Can Calligraphy Be A Career
When starting out hand lettering and modern calligraphy a lot of people start out thinking it is just going to be a great hobby. When I remember when starting out hand lettering that it was just something I did in my free time, something that I did for the fun of it.
But…
This hobby can be so much more than a fun thing that you do.
A lot of people don’t think that you can make money with calligraphy and in general with any type of art. Well, I am here to tell you that they are wrong.
So in this article, I am going to be talking about can calligraphy be a career?
Calligraphy can totally be an awesome career. Becoming a hand lettering artist and calligrapher for a full-time income is totally possible if you put your mind to it.
That was just a simple answer but throughout the tutorial, I am going to be going over a few topics on becoming a full-time calligrapher.
Here is a summary of this article:
- Should You Become A Full-Time Calligrapher
- How Profitable is it (Home Much Money Does a Calligrapher Make)
- Start Teaching Calligraphy
- Ways That You Can Make Money
Disclaimer: This is not going to be a tutorial on how to get “rich quick”. This is going to be a simple starting guide to wanting to have a career in what you love to do. I myself are in the process of trying to do that. So here are some tips.
Should You Become A Full-Time Calligrapher
Becoming a full-time calligrapher can either be an easy process or an extremely hard process.
This all depends on what you want to do.
Do you want this to simply become a side hustle?
Or, maybe you want to make a full-time income out of your calligraphy. This is just what YOU want to do, it is just your choice. I know a lot of people who do calligraphy as a side hustle and have their own job that they love.
While I know others are making a full-time income and putting all of their work into calligraphy.
There is no right or wrong answer to this question but you are going to want to take somethings into consideration.
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE
Even if you don’t have that much money or even that much time you can still be very much successful. At first, you might have those long-term goals of wanting to make a full income with your lettering, but let us start off small.
Let us put some time into creating a profitable side hustle. I find that even though some people have more time to put into their calligraphy business it is still possible even with little time.
But having more time to focus on these things may be helpful.
DO YOU ENJOY LETTERING AND CALLIGRAPHY
If you are wanting to make a full-time income or even a small side hustle is it worth putting in the effort to something that you don’t even enjoy?
Not exactly.
If you are doing this simply for the money mabey it is not for you. I rather have a job that I enjoy than a job that is so boring, even though I could make a better income.
If you don’t enjoy doing calligraphy, then stop what you are doing and go find a hobby that you do enjoy. Calligraphy is supposed to be fun and not at all stressful.
HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE
It is important to also know how skilled are you at this artform before you even start. If you are barely starting out I recommend taking a break from thinking of creating a calligraphy business, and just practice your lettering.
When starting out it is important to put in that perfect practice for the long run, which can help you later on if you want to make money from it.
The more experience you have the more easier it is going to be to do calligraphy commissions, create art prints, and so much more.
How Much Money Can A Calligrapher Make
When starting out barely into your calligraphy business, and with any other business, you don’t want to be expecting much, at first.
But in the long run how much would you expect to be making.
According to the penny hoarder, an average salary of a calligrapher is at $50,000 a year. This is about mid-range. The lowest salary you can expect (from the career explorer) is about 27.9k, while the highest is 148.8k.
All of these are just huge ranges and gaps. These incomes also have to be build up with time. For example, in your first year, you shouldn’t be expecting making 148.8k.
It all takes time and effort.
Here are the two articles, that I talked about above, that you can find more information on the income of a calligrapher.
Start Teaching Calligraphy
One of the main things how a lot of hand lettering artists make their money is by teaching others calligraphy.
This can include online courses, one-on-one teaching, live classes, selling books on calligraphy, and there is so much more.
Before trying to teach calligraphy you should also know how to do calligraphy yourself, which is something that I talked about in the first section.
This can also feel overwhelming. A lot of artists when learning how to teach others feel overwhelmed with the feeling of not being good enough to teach others.
If you feel this way completely ignore that thought. If you have been learning calligraphy and are experienced you can totally teach others, if you want to, since it is not for everybody.
I recommend that to at least try to teach others calligraphy, to get rid of the fear of not being good enough.
I have now compiled a list of resources so that you can start creating your own amazing courses and classes.
Here is an awesome resource from one of my most favorite calligraphers Becca (The Happy Ever Crater). Here she goes over how to teach others lettering.
Through some research, I was able to find this bulletproof guide so that you can teach your very first calligraphy workshop by Dina Calligrapher. Check out the tutorial here.
Ways That You Can Make Money With Your Calligraphy
I actually have a full article explaining 17 ways that you can make money with lettering. Here I am just going to be going over 2, to get you started.
Other than teaching others how to do lettering there is also a lot of other ways and ideas that you can do.
MIRROR LETTERING
One of my favorite things to do on my own mirror is drawing some nice calligraphy quotes on it. This can also be a great commission for wedding calligraphy.
A lot of wedding calligraphers have commissions where they can either do a mirror seating chart or draw a nice quote on a mirror. You can find some more information in the article that I have linked up above.
SELLING ART PRINTS
If you are more into creating beautiful lettering illustrations and other designs then look into creating and selling your own calligraphy art prints.
I know a lot of calligraphers and artists from different backgrounds who also do something very similar to do this. When creating an art print it just means that you printing out replicas, with a printer, of your artwork. So, for example, you can start selling quote posters and lettering designs.
And the article that will give you more ideas and insight on this topic is linked at the beginning of this section.
Final Thoughts
I have now given you a simple short little “guide” that hopefully answered some simple questions when wanting to start a calligraphy business.
If you are feeling overwhelmed when startingyYour own calligraphy business, don’t worry you will be able to get through it.
If you have any more ideas or questions feel free to comment.