Artist's Guide to Making Money

The Artist's Guide Volume 1: The Practicing Artists Guide to Making Money is the first of what may be many volumes of topical art books featuring the writings, drawings, and compilings of many a young artists. You might find some hard-hitting and practical, step-by-step advice to turn your creative passion into a lucrative profession. There might be lots of motivational insights and helpful worksheets to put you on the right track to make millions doing what you love. It could just be the most serious book you ever read about the finances for working artists ever made.

Then again, it might just be an awesome independently published image book with doodlings and essays about art and mighty dollar compiled by Matt Cassidy and Sam Spratlin.


Printed in vibrant black and green, this book does address the issues of money and the practice of art, often in a humorous and self-deprecating way. It compiles images from about 14 artists from around the country and England, a bunch of somewhat serious essays on the commodification of art, a few choice quotes about money and labor, and a poster by Dan Funderburgh (plus a bonus diagram of who makes who green with envy).

Most of the featured artists contributed groups of images that stick to the "making money" theme, though a few either submitted whatever they were doing, or I'm missing the connection. While I like grotesque monsters and skulls as much as the next guy, I think the work of Kate Bingaman, who meticulously draws her credit card statements and prices them for the minimum balance payments, brings together the often loaded topic of money and artistic integrity together in a creative and stunning way. I wish all the artists contributed towards this topic a little more directly.

My favorite artist of the pack is definitely Jessica Lynch. Her intricate and loose drawing style is a testament to the success of her "5 Ways To Make Money (maybe)":
1. Draw where you are.
2. Draw for your friends.
3. Draw what you want to know.
4. Draw what you love.
5. Draw what you want to see.
Plus, she gets bonus points for her sketch of Oakland's Hill Castle Apartment Hotel.

I really like how this book deals directly with the relationship of artist's books to the topic artists making money. It reprints high-end printer pricing quotes, mocks the notion of limited editions (on the page with the edition number), and the entire book cover was sold to sponsors. The entire project has enough sarcasm to make it fun, but not so much that it would disrespect the artists and viewers.

"The insight of such luminary minds cannot be quantified. However, using some sophisticated financial calculators we came up with the median of $16 each." Get your copy mailed to your home (or office) right now by clicking the paypal button below. You will be richer for doing so, as will I and the publishers of the book.