An extremely popular way to earn an income online these days is by using artificial intelligence. I’ve already talked about the different ways to make money with AI in general. In today’s blog post, I want to focus on AI-generated art and not only show you how to create AI art for free but also give you 7 ways to make money with it.
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Free Websites to Create AI Art
Creating art by using artificial intelligence software is not as complicated as you might think. Many people think that they need a background or degree in art or graphic design to create AI art. But that’s not the case.
You can simply use so-called AI Image Generators that create your artwork with only a few clicks.
To use these tools, you usually have to register first. If you want to use the free versions, you often have to face limits in terms of the size or number of images you can create in a given time frame. Alternatively, you can either upgrade to a regular subscription or pay per image.
These are a few of the most popular AI art generators:
All you need to do is to register and enter a so-called prompt in the generator bar. This is basically a description of the image you want to create, for instance:
- Post-apocalyptic wonderland
- Girl with short hair in the rain
- Pink happy dog or
- Mountain sunset in winter
Many tools also offer you a variety of different styles like:
- Painting
- Anime
- Photo or
- Steampunk
Then all you need to do is hit the “Generate” button and your AI artwork gets created in only a few seconds. Play around with it a bit and you quickly get the hang of it and are able to create exactly what you had in mind. Once your image is done, you can simply download it.
Where to Sell AI Art Online?
Now that you have created your artwork with AI, it’s time to make money with it. There are several ways to sell it online that are also very beginner-friendly. Here are the most popular ones:
1. Print-On Demand
A very simple yet effective way to make money with AI art is by getting it printed on merchandise products. That could be items like:
- T-shirts
- Mugs
- Pillows
- Hoodies or
- Caps
All you need to do is create your images and upload them to print-on-demand platforms like TeeSpring, Printify, or Redbubble. When a customer buys a product with your design on it, it gets produced and shipped to the customer automatically. You receive the sales price minus the platform fees.
An extra tip: Your designs don’t necessarily need to be graphics. You can also create funny or nerdy statements with AI that people would want to buy.
How much money you can make depends on factors like the popularity of your designs, how many items you can sell, or your profit margin per item. Here are a few successful real-life examples:
- Benny Hsu from the blog Get Busy Living made $100,000 in 5 months selling on TeeSpring.
- And pastor Carlos Rodriguez used Printify and managed to make $200,000 for do-good projects.
If you want to learn more about how to sell t-shirts online with print-on-demand, check out the linked blog post.
2. Sell It as A Service
Another very popular way to make money with AI art is by selling it as a service. That means that you create images and sell them to clients.
For example, you could register for free on freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. Once a client books your service, you agree on how the image is going to look like. Ideally, the client gives you a detailed description of the features and characteristics the image should have.
Now you can start generating the customized artwork and get paid once your client approves the result.
Popular designs would be portraits or landscapes. However many companies also need these images for marketing purposes, for instance,
- Logo designs
- Book covers
- Interior or exterior pictures for Property Listings
On Fiverr, most people charge around $10 per image But there are also artists who earn $50 per AI Art that is generated with one of the mentioned tools.
Extra tip: If you want to learn how to make money on Fiverr, check out the linked blog post in which I give you a step-by-step guide for beginners.
3. Stock Images
You could also create different types of images that you think are high in demand and sell them online to stock image websites like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock. This could be:
- Illustrations
- Paintings
- Patterns
- Website backgrounds or
- Mobile wallpapers
Other places to sell them would be e-commerce marketplaces like Etsy or you can create your own website, for instance, using Shopify, and sell your artwork on your own. The advantage here is that you can keep your entire earnings and don’t have to pay a percentage of your income to the marketplace.
Again, your income opportunities depend on various factors. For example, on Shutterstock, you get paid between $0.10 – $5.80 per image that somebody buys from you.
On Etsy, you can find AI artwork selling for anything between 5 and $60.
4. Coloring Books & Children’s Books
Now we’re getting a bit creative. You could also generate artwork, that can be used in a coloring book. Maybe go for
- Fairytales
- Animals
- Toys or
- Dresses
There are many images that work great for coloring.
Once you have your motives, you can upload them to platforms like Amazon KDP. Here people can either order your motives as eBooks or get them printed and shipped by Amazon. Either way, all you have to do is upload your art and get paid automatically once someone buys your product.
Another idea would be children’s books. Here you can create all types of motives that kids like. Examples that come to my mind right now would be a comic about a cute three-legged dog who becomes a hero saving his human, or an emotional Christmas story, or a funny story based on a clumsy dinosaur.
5. Content About AI Art
This option is for more advanced users. If you know a thing or two about AI art, you could also monetize your knowledge. For example, you could:
- Create an Online Course on platforms like Teachable or Udemy where you give tutorials and tips on how to generate AI art.
- Start a Blog where you share your inside knowledge and make money by doing affiliate marketing or sponsorships
- Write a book or eBook in which you focus on a certain niche of AI art creation, e.g. how to use the tool Midjourney, and sell this book on platforms like Amazon KDP.
- Create a YouTube channel where you talk about the topic and make money by placing ads in your videos
Depending on how many courses you sell or how big your audience is, your potential income is pretty much endless.
Note: If you need help creating texts with AI, check out this blog post on how to make money with ChatGPT. That’s another great tool you can use and combine with the art generators to create your digital products.
6. Sell AI Art Prompts
Instead of selling images, you could also sell the prompts that are needed to create AI art. That means you sell the exact text descriptions that your customers can type into the AI art generator to receive the image that they are looking for.
Let’s look at an example: An inexperienced user may simply type the words “woman” and “sun” into the generator and get a fairly simple result.
However, the more details you include, the more your image is going to change. Let’s modify the previous prompt to: “Black-haired woman sitting in the sun with a long dress, smiling and facing the viewer”.
The image is now much more detailed.
If you are creative and enjoy this type of design work, you can sell your prompts on online marketplaces like PromptBase. Here you can earn between $1.99 – $5 per prompt minus the platform fee of 20%.
Considering the fact that these prompts are easy to create once you are a little bit more experienced with AI art generators, this could turn into a great side income.
7. Create and Sell NFTs
This method sounds more complicated than it involves NFTs (“non-fungible token”). But I guarantee you, even beginners with no previous knowledge can learn how to do it.
Again, the first step is to create your artwork, in this case, an NFT. While NFTs can be anything from music to videos, we want to focus on art in this article.
As described before, use free AI tools to create your designs. Now this is done, you need to turn your creation into an NFT. For this, you need to mint it by creating a unique token on the blockchain. This is what gives your NFT its value and ensures that it is a unique and one-of-a-kind item.
To do so, check out NFT marketplaces like:
Here you will not only find instructions on how to mint your artwork, but you can also list it for sale.
How much you can earn with it varies greatly depending on the popularity of your designs and the demand for it. This can range from a few dollars for an image, to hundreds or even tens of thousands of dollars.
Start Making Money Online with AI Art Today
As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can Make Money Online with AI Art. You can create artwork for free using online tools and sell it on places like Etsy, Teespring, OpenSea, or Fiverr. Alternatively, you can create your own products like coloring books or online courses, and sell them. The potential is truly endless.
Your best bet is to register with free AI generators and play around with them a bit. Find out what tool is most intuitive for you and get better at creating prompts. Then see what type of art is currently high in demand and practice in creating designs similar to those but with your own twist to it. Once you have your first few images ready, see what platform works best for you to sell them.