How I Built Passive Income as an Artist (And How You Can Too)
- Anitoku
- Apr 20
- 5 min read
Smart Strategies for Artists Who Want to Earn While They Sleep
Artists Deserve to Get Paid for Doing What They Love
Most artists create because we love it. It’s our therapy, our voice, our freedom—but let’s be real: making consistent money from art can feel impossible. Commission burnout, unpredictable clients, and underpricing your work can wear down your passion fast.
That’s why more and more creatives are turning to passive income for artists—ways to earn money long after the art is made. Whether you're sitting on years of old sketchbooks or you’re just starting out, there’s never been a better time to turn your artwork into long-term revenue streams.
In this post, I’ll share exactly how I created artist passive income by publishing my first artbook, DIZZY! Sketch Collections and walk you through easy strategies to create your own.
What Is Passive Income (for Artists, Specifically)?
In simple terms, passive income as an artist means making money from your art without having to show up in real time—over and over again. You make the product once, and it continues to generate income through repeat sales or digital access.
For artists, this can look like:
Selling digital downloads of your art
Creating artbooks, stickers, or merchandise
Teaching online classes or creating tutorials
Offering print-on-demand products
The key is scaling yourself—letting your artwork for you, even when you’re asleep.
My Story: Turning Old Sketches into Artist Passive Income
I had tons of unused art—sketches I loved but never shared. Instead of letting them collect dust, I created a way to sell my sketches online in the form of my first artbook/zine called DIZZY! Sketch Collections. It includes:
Short comics
Character designs
Double page freestyle drawings
Nature drawings
Drawing studies and experiments
I compiled and edited a multitude of sketches and drawings then published them as a digital and physical artbook and promoted it through my site and social media. The result? A stream of passive income I never expected—from work I had already finished long ago!
You can check it out here in my shop for real proof that it’s possible.
15 Creative Passive Income Ideas for Artists
Looking to get started? Here are 15 ideas to generate passive income for artists that you can use right now:
Artbooks or Zines – Like DIZZY!, Turn your digital art and old sketchbooks into themed collections and sell your sketches online as digital or printed books.
Printable Wall Art – Sell high-resolution downloads for customers to print
Stickers & Sticker Packs – Use your favorite designs or characters
Print-on-Demand Clothing – Shirts, hoodies, socks, you name it
Wrapping Paper Designs – Great for gift-giving seasons
Custom Wallpapers – For desktops, mobile, or home decor
Framed Vintage-Style Prints – Print and frame your art to give it an antique aesthetic
Coloring Pages or Books – Especially popular with parents and educators
Character Design Packs – For role-players, writers, or developers
Digital Clipart Sets – Useful for other creators and small businesses
Procreate/Photoshop Brushes – Share your personal brush sets
Art-Based Notion Planners – Custom templates for journaling or productivity
Mini-Courses or Tutorials – Teach your technique once, sell forever
Subscription Content (Patreon) – Deliver new art to paying fans monthly
Ad-Revenue Generating Website – Build your brand with traffic, blogs, and merch
The Tools & Platforms That Make It Easy
You don’t need a fancy setup to launch. Some good tools include:
Gumroad – Easy for digital sales and memberships
Etsy – Great for stickers, coloring books, and printables
Payhip – Free alternative to Gumroad
Printful / Printify – Connect to your store for automatic merch fulfillment
Blurb / Lulu – For publishing printed artbooks
Anitoku.com – A great example of a personal artist site built to showcase, sell, and grow
Start simple—choose one product, one platform, and one social media app to focus on.
Common Mistakes Artists Make with Passive Income
Here are some traps to avoid when trying to build passive income as an artist:
Overcomplicating the product – You don’t need the fanciest packaging, 100 pages, or a massive launch to be successful. A simple, clean idea that solves a need or sparks joy is all you need to start. Remember: done is better than perfect.
Waiting too long to launch – Many artists delay their launch endlessly because they think they need to grow a huge audience first. But you actually grow by doing. Releasing something, even small, gives you valuable feedback—and potential income.
Under-promoting your own merch – Artists often feel weird about “selling” to their fanbase, but that fear can cost you. Your followers are already invested in your work—they want to support you. Think of it as sharing, not selling.
Ignoring marketing or SEO – Posting your art once isn’t enough. If people can’t find your product, they can’t buy it. Learning just the basics of marketing, titles, keywords, and SEO can dramatically increase your visibility (and sales!).
Not repurposing existing work – You don’t always need to create new content from scratch. Old sketches, studies, or character concepts can be turned into coloring pages, zines, stickers, and more. Look through your archives—you might already be sitting on gold.
How to Speed Up the Passive Income Process
While an artist's passive income builds over time, here’s how to accelerate it with smarter moves and consistent visibility:
Leverage TikTok & Instagram Reels – These platforms offer massive reach. Short videos showing your process, your product in action, or your packaging journey can go viral and bring in new fans who want to support you.
Use carousels and pin posts to showcase your products regularly – Don’t let your merch get buried. Create posts that highlight your items and pin them to your profile, so new followers see them instantly.
Start an email list and offer free downloads to grow it – Social media reach can fluctuate, but email lists give you direct contact with your fans. Offer a free coloring page, art print, or behind-the-scenes PDF to encourage sign-ups.
Run limited-time discounts or launches – Create urgency with limited-time offers, bundles, or “launch week only” editions. This encourages fans to act now instead of “someday.”
Collaborate with other artists or small brands – Partnering with another creator can help you reach new audiences. You can co-create a product, run a joint giveaway, or shout each other out on social media.
Learn the basics of marketing—it’s not just about being good at art – Great art helps, but if no one sees it, it won’t sell. Even just understanding your audience, writing strong product descriptions, and crafting a simple launch strategy can boost your income.
Blog about your process and use SEO to drive free traffic – Writing posts about your art journey or product creation not only helps fans connect with you—it also improves your searchability on Google. It’s a long-term traffic boost with no ad spend.
Join an artist-friendly platform like Anitoku to get community support and exposure – Platforms like Anitoku.com are built to help artists showcase their work. We spotlight creators, share your work through contests and features, and provide tools to help you grow a fanbase and income stream together.
Let Your Art Keep Working for You
If you’ve been on the edge of burnout, or simply tired of trading your time for one-time payments, passive income might be your next step. Even one product—like an artbook—can create ripple effects you didn’t expect.
Anitoku.com is dedicated to helping artists like you grow. As part of our mission to create a thriving creative community, we help artists promote their work, merch, and personal projects through events, features, and contests.
If you're ready to start earning on your own terms, take the leap. Start small. Promote consistently. And let your artwork for you—over and over again.
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