The Complete Guide: How Beginner Artists Can Make Their First $1,000

When our skill level isn’t high enough, it’s tough to find clients for commissions. Even if we do, the pay is usually low.

Reaching a decent level takes a long time and comes with countless challenges. Honestly, doing something we love and getting paid for it is the best kind of support. That’s why learning marketing and earning while learning is a responsibility for creators.

But why would people pay us?

Business is about offering something valuable, solving problems for others, and getting money in return. It’s all about how we can provide value.

Even when our skills aren’t good enough to take commissions, we can still make money. In other words, we can still offer value.

Take me as an example—I shared my learning process through 17 videos and gained nearly 70,000 subscribers. Most of my videos have a like-to-view ratio above 10%, and one of them earned $1,013 in ad revenue. Of course, it’s not enough to make a living yet, but it gave me huge motivation.

Over the past year and a half, my progress has been much faster than if I had learned alone. As my skills improve, I can create better content, attract more viewers, and those viewers might become future clients.

In this letter, I’ll share a full system for building a personal brand as an artist, including:

• What kind of content provides value

• How I learn art

• How I write content to share my art journey and grow an audience

What kind of content can provide value?

Here are three types of content that viewers find valuable:

• They feel like they’ve learned something.

• They feel encouraged or inspired.

• They are entertained.

Sharing What You’ve Learned (They feel like they’ve learned something.)

Share what you’re learning, the challenges you face, and how you solve problems. This adds emotional meaning to your content. By pushing yourself to improve, you not only grow but also encourage your audience. The better your skills, the more value you can provide.

If your editing is polished like Tppo’s(@tappoart) or you are good looking and funny like Sam(@samdoesarts), that’s a bonus. But it’s okay if you don’t have flashy editing, don’t show your face, or even use AI-generated voiceovers. That’s still fine.

Many people believe that video success is just luck or driven by the algorithm. In reality, a successful video is the result of several factors:

• It’s easy to understand.

• It’s pleasant to watch.

• It genuinely helps people.

When viewers find a video helpful, they’re more likely to watch it till the end, like it, save it, and share it. This tells the algorithm it’s a good video, which leads to it being recommended to more people.

Always think from your audience’s perspective.

Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Does this content truly help my audience? (Content)

2. Is it easy to understand? (Script and explanation)

3. Does the video look smooth? (Editing)

I’ll break it down into two key areas:

• Content

• Script

Content

When learning to draw, you’ll encounter challenges—and these challenges can become the topic of your video.

The problems you face are likely the same ones others are struggling with.

As you work through the learning process and discover solutions, that becomes the valuable part of your content.

Sharing your learning journey, personal experiences, and progress adds emotional depth and meaning to your content.

Here’s a simple content template:

What you learned + How you learned it.

How to Organize Your Content

This is script writing:

Our goal is to:

• Make it easier for viewers to understand.

• Help them understand faster.

• Keep them engaged until the end.

Make It Easier to Understand

A bad teacher just lists facts—that’s boring and not how people process information.

Schools can get away with this because students can’t leave the classroom. But online, viewers can click away anytime, so your first priority is creating awareness.

Before explaining anything, show why it matters to the audience. In other words:

• Why is this knowledge useful?

• What problem does it solve?

For example, in this letter, I’m helping you build an audience and earn money while doing what you love. That’s why I start by explaining why commissions aren’t the best option for beginners.

Aside from creating awareness, sparking curiosity is another great way to hook viewers.

Simplify the concept

Once viewers are hooked, simplify the concept. Remember, 90% of your audience is likely beginners. Break it down into terms they can immediately understand.

If you can’t explain something in simpler terms, it means you haven’t fully grasped it yourself. In that case, it’s time to go back and learn more.

The Positive Cycle of Learning and Sharing

Learning and sharing feed into each other. When you learn deeply, you can share more effectively. When you share, it pushes you to learn even better. This creates a positive cycle that accelerates both your growth and your ability to provide value to your audience.

Personal Experience

Instead of simply repeating widely-discussed art theories, what makes your content unique is your personal experience.

Let’s be honest: the art theories we talk about have been used by artists for hundreds, even thousands of years. We’re not inventing something new.

Learning isn’t about watching a single video and instantly mastering something. It’s through constant experimentation, making mistakes, and learning from them that we truly understand. That process—your journey—is what makes your experience one of a kind.

The Best Way to Learn

The best way to learn is to start with a clear goal—whether it’s mastering the style of a specific artist or drawing cute faces.

If there’s a gap between your current skill level and your goal, you’ll need knowledge and solutions to overcome a series of challenges to reach that level.

Here’s the process:

1. Define your goal.

2. Identify the challenges and questions you need to solve.

3. Research solutions by watching videos or reading resources.

4. Try it yourselves

The solutions you find are the value you’ve gained.

When you apply those solutions, you gain personal experience.

The result. Your skills improve, and you also create content that resonates with others who face the same challenges.

Start writing

Start with Long-Form Content

Many people start by making short videos, but I recommend starting with long-form content. You can always take parts of a long video or article and turn them into shorter content.

Writing long articles is sometimes even more important than drawing itself.

Long videos also tend to be more engaging. For example, my videos typically have a high like-to-view ratio, around 10:1, while short videos often perform much worse in this aspect.

Script Structure

First, clarify the goal:

1. Make the audience feel like they’ve learned something.

2. Inspire them.

3. Keep them curious enough to watch until the end.

In storytelling, a typical narrative goes like this:

• The main character’s life balance is disrupted (e.g., a young village is attacked).

• They set a goal (e.g., the young hero decides to defeat the evil).

• They face a series of problems that need to be solved, with each problem leading to new challenges.

• To defeat the villain, they need a magical sword. They search for it, but to find it, they must ask a wise person who knows about the sword. This person requires them to complete a task in return, and so the plot unfolds with more obstacles and quests.

To simplify, each problem is more serious than the last. This is the principle behind keeping the audience curious.

So, we can identify four elements:

1. Awareness

2. Goal

3. Problems

4. Solutions

This aligns perfectly with the best way to learn.

For example, in this letter:

• Awareness: Commissions are not the best option for beginners.

• Goal: Earn while doing what you love.

• Problems: We need to solve a series of issues to achieve this goal.

  • What content can offer value?

  • How do we create that content?

Through our learning process, we gather all the materials for contents.

It’s that simple—just like explaining to a friend who has the same problem.

Offer

We have content that attracts viewers.

This traffic, in marketing, is called leads.

The product is called the offer.

Marketing has the concept of a value ladder.

It’s hard to sell something expensive, like a $1000 item, with a 10-second ad. But people are more likely to accept free samples or buy something for a few dollars. After trying it and trusting the brand, they might buy products worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Our videos are like free samples. The viewers pay with their attention. Those who like your content will stay and become your future clients. If you post your videos on YouTube, you can earn ad revenue and even get sponsorships. This is the advantage of being a content creator; traditional businesses would need to pay for ads.

For the offer, highly skilled artists can offer courses or provide high-quality images and processes on Patreon.

But beginners won’t see the same results doing this.

However, I suggest starting a Patreon. At first, no one might subscribe, but as your skills improve, people will start subscribing. This will give you positive encouragement.

The content on Patreon should not only be high-res images and processes. It’s easy to understand—why pay for a high-resolution image if it’s not decent yet?

For example, my foundation skills might not be that great, but my composition is a strength. I can talk about my composition breakdown.

The foundation may be weak, but the piece still looks interesting, which proves that people can learn something from me.

This is the value I can offer.

This is the advantage of being a social media-based artist.

We only need one strength—if people like it, that’s enough.

For artists in a company, they need to be able to draw many things, as the project determines the requirements.

I don’t draw, nor am I interested in drawing male characters. No one cares. But in a company, I have to learn how to draw them if required.

I’m currently working on a course that I’ll post on Patreon once it’s finished.

This course is more like a tool—it’s designed to lower the barriers between your ideas and the final illustration.

The first tool is 3D.

We’ll use 3D to assist your painting process. Let me explain how powerful it is and how easy it is to learn.

For example, drawing a character on a staircase is difficult, not to mention changing the camera angle. But in 3D, it’s simple.

With just a basic understanding of Blender, you can easily set this up.

You don’t need to learn how to model a human figure from scratch. Instead, you can use VRoid, a free tool that lets you customize characters—eyes, hair, body size, and more.

Then, using Marvelous Designer (MD), you can simulate clothing in motion, like the folds of a skirt. It’s incredibly intuitive.

The key point is: you don’t need to be an expert to use these tools. Basic knowledge is enough to start creating, and you can learn more as you go.

The course addresses a specific problem:

We want to use 3D to assist in painting, but we don’t want to become 3D artists. Unfortunately, most 3D courses are overwhelming for beginners.

I’ve been through that myself, so I’ve simplified the workflow.

You’ll only learn the essentials to get started right away. I’ll also provide a cheat sheet, so you don’t need to memorize shortcuts or search for features.

Think of it like following a manual—everything you need is ready for you.

My goal is to create a tool that’s easy to use, helping you quickly turn your ideas into illustrations.

When you’re brainstorming and don’t have to worry about handling perspective or lighting, it feels like you’ve unlocked a whole new level of freedom—like breaking free from limitations.

Let’s see how it works!

This is the system I’ve been using as a beginner to improve and build my brand as an artist. I’ll use my own experience to show how it works.

-Foudo