywalls on Instagram. Like there's a membership feature. And there's also a members only feature on YouTube. It's a way to build a little creative community around your work while still earning a consistent income.

[09:40] I know for a lot of artists, Patreon becomes a huge part of their income streams. I've never tried a paid community or anything like this. I mean, I already do this here on YouTube, but I feel like it is just a great opportunity.

[09:52] I don't think people would continue to do it for years and years and years if it wasn't worth their input and if their audience wasn't getting what they needed out of it. I don't know, just something to look into. And speaking of YouTube, the next passive income stream is YouTube ad revenue.

[10:05] You can monetize your content like art tutorials, time lapses, or studio vlogs. This is an amazing opportunity for artists and honestly a huge part of my own income. Once you're monetized, YouTube places ads on your videos and you get paid based on views and watch time.

[10:21] The amazing thing about this is that a single video that you create can keep bringing you income for months or even years down the line. And for artists, there are just like so many different types of content that you can create. If you could make art tutorials, you could make time-lapses of your work.

[10:35] If you're already going to paint the work, you could just set up a camera and make a time-lapse from it. You could do a sketch-a-tour. You could do studio vlogs. You could just make cozy, aesthetic videos as you create your process. YouTube will really turn into a passive income stream when you create videos that people will watch over and over.

[10:50] Like, if you have a channel full of just painting videos, people will sit there and binge-watch your painting videos. I know I do that. Or you can answer questions for other artists. That's basically what my channel is. It keeps your channel relevant and your videos will keep generating ad revenue long after you've uploaded them.

[11:05] What I love about this concept is that you can earn income from the creative process of your work and your audience doesn't even have to buy anything from you. They can just tune in and enjoy the creative process of you and you can earn from it. For me, it has been one of the most sustainable and rewarding passive income streams

[11:20] because I get to connect with people and help other artists while also building a long-term revenue base. So if you're a creative, I would definitely think about starting a YouTube channel because you never know what could happen from it. And to go with YouTube, my next passive income

[11:32] idea is affiliate marketing. Another really accessible way for artists to build passive income is through affiliate marketing. This is where you recommend all of your art supplies, tools, or resources that you genuinely use and love. And then when someone buys them through

[11:45] a special link that you provide you earn a small commission at no extra cost to them It a simple way to turn your natural recommendations into income I going to be honest I have not seen like huge success with this myself but I know that other people have Every once in a while I just get a random

[11:59] deposit into my bank account of like 30 bucks from Amazon just because people are buying supplies from my links. And those are like links underneath my YouTube videos and links in my Instagram bio. But the biggest place that I have made money from, and this is technically affiliate marketing,

[12:12] is TikTok shop. I've probably made a couple grand over the years, nothing like major, but still like that's money I would not have had just by tagging products that I use. Like I used to tag my watercolor palette in any video that I was using the watercolor palette. It wasn't even like

[12:25] directly promoting the palette and people just organically were curious about the palette that I was using and then bought it that way and then I earned a commission off of that sale. For artists, affiliate marketing just works perfectly because people are just always curious what your supplies

[12:40] their life a vast majority of my comments are like what facebook is that what pain is that what kind of brushes are you using and you can send all those comments to a link in your bio to purchase from you you can add links in your youtube description on your instagram stories like

[12:54] all you have to do is get into some sort of affiliate marketing program I'm into I'm in the amazon influencer program and then also like to know it is more like fashion stuff but I'm in that one. I don't know. I don't really use that one. Mostly I use the Amazon Influential Program

[13:10] like links. I don't know what the qualifications are to get into it, but I don't think it's that hard. And I also think there's something called Amazon Associates. I don't know. Look into the Amazon like affiliate marketing program. You just need something that will allow you to create

[13:22] affiliate links. But the cool thing is like once those links are out there, you can keep earning money on them for like months or even years to come. Like if someone clicked on a YouTube video of mine from years ago and there was something linked in the description that they wanted to

[13:34] purchase, I would still get that commission and I didn't have to do any extra work from something that was already out in the universe, you know? It's just cool. Like, you're still earning without doing any extra work. And it's nice because this is such a natural extension of you being an artist

[13:48] online because you're just sharing what supplies you use already while also creating a little extra income stream in the background without having to be, like, salesy to your audience. So if you're going to start one passive income stream from this whole video, I would definitely try to at least

[14:02] just start getting into affiliate marketing. I feel like it's like the best and most natural little side income thing that you could start as an artist. Also don't get discouraged by my $30 Amazon deposit comments. I'm just saying I haven't like personally tried to scale this

[14:17] income stream that much but there are definitely ways that you can grow it. Like also if you guys have ever been scrolling on Instagram and you see the videos that say like comment plan and I'll send you a plan I'll send you a plan for your day or whatever like if you're on Instagram you know

[14:30] what I'm talking about that is also something that you can do is set up a mini chat or a nanny chat and it's basically a chat box like on your Instagram and on any of your reels you should

[14:42] have like in the caption like comment supplies and I'll send you my supplies list and you can have the chat bot basically send your audience your list of affiliate links hopefully this is making

[14:54] sense but there are definitely ways like that if I were to try and scale that as an income stream that's how I would approach it. Like I said, I have not tried that myself, but if I was going to do it, that's how I would go about it. But yeah, definitely look into affiliate marketing.

[15:08] I feel like that's like the most simple one that you could start out of anything that I have listed here. So yeah, but for now, those are all of my passive income ideas for artists. I hope this video gave you guys some inspiration and maybe even a little spark for how your art can keep

[15:22] supporting you beyond the hours that you are putting into it. If you try out any of these, or if you already have your own favorite streams of passive income, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Let's spread the love and share our ideas. And yeah, if you guys are interested in

[15:35] turning your art into products, definitely check out this video that is on my channel. And yeah, I guess that's it for this video. If you guys did like this video, please be sure to like and subscribe down below, and I love you guys so much. I will see you all in the next one. Bye!