Want to know how much money I earned as a freelance illustrator in 2023?

An honest and transparent post, written to be really really really useful for other freelancers...

Every Christmas I keep hold of any white boxes and envelopes from the recycling, and come January I open these up, grab a pen, and start with my strategy for the new year. I’ve tried spreadsheets and apps, but putting pen to paper (or a quiche wrapper) works best for me. I notice patterns, I draw lots of arrows and by the end I have a plan.

I’m lucky that I’ve always had a good head for numbers. I worked in the fashion industry as a designer for almost 20 years too, and got used to taking the emotion out of things and analysing what was working and what wasn’t. And so I always write a yearly round up and make it public, with the hope that it’s useful to those who feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights when it comes to financial planning.

I’m going to start by saying that 2023 was good for me. Whilst I took dramatically less money than in 2022 (more on that later), I look back and feel proud about how my art has developed, happy that I was finally commissioned to create reportage artwork and excited to have received some really great feedback from brand commissioners. I also made it back to India to visit friends, and the paintings and maps I created there led to some great commissions. In my personal life I chose to spend a lot of time with a friend who was ill. She died at the end of 2023, and I’m so pleased I was able to make her a priority for those months. I find that being a creative freelancer means my work and personal life don’t cleanly separate, so I find it useful to look at things as a whole.

In July 2022 I had a bad accident and have just agreed on a small out of court settlement. I didn’t do a round up last year for this reason, so I’ll share notes about how the accident impacted my earnings below.

MONEY OVERVIEW (if lots of words and numbers is difficult for you, then scroll to the bottom for some pie charts)

My turnover in 2023 was £33,806 compared to £57,129 in 2022, roughly a 40% drop (ouch). This is turnover, so before any expenses come out and before I’m taxed. It was my lowest turnover since 2017.

EXPENSES / TURNOVER

My expenses vary depending on what type of work comes in, but they are generally pretty hefty (around 20-30% of my turnover). When I do live illustration, expenses include trains to London from Bristol and hotel stays. My studio costs me around £3k per year, £1k for accountancy and then money for insurance, software, art equipment, postage, printing and more and more and more.

I pay myself a maximum of £30k over the course of a 12 month period. I transfer small amounts in to a pension and an ISA. For context, I’m 47, a homeowner with a mortgage, live alone, don’t have kids (but have a cat with expensive tastes). I’ve built up a small amount of savings and am not in debt. If I was still in the fashion industry as a Head of Design I’d be paid anything from £70k-£150k per year *dreams of beaches*. However, I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love, so the never-ending low level terror of living a freelance solo life is made worth it by the good bits, of which there are many.

CASH FLOW

I’ve only just crunched the numbers for this stat, it was quite a shock! Almost 70% of my money for the year arrives in the last 5 months. That means that from January until August I’m living on not much money. Then from August until Christmas, payment for earlier work arrives in to my account and things get busy. I can track this pattern back years.

And so what does this tell me? Well firstly, that if big amounts land in my bank account in the run up to Christmas that I can’t go wild as that money will need to last for months. But also, that the start of the year is always quiet, so don’t panic…

AREAS OF WORK - 2023 BREAKDOWN

BRANDS

In 2023 my brand work brought in £11,060. Whilst this was a huge drop since 2022 (£26,822) I was up against a really good year.

In 2024 I’m putting alot of my attention in to brand work and my target is £33k. It means I need a few campaigns, and lots of other work too (editorial, packaging, social media, advertising). It would make it my best year ever for brand work (my best was 2015 when I only did illustration part time, I took £32k that year mainly due to one large worldwide advertising project).

LIVE ILLUSTRATION

My company tax year ends on the 31 July, and on that day in 2022 I had a big accident (which makes it all very neat for my book-keeping). Up until that point I’d taken over £20k in live illustration - post-Covid events were back and I was set for the best year ever. However I tried one event and decided that I couldn’t do any more that Christmas as was in too much pain. I had planned to take another £20k before the end of 2022 but took nothing.

My injuries impacted the early part of 2023 for me but really it was slower anyway, and I took £14,550 in total for the year.

I’ve seen more people move in to live event illustration so it’s a more competitive market now. And I fear that people are working for low fees, based on some of the replies I’ve had from commissioners after quoting.

At events I create one hand-painted artwork every 10 minutes, for at least 3 hours. Ten years ago I charged £180 per hour for this work (£30 per original artwork) which I soon realised was too low. For the last few years I've charged £300 per hour (£50 per original artwork). There is of course a risk of sharing my costs here, but I like to work with companies who hire me because of my high standard of work and proven record, not because I’m the cheapest quote they’ve had in.

For 2024 my target is £20k.

ART / RETAIL

In 2023 I took £4817 in art sales, an area that for me has been in steep decline since 2020 and is now back to 2018 levels. I like to create artwork when inspiration strikes and if people buy prints of it then amazing, but I don’t plan to put much time in to my shop this year. One thing I do need to do is work out how to make more people see my shop as I have a large body of popular work, so maybe some SEO and PR help later in the year is a good idea if everything else is on track.

For 2024 my target is £5k.

TEACHING / WORKSHOPS

In 2023 I took £1779 from teaching and workshops. It’s a small but enjoyable area for me, but to make it a big success I can see it would take a lot of time and planning. I hired a beautiful space, model, clothes and did a fashion illustration workshop this year as a test and whilst the result were gorgeous, it was hard to sell tickets. I prefer for someone else to hire me to teach and for them to organise the rest.

Target for 2024 is £2k

CHARITY / ORGS / REPORTAGE

£1600 taken in 2023.

A new area for me that I’d love to grow. I received a small reportage grant from Urban Sketchers to document the first few months of the Refugees Welcome North Somerset hub, and Super Culture commissioned me to illustrate at their Peace Feast.

I did some social media planning and content work (non illustration) for a refugee charity and designed a Substack logo for We Wanted Workers (immigration law and policy).

Target for 2024 is £3k

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

I will use the above to help me organise a priority to do list. I know that getting my online portfolio looking great and seen by the right people is very important, so I’ve already booked a portfolio consultation with The AOI. I did some great brand work over the past couple of years, so I’ll email all of those clients as a priority to see if they are planning new projects. 

I won’t bother reorganising my shop, or coming up with potential ideas for workshops as I’ve decided these aren’t something to give time to. For live illustration I’ll get in contact with those who have hired me before and research events with large budgets.

I’ve applied for a one-off workshop teaching job overseas that I’ll hear about end Jan, and am investigating the Arts Council Developing your Creative Practice grant in time for the next application date in March.

Money wise it’s going to be a difficult year, as I try to stay afloat for the next 7 months with not enough saved and some tax bills to pay. But I’ve managed it before and can do it again. I’ll just be keeping my outgoings as low as possible and hope to land some great work soon to keep me going.

Good luck to all of the freelancers getting ready to leap in to action in 2024. I hope this has been an interesting and useful read for you. I offer this insight up for free, so please show your thanks by commenting below, posting the link to your social media, buying me a virtual paintbrush or sharing my number with your favourite single millionaire. 

Happy New Year! 

Niki