7 Ways to Work From Home for Artists With No Degree (+Tools)

“The creative economy is booming, and the best part is that you can work from home for artists with no degree while setting your own hours and rates.”

Here are a few ways….

• Microstock
• Freelance Illustrator
• Digital Asset Creator
• Concept Artist for Indie Games
• Print-on-Demand Designer
• Online Art Tutor
• Affiliate marketer

Keep reading, and I’ll go over these ideas in detail with pros, cons, what they entail, and my experience with a few of them.

How Microstock is a great idea for a Work From Home Artists With No Degree

I have to admit something.

I’ve been addicted to microstock. This is submitting photos, videos, illustrations, and audio files to platforms.

If someone uses them, you get paid.

The cool thing is it’s passive, so you submit it, and you can keep getting paid years from now. The bad news is the money isn’t super high. You also probably have to submit LOTS of stuff before making good cash.

Still, it’s FUN.

If you want to learn more, I wrote a post HERE that goes into more detail.

How a Freelance Illustrator is a great idea for a Work From Home Artists With No Degree

This takes the Microstock idea of illustrations to another level.

What’s cool is you could possibly do both.

The difference is that a freelance illustrator creates custom content for people. You know for…

• Blogging
• Books, magazines
• Marketing, branding
• Gaming, entertainment
• Product designs
• Disney

Ok, I put the last one in to see if you were still reading this.

A wonderful site to do this is this one HERE. What is great about this site is that people come to you, instead of upwork where you have to go to someone and compete with other people.

The advantage is…

• Freedom to set your own hours
• Work from home
• You can keep more of the money
• You can accept or reject projects

The disadvantages are…

• You can spend 20-50% of the time marketing
• Feast or famine
• Working from home can feel isolating
• Hidden costs such as insurance, software

The income varies A LOT. If you’re good, you could earn between $23 and $48 per hour.

Digital Asset Creator: Sell Brushes, Textures, and Templates Online

I actually took a few classes in this and was amazed.

Of course, I have so many gigs, projects that I just didn't get around to it, "But it does look like fun."

A digital asset creator sells "tools" for other creators and artists.

One class was using Capcut, a video editing software, to create little tools for people who make videos.

Another class I took was making templates and listing them on Etsy or eBay. They all can work.

More ideas could be...

• Social media templates
• Icons and computer graphics
• Video templates
• Software brushes for Photoshop
• Textures such as "wrinkled paper" are used by designers.

The bad news is you have to love the software that creates these assets! Be good at organizing and marketing the assets

Pro

• Truly passive income
• Super low overhead
• Scales great
• In demand

Cons

• High upfront work
• Some platforms charge a high fee to list
• Piracy risk
• Competition

I will say that if you use a website like this HERE, you can keep more of the money and even sell it anywhere.

The income varies a lot. From earning nothing to $5,000+ a month and even higher.

Concept Artist for Indie Games: Remote Art Jobs Without a Degree

Concept artists turn ideas from a script or game into visual blueprints.

Of course, you probably should understand the software to create this art very well. An understanding of art fundamentals, a good knowledge of pop culture to draw ideas from, and, MOST importantly, a thick skin.

Pros

• Creative freedom
• Can work anywhere
• Can improve your portfolio
• Can branch into freelancing work

Cons

• Job instability
• Competitive
• Lots of pressure to produce high-quality work quickly on a tiny budget.

Indie concept artists can earn $45,000 - $75,000 a year, and freelancers can earn $20–$60 per hour.

Also, to get hired, it helps to show the boring work, not just the finished products.

You might be wondering how to find these types of work-from-home jobs. I highly recommend this place HERE.

They have a very large selection of work-from-home jobs to choose from. Most importantly, they vet each gig to ensure it's legit and not bullshit.

Even better, they actually help you get the job.

It is a subscription service, but it's worth it. Again, I've done a few bullshit work-from-home jobs that wasted a lot of my time, and it's not fun.

Print-on-Demand Designer: Earn Royalties Selling Art on Merchandise

You're creating digital art and listing them on websites like Redbubble and Zazzle. I wrote a post about 7 of the biggest mistakes to make with Redbubble HERE, and how they pay you.

You get paid every time someone uses your design.

More good news is that you can combine it with Microstock and earn money in both places.

Of course, you need to have access and knowledge of the software to create the art, tons of patience (I know from microstock), and SEO savvy (might be more important than the art).

SEO stands for (Search Engine Optimization).

1 trick is to have AI do all that boring crap for you. It's very important since if you produce the best art ever and nobody finds it, then what is the point, right?

Pros

• Low barrier to entry
• Passive income
• Creative freedom
• Can combine with Microstock or freelance

Cons

• Platforms take a majority of the income
• High competition
• Could get a bad review for something out of your control.

Not a bad idea to order the product yourself to see how it actually looks (like a shirt with your design), then you can take pictures and use it to market yourself.

Also, this pairs great with AI art. Believe it or not, there are many ways to earn money with AI art, and I wrote a post HERE that shares 10 ideas.

Online Art Tutor: Teach Art Skills From Home Through Courses or Zoom

Of course, this also pairs well with many ideas listed in this post.

It could entail demonstrating your art and process and explaining your skill, designing lessons and plans, critiquing students, building rapport with students, and working with tech.

Requires - Proof of your artwork with a portfolio, equipment to do the teaching, like a webcamera like this, an internet connection, and understanding of software, and tons of patience.

I will say something like this HERE, might be super nice, to protect your back, and help you enjoy your work, if you're going to be working from home a lot.

Pros

• Work from home
• Reach students globally
• Scalable
• Can combine with microstock, freelance, and personal coaching

Cons

• Marketing (you've got to find the students)
• Physical disconnect
• Tech issues

1 on 1 tuturing can be $20-$60 an hour, online courses are passive and can earn you $0-$10,000+ a month, depending on how many get sold.

Also, it might help to niche down. Instead of being a generic art teacher, you could cover "Character Design for Indie Games" as a specialist to give you an idea.

Affiliate marketer: Make Money Being Creative Online Part Time

This is my favorite.

The reason I like it so much is due to how flexible and free it is.

Meaning you can do it anywhere, anytime, in nearly any schedule, have lots of fun, and there are many business models to choose from.

You might be wondering how art relates to it.

To make videos, you combine ideas, elements, and information, and this is creative. Same with blogging. So for sure, there is art in it.

Of course, there is science too!

I've been at it for 15+ years, and I'm sharing many of my secrets and systems for FREE HERE.

Oh, and the pay is that most affiliate marketers don't make a lot, and some make a high income.

Closing

I only scratched the surface of the kinds of work-from-home jobs available.

I would love to talk more, but this post would be WAY too long.

Working from home is amazing and provides SO many benefits, just 1 is saving gas and commute time. Plus, it opens up more doors.

If you want to learn more, I created a post that shares 10 steps to finding the right work-from-home job for you HERE.

I hope this post was helpful. Bye fow now.