Can you make money from studying art?

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My dd loves drawing and art in general, but feels she ought to choose school subjects like sciences that line up with careers like medicine. Are there well paying jobs for art graduates?

Yes, computer graphics special effects and gaming to start with.

But also - she should do what she loves. A medical career is incredibly hard work and you're going to burn out if you don't have a vocation.

A good degree from a good university in any subject will open doors and get you on the path to a good career.

Apart from an art degree 🤣

Yes, my daughter is planning to study Game Art at university which teaches 3d digital art and is much in demand across advertising, technical drawing, film, TV and video games.
The course we saw last weekend has a few students each year employed before Christmas in their final year let alone after graduation.

Yes, if she has the talent, the drive, the discipline and the determination.

There are jobs out there but those don’t pay much, if she wants to earn big money she has to be not only good in art but shrewd and work for herself.

I won’t discourage her interest in science and other subjects, at the end of the day, many art students end up moving to other disciplines / degrees when they realise studying art is actually very demanding.

My DH and one of my DC are very creative. They studied art to GCSE but then did Maths and Science A levels and have good careers, which they enjoy, in well paying roles that allow time and money to indulge their artistic interests and skills as hobbies. It works for them That is another way, potentially, of looking at things.

Other posters may offer advice about architecture, which is a discipline that has feet in both the maths/science and art/design camps.

Arty people are great architects 😊

How old is she?
Picking GCSEs or uni course?
If GCSEs, then she should pick a range of subjects that she enjoys including arts, sciences and humanities. There should be room for at least one art, DT, photography type subject amongst the others.

Medicine is a terrible career if you don't have a burning desire to di it.

You also graduate with about £80k of debt and the money is rubbish for years.

Thank you all. She has already chosen her GCSEs and will sit them next year. She's taking all three sciences as well as art, music and the usual. I would very much like her to do what she loves and go where her talents lead. She is an excellent team player, leader, artist, musician, sportswoman etc. I think she'll build lots of super soft skills, but she also wants to earn a decent income and be independent (and I want that for her to!).

I'm not keen for her to go in to medicine! But, some kids still seem to see this as the mark of being a top scholar :(

An additional point is that most artists and designers looking to earn a living from their output have to produce what the paying client wants, not what they, the artist or designer, wants.

The successful ones will have good business acumen and self-promotional skills - that is actually the point of differentiation.

There are some artists and designers who produce what they want and attract a following interested in their output but this is an uncertain road for many.

My SIL has an undergraduate degree in art; she went on to do an MA in Business and Marketing. I don't know what she earns, but my brother works as a gardener (ie., not well paid) and they've just bought a house for just under a million, in their mid-30s, so I am guessing she's doing ok.

My DD is at art school so I certainly hope she will make a living, although it's too early to tell yet!

At uni level (and to some extent at A-level), "art" splits into "fine art" and "design" (which has multiple specialities, including Game Art as PP has said, and Illustration which is my DD's area). Fine artists produce their own work and then hope to display it and find a customer. Designers work for a client to a deadline. Depending on the type of designer, they might be self-employed, or salaried.

Not all artists make a living from art, and not all those who make a living from art studied it at uni. But the consensus is that studying at uni is the best way to get a start. This is because a good uni course will teach them skills and get them the right sort of exposure, as there are various competitions and shows which bring talented new artists/designer to the attention of galleries/publishers.

DD is being worked incredibly hard; four modules, each of which has a weekly half-day class, a weekly assignment to complete, and an end-of-module Major Project. She loves it. In her final year, she will have modules about business skills and self-promotion. If your DD does go down that route, do seek advice here; the places with a good reputation and track-record are completely different from the "standard" MN recommendations. Good luck!

(I'm also very happy to answer any questions here.)

Also, the art-school application route (either its own standalone institution, or part of a larger uni) is different from traditional academic subjects in a couple of ways... admission is mainly based on a portfolio of work rather than A-level grades, and there is also a one-year "Foundation in Art and Design" route for those who aren't sure which speciality to pursue. There's a really good thread about this ("art and creative routes") if you want lots and lots of info!

My Dd was always good at art and practically taught herself digital art when she was around 13. Check out Deviant Art (people post their work and others give advice and encouragement).

She went on to take art at sixth form then an Art Foundation at University, followed by an art degree. She went down the designer route as mentioned by photo dad.

She was very lucky to get an intern (but paid) job in the summer and was taken on when she left uni. The company is not a design one but they realised they needed an in-house designer rather than using freelance designers.

She is mid twenties and is on (I think ) a fabulous salary for her age.

She is very passionate about always working to her best ability and works very hard for them.

I don’t know if she’s been incredibly lucky (right place, right time) or if that’s normally possible for someone with her talent and drive.

The existence and need for all types of “digital art” I think has opened up a lot of well paid opportunities. Obviously there’s a load of different software you now need to know and I expect it keeps changing.

The best thing we ever did was buying her a Bamboo tablet (I think that’s what it’s called) When she was about 12 ish. It cost about £200 back then, which at the time I thought was too much to spend at her age. How wrong I was. When she was at uni she upgraded to one that cost about £2,000. Again it was money well spent.

PM me if you want any more details. I only know about her and what she did. Perhaps speak to careers teachers, etc etc.

My ex-husband has a degree in fine art.

He mainly worked as an art teacher in high schools because he loved to teach but he created a freelance art business to go along side of it. He was a logo designer for new businesses, he designed a line of greeting cards that were sold to a very large card company, he created custom stencil designs and wallpaper for home DIY. He also created sculptures and fine art that local hotels and restaurants rent from him.

Before he retired, he went to a local college to learn anatomy and physiology. Now, he does a great deal of work as a freelance illustrator for fantasy book creators and medical book writers.

There's so much to do with art.

Complete agree with @Isheabastard about getting a drawing tablet! ("Digital" is one of DD's four modules on a course which is (in)famous for traditional drawing skills, and it really helps that she already knows her way around software. Obviously for some designers, 100% of what they do is digital.)

And I'm always really pleased to hear of artists/designers who are earning well, for obvious reasons.

It's a tough one. I studied fine art at a degree level because it's what I "loved" and I was always told that I should follow my passions etc. However, I didn't see many career options when I graduated. I moved into publishing for a while but the pay was awful. Eventually I went back to uni to get a different degree and got a professional qualification. I just couldn't cope with the uncertainty and the lack of a clear path that I faced as a potential artist. That said, I know some smart / talented / lucky people who have found careers in the creative industries

It's not current experience, but I have a close relative who has made an excellent living for decades as a graphic designer. He did a Foundation course at the local college of art followed by a 3 year BA and has never been out of work.

Thank you all for all the different perspectives. I'll have a look in to the drawing tablet. Hadn't thought of that. It does seem that the job prospects can be a bit hit or miss.

I got a Graphic Design degree in the 1990s and have worked as a graphic designer for nearly 30 years. EVERYTHING that you use or read or see has had some input from some sort of designer. As a creative person I could not think of anything worse than spending my working life doing something that I didn't love. If you've got to spend 50 years of your life working you should do something that makes you happy. Nobody has any idea how the job market will evolve in the future (including me!) and which jobs will command high wages but right now good creatives are always in demand. There are many branches of Art and Design and I would encourage your DD to investigate all of the different types of courses there are to find something that suits her if that is her path. I wish your DD all the best - Art and Design in all its forms is not a soft option and you need natural talent as well as top level training to be able to do it well.

My niece is studying fine art, art history and law, with a view to becoming an auctioneer (she's in France).

Just a thought, but I wonder how AI will affect graphic design jobs in the future... it is already scarily good.

If I had daughters I’d encourage then to only consider jobs thet might survive motherhood. I went into a prestigious high paid job that was completely incompatible with having a family, so after a few years of that I became sahm and now have no skills I can use for a part time job that fits around children, am going to have to start completely at beginning again. My friend however designs book covers for self-published authors, works whenever she feels like it, charges £600 a cover and only spends a few hours on each one.

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