Making a Career with Art: Professions, Income, and Paths to Study

With an artistic education, various paths are open to you. Illustrators create images for books, magazines, advertising, and digital media. Fashion designers create collections, shoes, or accessories for their own labels or for companies. Stage and costume designers shape the look of theater, opera, and film productions. And in the Fine Arts, artists develop their own works for exhibitions, galleries, and collectors.

Many work independently, often in several areas at once: They combine their own projects with commissioned work, teaching, or art mediation.

The Most Important Points

• Typical career fields are illustration, fashion design, stage and costume design, and fine arts.
• Incomes vary greatly, many self-employed earn below average.
• Portfolio, network, and self-marketing are crucial for getting started.
• Those who are already employed can also study art part-time.

Flat rates are difficult because incomes in artistic professions vary widely. A few illustrators, designers, or artists earn very well. However, many self-employed individuals are significantly below the average income and combine multiple sources of income. More planning security is offered by regular clients, teaching assignments, or employment, for example in a design studio, a fashion company, or a theater.

Self-employed artists can insure themselves through the Künstlersozialkasse in the statutory health, nursing, and pension insurance. Similar to an employer, the KSK covers part of the contributions.

• Portfolio and Portfolio: For studies and assignments, a meaningful selection of your own work counts. The article Application Portfolio for Art Studies shows which mistakes you should avoid.
• Network: Contacts with teachers, fellow students, agencies, theaters, or galleries often open the first doors. Internships and assistantships help with entry.
• Visibility: Your own website, social media, competitions, and exhibitions make your work known. Tips on this are provided in the article Self-Marketing for Artists.
• Gallery: Those who work freely artistically will sooner or later look for a gallery. How to succeed in this is explained in the article Artists Looking for a Gallery.

If you do not want to wait for one of the limited study places at a state art college or give up your job, you can study at a private academy. The Achtzig Kunstakademie Berlin in Biesdorf offers, among other things, Fine Arts and Painting, Fashion Design, Illustration, Stage Design, as well as Film and Stage Costume, either online via distance learning or in-person. Admission is through a self-prepared portfolio, an aptitude test, and an interview.

According to the academy, there are monthly individual consultations with the lecturer Diana Achtzig. A foundation course with free drawing is followed by subject-specific designs and projects. In the Illustration program, for example, the training lasts eight semesters, with an intermediate examination at the end of the third semester. It concludes with a diploma thesis and an examination before an academy commission. After that, a one-year master student program is possible.

You can read more about part-time studies in the article Studying Art alongside a Job, and more about stage design in the article Study and Career in the Field of Stage Design.