Today, many artists successfully work on the Internet. They make good money, can afford to travel a lot and support their family. However, this lifestyle is fraught with many pitfalls that you need to prepare for.

First, independent activity will require organization and concentration. As you become your own boss, it’s important not to relax and postpone work. Only in this way will you begin to receive good material returns.

Second, be prepared for precarious earnings. At least in the first months of independent work. Regardless of the chosen direction of activity, it will take time for your name to become known and recognizable in professional circles.

Third, get ready to learn new things. For example, to create a good website, you need to know the technical side of the issue. Choosing computer graphics, you need to perfectly understand the working programs, etc.

If you have free funds, you can order a website. Otherwise, do not rush to leave the stable workplace... Gradually "prepare the ground": study site building topics, programs, popular areas, etc.

How to make an artist

There are many ways for artists to make money on the Internet. If you don't want to get away from real drawing, take a look at the interactive art salons, which sell works by modern pencil, pastel and brush masters. Sign a contract, and your works will add to the "shelves" and become available for purchase.

Artists who can clearly explain and explain the nuances of their work can try their hand at learning. The first option is to create your own courses. For example, in the form of a blog, website or disc for sale. The second way is to give lessons. Drawing today is very popular and fashionable (a kind of mainstream), so there will be many who wish.

If you are ready to learn new things, master computer graphics. You can post the created images on numerous microstocks, where designers, webmasters, publishers, decorators, etc. are looking. To make money stable, you need to create a large portfolio, define your style and work with several resources at once. If your images will be liked by consumers, within three to four months you will feel good material support.

Pay attention to the kind of Internet exchanges for artists. There you can find orders for remote work. However, be patient and ready to compete.

Each person sooner or later thinks about additional earnings. The first thing that comes to mind is to make a business out of your favorite hobby. And this is quite real.

If you are good at drawing and by the will of fate you are sitting at home or want to earn additional income, you may have already wondered how to make money by drawing. Indeed, this hobby can be used not only for moral satisfaction, but also for very real earnings.

Now selling your art has become much easier than before, and often you don't even need to leave your home for this. It remains only to figure out the details, weigh the risks and move from plans to actions, and the magazine Reconomica will gladly help you with this.

My name is Olga Alexandrovna Stepantsova, I am 22 years old, I live in the city of Blagoveshchensk.

Many of us loved to be creative in childhood: someone played a musical instrument well, someone did crafts, and someone liked to draw. There is talent inside every person, and there is no need to say how important it is to reveal and realize it.

It is known that drawing has a positive effect on the nervous system, which means that the whole body will benefit.

Being engaged in creativity, you can not only have fun, but also money, while spending a couple of hours a day on it!

First publications

I have always loved to draw and have done it often. I just sat with a piece of paper and a pencil anywhere and as long as I liked, because I liked it and every time I got better.

And for a person engaged in creativity, it is necessary that his work be seen and appreciated by as many people as possible, so I decided to publish my own best works in social networks.

Now it is one of better ways show what you are capable of, and look at others, learn new things. By the way, I used A4 paper and pencils. The costs of this did not ruin me, especially since the pencils were enough for a long time.

My drawing.

The idea of ​​making money

Once I was trying to think of what to give my friend for her birthday, and an idea came to my mind - why not draw her? A do-it-yourself gift from the heart is very much appreciated.

I put all my skills into the work, received a lot of praise and was inspired. And at the same time it was my advertisement, and the idea of ​​making such gifts to order was deeply ingrained in my head. I had to improve my skills using the Internet (studying facial anatomy, drawing techniques).

After surfing the net, I realized that this can and should be earned, and most importantly, drawing a portrait did not take much time and was a pleasure!

First profit

After the donated drawing, several people appeared who wanted to buy a portrait for money, or even not quite a portrait, but something more unusual. So, for example, one guy asked to draw a robot for him.

By the way, drawing a portrait from a photo is very convenient, because the photo is constantly, the person does not change his pose, as it may be when drawing from life, in addition, you can work when it is convenient and focus only on the customer's deadlines.

Of course, the first orders were among friends, but this gave a good experience and a small profit. When the first wave of orders passed, I realized that it was necessary to do more advertising and focus on people I did not know (after all, I redrawn everyone who I knew). For this, I promised a quick completion of the work (all this on the page social network) and sat down to draw as soon as someone asked.

What did it lead me to

Starting once with simple unsightly drawings, I have come to good skills and a steady income.

With experience in drawing, you can find many options for different side jobs:

• In addition to portraits, there are sketches for tattoos, and people are also interested in them.
• Good imagination will serve as a tool for creating funny cartoons.
• And if you film the process of creating a work, you can earn money by watching it on the Internet, because such videos are often popular.

And this is also my drawing.

Many have seen artists painting portraits on the street, and why not? All paths are open!

Let's calculate the income

Based on the final result, I can say that the main expense is time for training and improvement, and I do not take into account the purchase of paper and pencils, rubber bands, sharpeners.

At the initial stage, the portrait cost 250 rubles (for a novice artist), after a while the final price was established - 500 rubles.

Considering that on average, by the second month, I painted one portrait a day, the result is an amount equal to 15,000 rubles (and this is far from the limit), despite the fact that the work was done in my free time and took 2-3 hours a day ...

You can increase the cost, but keep it adequate in relation to your abilities. Sometimes there were two orders a day, and sometimes not a single one.

Not everything is as simple as it seems

Buying a finished product, the client has no idea how much effort was spent on finding you and wanting to cooperate with you.

Drawing is not as difficult as it seems, but making your work in demand is a more serious task.

One way or another, you have to communicate with people, and it would be nice to be able to do it right (to be polite, tactful, to have to yourself, to create a positive conversation).

If you love to draw and want to try to make some money, then I want to give some tips and tricks that helped me:

• One of my favorite expressions, which I have often followed: for every artist there is a connoisseur of art.

This is indeed the case. There will always be a person who will like the nature of your work, the manner of drawing and the author's flavor (and everyone has it).

• The customer likes to see all the information at once.

For example, visiting your page, he must find answers to all his questions: price, terms, format, drawing technique, examples of your work. This will increase the likelihood that he wants to place an order with you.

• There is no need to be afraid of anything.

• Portfolio creation.

You do not need to write a lot about yourself, your work will say the best about you. Decorate your drawings beautifully and people will definitely like them. There is no need to lay out all the works, choose the brightest, special and catchy ones in your opinion.

• Pay attention to your competitors.

Draw conclusions for yourself (regarding the cost, quality of work).

• Successful people overcome their laziness and fear. Don't be lazy and everything will work out!

Not many people know that you can get a stable and decent income by creating vector illustrations. But this is an ideal option for mothers on maternity leave.

• This can be done directly from home.
• This allows you to get a stable decent income and be the mistress of your life.
• Very little is needed: a computer, Internet access, a little time, desire and hard work to master the necessary computer program.
• And even the presence of art or special education is not required.

In an interview, Elena told what is needed to master the profession, how to start earning, how to make income stable. She also shared her secret of how vector art can be a source of passive income.

What is a vector, and where are vector graphics used?

The easiest way to explain this is in the difference with a bitmap.

Example bitmap- this photo. Opening it on a computer screen and making the maximum increase, we see a dense grid and multi-colored pixels. They are not related in any way. You can remove, replace, recolor one pixel, and the picture as a whole will not change. Such an image cannot be enlarged indefinitely without loss of quality.

Vector images are pure mathematics. Each point has its own coordinates. When drawing vector objects the program takes into account the distance between adjacent points, tilt angles, curvature, direction and so on. Vector images can be enlarged an infinite number of times without losing quality.

The use of vector images is huge. With their help, a corporate identity is created: logos, business cards, leaflets, decorative elements for the design of printed materials, illustrations, avatars, badges, navigation on sites.

How do you get passive income from the created vector images?

This can be done using photo banks, or stocks.

Stock is a virtual bank of images. In an ordinary bank, you can put money into an account, and eventually get interest. The drains are arranged in a similar way.

You drew a picture, passed moderation, and the bank sells it for you. Magazines either come to the site, look at illustrations on the right topics and choose what they need.

One vector illustration on stock costs between $ 0.25 and $ 5. It would seem that $ 0.25 per download is a penny price for a week's work. But the point is that some images can be downloaded hundreds or thousands of times. I have drawings downloaded several hundred times, and this is not the coolest result. Therefore, the stock is very a good option to generate passive income.

Can people without art education create vector images and earn money?

Art education is not a panacea at all. I myself did not study the design package at the institute, but after graduation, on my own. There are a lot of people like me. The lack of specialized education does not interfere with reaching a good level of earnings, especially when working with stocks.

What do you need to learn how to create vector images from scratch?

First of all - own a graphics package: either the Corel Draw program, or Adobe illustrator or both. To do this, you need to take courses or study the package yourself. The information is there, it is not closed, and if you find such a course from a specialist you trust, there is no reason to refuse it.

I also have a online course on the Corel Draw program, which helps to start from the basics and master the creation of complex multi-page documents, talks about the features of preparing a vector for printing and for the Internet space.

What qualities will come in handy if you do it professionally?

• Perseverance, attention to detail is absolutely necessary.
• A beautiful vector illustration requires the utmost concentration and the ability to achieve the result that you aim at.
• Adequacy of perception is needed: you need to assess yourself sensibly, look at the work of colleagues.
• You need to be able to analyze. Take the time and understand the features of demand for vector images, how this market works.
• If you work at home for yourself, then this is maximum concentration and the ability to organize yourself. The ability to find time and achieve maximum results in a minimum of time.

What is the expected initial earnings?

In the pictures: vector drawings by Elena Agosta

On the initial stage should be laid for about six months. At this stage, earnings will be minimal.

Now I work with several foreign stocks. It took me a couple of months to register, fill out all the necessary documents and tax forms, wait for the reply letters. During this time, I have created the required number of papers for the initial exam. All newly registered stockers pass it. Both registration and preparation for the exam take a lot of time.

I took my first $ 100 off only six months later. I had 30 jobs. To be honest, this is very small. Experts say that a stable income begins when there are 100-150 combat jobs.

How much can you earn?

You can potentially earn anywhere from two hundred to a thousand dollars a month. Of course, this is all individual and depends, among other things, on your employment.

Here are eight hours a day you are employed in a hired job. If you spend the same amount of time working at home, you will be able to qualify for a salary as in the office. If you do this as a hobby, then the earnings will be appropriate..

I would also like to add thatStock illustrator's earnings also depend on the ability to be flexible, change quickly in line with trends, and work for quantity without compromising quality.

What drawings are in demand on stocks today?

In the pictures: vector drawings by Elena Agosta

It's pretty hard to tell. The vector illustration market is very dynamic, changing very quickly.

If we talk about style, then a lot depends on the abilities and manner of the person illustrator.

If we talk about the topic, then you need to take into account the seasonality. It is clear that Christmas trees and Christmas balls are needed for the New Year, all kinds of hearts are in demand for Valentine's Day.

There are off-season topics though. Themes of family, communication, business. Portals for mothers and children are consistently buying illustrations depicting families, mothers and children. Fashion magazines buy images of girls drinking coffee or shopping.

In general, there is where to put your imagination. It depends on your interests, abilities, how quickly you find your client.

Where can you learn vector graphics?

1. Corel Draw:

Elena Agosta's Felt Academy - a newsletter on graphic design and training in the CorelDRAW program from Elena Agosta and her learning YouTube channel

Corel Official YouTube Channel. Free lessons for different levels difficulties.

1. Adobe Illustrator:

LITUSPRO - a video blog about design with an Adobe Illustrator training course.

Demiart - an archive of unique lessons, tutorials and a forum.

Creativity has been in vogue since ancient times, and to this day, interest in it has not diminished. Bright and dedicated representatives of art were generously rewarded with honor and universal love of ordinary people. Good artistic skill is what the eye rests on. Almost everyone can draw something from a well-written work.

The role of art in people's lives

The role of art in people's lives is difficult to overestimate, because it inspires, evokes previously unknown feelings, helps to rethink some categories, teaches us to understand the author and history as a whole.

Almost all children were fond of drawing since childhood. After all, this is a simple and very interesting way of spending time. Small children go through the most important stage for them to get acquainted with the environment, life, nature, matter. Then they themselves find it true for themselves the fact that visualizing what they see is extremely interesting and unusual, and also brilliantly simple. But not for everyone it becomes the main hobby, and even more so not for everyone this hobby turns into the main source of income. So how to make money for a novice artist? This article and the tips below will tell about this.

How can an artist make money?

What are the ways for artists to make money? There are actually a lot of them. All options for earning money, first of all, need to be divided into three main categories, and then each one should be considered in all sorts of variations and manifestations.

How to start making money for an artist? Work for a creative person should bring peace, aesthetic pleasure and a means of subsistence and replenishment of possible costs for materials. This list illustrates the three main ways an artist can make money:

1. Work for someone, completing orders for monetary reward.
2. Work for yourself. Finding ways to realize your potential, creating your own name, image and reputation.
3. Creative implementation related to information technology.

Everyone will be able to choose an occupation to their liking. Asking the question of how to make money for an artist, it is worthwhile to understand that today there are many talented people in the world, and with the advent of the Internet, there are much more platforms for development and creative manifestations. Many employers need working hands today. And if a person also has creative potential, he will be in demand more than others.

Having determined the ways of earning, you can go to the options themselves. In fact, there are plenty of them, so a truly talented person can easily find applications for his creative principle.

How can an artist make money as a hired worker? The occupation of the overwhelming majority of modern brush masters is associated with hired labor and the execution of a wide variety of orders. Below provided detailed description creative directions for people who want to realize their potential through employment.

Make-up

Is it possible for an artist to make money exclusively with makeup? Of course, yes, and quite a lot! This profession is for those who like to create images by applying makeup, subtle connoisseurs of all colors and their shades, connoisseurs of human facial expressions. This profession can be very profitable, but it is quite responsible and requires long-term, diligent training and a lot of patience. To create beauty images at the proper level, you need to be persevering and patient, as well as have a good imagination.

Tattooing

This is a profession for those who like to decorate the human body with drawings. In order to become a good tattoo artist, you need to be fluent in the technique of drawing on the body, because any mistake can be expensive. this work requires high concentration and patience.

Creation of a website with proposals to create paintings / drawings to order

First you need to create your own Internet site for convenient direct communication with customers, then place your drawings or paintings there, that is, create a portfolio of your work. You can also indicate the estimated price of each piece of art. With the help of self-advertising and Internet communication with potential customers, you can create portraits, drawings, paintings, landscapes to order, while receiving good money.

Reproductions of famous paintings to order

Due to the prevailing life circumstances, some artists have become the most important historical figures, and their paintings - legendary masterpieces, which have a huge number of fans around the world. Among them, there are those who want to see a reproduction of a work of art that will come to life during their era. Reproducing legendary paintings can be very lucrative for a talented author.

Logos and corporate identity for companies

This profession is for those with artistic talent who know how to hide important meaning in a simple and exquisitely delineated image. It is important to have a good imagination and be a good psychologist in the field of human manipulation.

How can an artist earn money by working for himself?

Illustrating books, creating comics, drawings for children's books - for lovers of the caricature genre, various cartoons, connoisseurs of animation, this lesson will suit. Artists with a good imagination, boundless imagination, who love children, understand their psychology and share children's impulses and dreams, can create entertaining pictures.

Street painting master

It is definitely suitable for those who like to work outdoors, draws inspiration from nature, scenery and the beauty of the environment. The visual image of a street artist is often as follows: a small man with a neatly trimmed beard, a hat that slips to one side, and an original scarf casually wrapped around his neck. When such a person sits in front of an easel, drawing someone's portrait from life, squinting his eyes, trying not to lose sight of all the important details and features, you can safely be sure that the artist is trying to create a masterpiece and please the visitor one hundred percent.

Whatever it was, but a master of painting is a creative nature who cherishes in himself all the impulses and rudiments of artistic thought, he is a creator and creator who knows how to convey concrete and abstract concepts with colors and paints. It is very important for him that no one limits him in this, otherwise the talent may dry up. How can a self-employed artist make money? Examples of this type of earnings are described below.

Art dealer

Another answer to how an artist can make money in modern conditions. This profession is directly suitable for a person who has the means to rent premises or has the opportunity to use his personal real estate. It is also a good option for where an artist can earn money without having any work experience behind him. But art dealers are predominantly fans of artistic craftsmanship with experience. They must understand this art and have a good sense of true talent.

People in this profession buy paintings from artists at one price, and sell them at another to gallery visitors at auctions. That is, in fact, they perform a kind of intermediary function. Also, this lesson is well suited for those who, in addition to all of the above, want to promote themselves as an artist and connect their professional life with contemporary art. Pictures that are bought by art dealers are subject to strict moderation before getting to exhibitions or shows, because there are set fairly high standards for work.

Creation of your works for the purpose of selling on the Internet, on ad platforms, your own website

This work is for those who do not want to deviate in any way from their creative attitudes. In this case, you need to be ready to create something unique, original, new, to some extent ingenious. This option is also very suitable for aspiring art workers who want to know what they could stand in this environment and what potential buyers of drawings or paintings value.

Contemporary artists experiment with different styles, genres and trends - from classics, expressionism, impressionism to modern pop art, cartoons, cartoons.

How to make a good living for an artist by combining his hobby with the IT sphere?

V modern world widespread globalization and the flourishing of the market economy, when marketing, advertising, competition flourish, when it is necessary to surprise people, gain the trust and disposition of consumers, artistic talent is very necessary, and modern technologies are able to translate into reality memorable compositions, graphics, images, pictures. How to make money for an artist who loves to draw and work at the computer? For representatives of this kind of occupation, the specializations presented below are perfect.

Website development

In creating websites, you need to be experienced user various special programs, as well as to have originality in work, to be well versed in artistic styles. Graphic design is thriving today, so it's a decent way to make a living.

Working with Photoshop

Photography is also considered an art today, especially when this genre masterfully combines the right angle, a lively, relaxed moment and high-quality processing at the right level. Nice photo is very expensive, and talented photographers will always and everywhere be valuable.

Online training, webinars for those wishing to learn

Do artists make money teaching those who want to paint? Naturally! Running online training sessions using the Internet or working on the road is also a worthy and well-paid activity that is suitable for those who can and love to teach others how to draw. In order to succeed in this business, you need to own a variety of drawing techniques, have a detailed and consistent approach to work. With the acquisition of experience in this area, it will be possible to prepare and publish specialized educational literature with detailed supporting illustrations, as well as create video tutorials on YouTube, which can also allow you to make a good living.

Now for the reader, the question of how to make money for an artist is not so incomprehensible and vague. There is always a place for talented people to use their capabilities.

Petersburg cartoonists figured out a site for the sale of ironic images for three

To make the "funny pictures" bring not only pleasure, but also some kind of income, cartoonists from St. Petersburg Vyacheslav Shilov, Viktor Bogorad and Igor Alyoshin launched the site Cartoonbank.ru. Not having the slightest business experience, for three they founded the company "Mediagraphic", which sells original illustrations to newspapers, magazines and websites. Now on their website there are more than 32 thousand images from 88 authors from nine countries. Vyacheslav Shilov, a cartoonist and general director of Mediagrafika, told the portal about how the stock of licensed ironic images is arranged and what are the prospects for their business.

46 years old, cartoonist from St. Petersburg, founder and general manager company "Mediagraphic" developing a bank of cartoons Cartoonbank... Graduated from St. Petersburg State University, member St. Petersburg Creative Union of Artists... Co-founders of "Mediagrafika": Victor Bogorad, 68 years old, cartoonist, graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, Honorary Academician Russian Academy arts; Igor Alyoshin, 55 years old, cartoonist, graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Aerospace Instrumentation, works as a programmer.

How it all began

In the 90s I worked as a staff caricaturist in St. Petersburg newspapers, first in Nevsky Vremya, then in Vecherniy Petersburg, and there and there I had a daily column.

Somehow a plump package with drawings and a proposal for cooperation from the United States came to "Nevskoe Vremya". Before the Internet era, several syndicates of cartoonists in America did this - they simply sent pictures to editorial offices. I thought - since the technology is there, you can apply it here too. And he began to send drawings to newspapers all over Russia - by mail, in a large A4 envelope. Approximately a year after the start of the mailing of client publications, there were already at least a hundred. If the drawings were printed, they sent me money. After some time, I began to receive royalties from mailings - like several editorial salaries, and the growth went on until the crisis of 1998. Then the whole business collapsed in the country, I also felt it on myself right away.

By the way, I even arranged “our answer to Chamberlain” - at some point I got the nerve, found a database of American newspapers and sent them an offer of cooperation by mail. 99% did not answer, but about five in surprise published the drawings of the Russian artist. It was funny - they sent checks from the American hinterland, I went to the "Baltic Bank", there they were also surprised, checked them for a month, and then cashed them. And one newspaper in general sent the editor of the travel department to St. Petersburg to write about the cartoonists of St. Petersburg. We are still friends with this journalist; many years later, later in America, I met him again in an amazing way.

Drawing by Vyacheslav Shilov

When the Internet began to develop actively, instead of mailing lists, I launched electronic mailing lists, opening a simple website Best-cartoon.spb.ru- and recruited several of his artist friends to work so that the editorial staff had a wider choice of illustrations.

Bank of ironic images

Somewhere in the mid-2000s, the idea of ​​a more serious resource on caricature - a modern Internet tool for selecting ironic images - stuck in my head. I shared it with my friend and famous cartoonist Viktor Bogorad. And he brought me together with Igor Alyoshin, who in parallel, as it turned out, also thought about this topic. Igor is an excellent cartoonist, and also a professional programmer, a great specialist who worked in the States under a contract (before his departure we met a couple of times, there was a nodding acquaintance) and then returned to St. Petersburg. This is how our project for three happened - Cartoonbank.ru.

The domain was registered in 2006, the name was chosen by analogy with the English-language site of The New Yorker magazine, a well-known resource for humor. Cartoon is an English "caricature". It literally turned out to be a "bank of caricatures", although we officially position ourselves as "Bank of Ironic Images" - we have a whole list of categories on our website, from collage to strip.

We opened an LLC in 2010, at the same time we launched the website behind closed doors. The start was postponed for four years - we struggled with doubts and carried out preparatory work, did not want to create something low-quality and ill-considered. Igor Alyoshin took over the entire technical side of the issue - the development and support of the site; on me - documentation, content, groups in social networks, communication with authors, partners, advertising; Viktor Bogorad - gave money to start, 100 thousand rubles.

We didn't even spend everything at once - we left the "safety cushion". Paid for registration of a legal entity, hosting, domain, rent mailbox(we receive the originals of contracts with the authors for it). Spent a little on contextual advertising, but did not see much effect and abandoned it.

There are now only two people on the staff - me and my deputy, who has the right to sign documents so that my absence does not hit the company. Our salaries are purely symbolic. There is no office, we do not need it. We also use outsourced accountant services.

How it works

Our site is an intermediary between artists and editorial staff. In fact, this is the same photo bank, only with cartoons, or rather, with ironic images. When launched, the site had 6 thousand images. Even before the start, we half-secretly told our friends-artists about the project, signed contracts with them, taught them to put drawings on the site.

From the very beginning, we decided that the work would be of a certain level and quality. Yes, there were those who were offended or upset that we did not take his drawings, but we have a stepwise selection and the first stage is the author's admission to the project. Currently, 88 authors from nine countries are accepted to the site, but we did not take many more artists. Politely, but we refuse. The decision is collegial - by voting, and we like the result as a whole. We already have over 32.5 thousand images.

Drawing by Viktor Bogorad

Under the contract, the author transfers to us non-exclusive rights to his works. We transfer this right to the buyer - with the help of a license for the selected image. A limited license costs 250 rubles - for websites and for newspapers with a small circulation. 500 rubles - for publications with a circulation of more than 15 thousand copies. There is also an extended license for commercial use, for example, for advertising or printing on T-shirts or other media (in this case, you can print an unlimited edition for subsequent sale), it costs 2,500 rubles.

The artist's fee is 40 percent of the value of his work

Moreover, we “save up” up to 5 thousand rubles of total fees, and then pay them, otherwise it would be very confusing with the documents - to transfer every 40 percent of 250 rubles. The amounts are small, and the bank takes money from the posting of each payment, this is a trite reasonable saving. The rest goes to us: to support the resource, accounting, taxes (we work in white and pay all the royalties), digital image processing (we order such a service if necessary). In fact, there is little left.

An interesting collision with foreign authors. We pay only in rubles and only on the ruble card we can transfer fees. Yes, we have artists from the USA, Israel, Canada, but they are all former compatriots, and they have mothers, brothers or friends who have cards issued by banks in Russia in rubles. Here we transfer fees to them. While we are solving the issue in this way, we get out, they write powers of attorney. But a Brazilian, an Italian, a Portuguese asked us to go to Kartunbank - and we can't take it! Currency control slows us down.

At first, and we started with twenty sales a month, we had to throw off our money to cover the costs. We have not changed the prices for licenses since the launch, so now we are thinking of raising them, as well as expanding the range of licenses. The authors begin to grumble, they say, you sell too cheaply - and they are right from their point of view.

Today, an average of 100-130 sales per month is already the norm. In terms of money, this is 30-40 thousand rubles, which allows the resource to live fully and independently, but does not bring us tangible profit. Although we didn’t count on huge incomes, we have a business at the junction with art. We make the site for our pleasure, and we earn our bread in other ways, as before, before Kartunbank.

Drawing by Igor Alyoshin

We were able to sell the maximum of 200 images per month. And we are still giving up those 100 thousand starting points - very little is left. As a rule, they are more actively buying pictures for the holidays, for election campaigns.

We have connected payment system Robokassa from the Moscow bank "Ocean", a little later - Paypal, when he started working in the Russian Federation. The first clients only worked under a contract - we entered into an agreement for non-cash payments, allocated them "electronic money", and they paid for the picture within a month. And now - even with mobile phone Pay by text message, although we also continue to work under contracts with legal entities.

Less market - less shopping

The author himself puts his pictures on the site, we have developed detailed instructions... For him, it is an archive of images that is available at any time and anywhere in the world. There is a dependency: the more pictures are displayed, the higher the sales.

One and the same picture can be sold nine to ten times, we have such hits. The leaders are Viktor Bogorad and Igor Kiyko, they have sold more than 800 cartoons over the entire existence of the project, they receive several payments a year. And one of the reasons for this is that they put the most pictures on the site, they were not too lazy.

In total, during the work of the project, about 7000 licenses of various types were sold

Initially, we focused mainly on newspapers, although we realized that the press was going online. Recently, the situation on the media market has changed dramatically, not for the better. It was 15 years ago that the media market was saturated, they were happy to print cartoons on acute social topics, and even released humorous Friday supplements. Now the Internet "rules" more, and newspapers are massively closed.

We are not happy with the trend: less market means less purchases. In addition, those publications that are still afloat avoid caricatures. This is due to the political leapfrog. The "Charlie Hebdo" scandals artificially inflated by propaganda echo with unpleasant echoes in our country. The editors began to be afraid of cartoons - no matter what happened, such an unconscious fear and an overall unhealthy situation, a wary attitude towards cartoons.

Some unpleasant and strange laws adopted by our State Duma in recent years also do not add optimism. We can say that all this hits us as a business. We have already put the 18+ badge on the site out of harm's way. Now we are thinking how not to defile someone's feelings - we have rather malicious cartoons, one Yolkin is worth something, there are also about religion and about our celestials.

Drawing by Sergey Yolkin

We even posted a warning on the website: if you, dear visitor of the project, suddenly visit an uncontrollable attack of resentment, write to us, we will definitely consider your case! Yes, it comes to the ridiculous, but what to do? But so far they have not applied - apparently, they are too lazy to write or so far nobody wants to make a fool of themselves.

And at the same time, we have formed a circle of regular customers: there is a website that consistently buys up to 30 images a month for its humorous department, there are our favorite friends - the Krasnaya Burda magazine, regular customers. Novaya Gazeta (Petersburg), Trud, and Parlamentskaya Gazeta constantly cooperate with us from newspapers, and even from distant Birobidzhan they buy. They also download works from abroad - from Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland; who - we do not know, we think, former compatriots.

More than a website

Cartoonbank also works as a brand - organizers of exhibitions and conferences come to us, our artists have traveled to Poland, Germany, they participate in international seminars as representatives of the project. I was invited to China as a project leader, and I gave a lecture at the Institute of Animation, where the works of our artists served as an example - I talked about the gags they use in their drawings. So Kartunbank is in many ways an image project.

Drawing by Boris Ehrenburg

Some authors write to us with gratitude - we began to draw again for people, and not on the table! It is like helping artists, as a point of application for their creativity. During our work, unfortunately, three authors have died. We renegotiated a contract with the relatives of two of them - and we donate 50 percent to them, that is, in fact, we don’t earn money on them ourselves, but this is family support, and as if this author, he is still with us, through his pictures.

How else can you earn

We have several opportunities to make money, in addition to selling pictures in the media, and we are very focused on these forms of cooperation. True, we thought that everything would go faster and more fun - and orders will rush to us when we dial a large number of images. However, we do not observe a constantly intensive flow. Why? In my opinion, there are several reasons. The first is stagnation due to the attitude towards caricature, which has generally changed for the worse. Second, many pictures are simply stolen, alas. Third - insufficient "promotion" of our capabilities, despite the fact that there are many of them.

1. Printing our images on different media- bags, T-shirts, mugs, etc. We have a partnership agreement, but with only one site that deals with this. His "button" is placed on our resource - the client can immediately see how the image will look on things and place an order. Our partners make everything on a turnkey basis, ours is just a picture. By the way, there are visits from the site of this partner to Kartunbank, they are also promoting the service. The cost of a picture for these purposes (and this is considered an individual order, and not an unlimited circulation for sale) is 250-500 rubles.

2. You can order a full-fledged exhibition from us... Any subject. Buy licenses - make prints, frame them - and you're done. So, for example, we had a joint project with the Gatchina Museum, and with the Leningrad Region Museum - both are quite successful. There was a project with the Planetarium - there the works were shown in the exhibition mode on a huge screen. An exhibition can be organized by any organization - even a dental clinic, even a gold-mining company: it was hung in an office or a conference was held with such an unusual addition. We have drawings - for any request. The license costs only 500 rubles (for now).

Drawing by Oleg Dergachev

3. You can print calendars with our drawings... There were also such orders, but you can count them on one hand.

5. Our artists can give master classes on caricature... Once we were asked to hold a master class for children in Erarta, this is a museum of modern art in St. Petersburg, for not very big, but money. Another time they asked to "allocate" officially caricaturists to a street festival to draw cartoons. We were even invited to Smolny once, to a conference for the media, we partly promoted ourselves there, but the authors were paid as for participation in the project, under a contract.

6. With the pictures of "Kartunbank" you can publish a whole humorous magazine, and imagine, a publisher approached us once - and even released an excellent pilot issue - with a circulation of 10 copies. Further this, however, his business did not go, he started organizing concerts, and not collecting advertisements for the magazine. However, the possibility remains!

7. You can print cartoon postcards... We have our own experience - one of the authors (I also helped him, it was interesting) invested in the printing of postcards - only 38 titles, spent 60 thousand rubles. The cost of printing one postcard, it seems, was then 3 rubles. They were sold for 15 rubles apiece in stores, and they wound up their commission, and the postcard reached the buyer for 30-50 rubles. The money was quickly "repulsed". It seems that there is a prospect, but this is a separate line of business that needs to be dealt with seriously, and neither the partner nor I had the time or energy for this. We are also artists - we work with our personal customers all the time. But this line of business, in principle, anyone can develop through Kartunbank - bought a picture for 2500 rubles (and even cheaper with a system of discounts) and print at least 10 thousand postcards for sale - I give an idea!

Drawing by Vyacheslav Shilov

8.Our illustrations can be used to decorate books- we sell a picture for books for only 250 rubles.

9. Our drawing can be incorporated into the permanent design of the site., but this will already be a commercial license for 2500 rubles.

10. When there was an active political life in the country, during the elections, cartoons were often bought for leaflets, 2500 rubles each, also as advertising, political. We asked for a package of documents - licenses, an agreement - we always provided this without any problems. For the last two years there has been no activity in this regard, but the very possibility has not disappeared.