The income of a professional visual artist can be a roller-coaster ride of financial highs and lows, and knowing this, many artists naturally turn to teaching art in order to bring in some bread and butter income. I myself have taken this path in the past, and along with my Wife we ran the largest private art tuition program in our local shire for about 5 years.
Today we still run a version of our original live tuition program, but now it lives online in a ‘Virtual Classroom’ instead, which suits our lifestyle very well, however, if you are just starting out and are thinking of teaching art in a live setting then here are some tips for success:
1. Be an art tutor because you want to share your love of art
Your students deserve an art teacher who really wants to share what they know. Artists who are in tutoring just for the money generally don’t last very long, or grow to resent their new ‘day job’. If this is you then don’t do it to them and don’t do it to yourself.
Over the years my wife Cindy has dedicated a huge part of her life to helping others learn to draw both in the real world and online. She’s trained many teachers to also teach others, because for her its far more than a career. Cindy says “I feel so grateful that I have found my life-purpose. Art is so important to help us live a balance life – every child deserves the right to know that they can learn to draw if they choose to. Its not reserved for the talented few. The advantages of including art in our lives are endless. In her post Jenny Silverstone tells us 35 wonderful Benefits of Arts For Kids.”
Cindy teaches from her heart so she never becomes resentful or tired of teaching others and she enjoys the rewards of witnessing the lives of so many people being transformed as a result of her dedication. My top tip for supporting your art career by teaching art is to only do it if you really want to share your love of art with others.
2. Be organised, professional and business-like
If you are going to be doing this for the long haul then you need to set your art tuition business up as a ‘real business’, just like all the other real businesses in the world. Your clients will respect you for it and place more value on what you do.
3. Create a structured course
Just running short stand-alone workshops is fine and dandy but that will mean that you have to find new students every time you run a new course. This can be expensive in terms of time and money when it comes to advertising and marketing your art tuition services.
If you create a structured course it’s much easier to retain the same students for a long time. Make sure you build in progression and recognition of achievement. This will require you to develop plenty of different art skills which you can teach over a long period. It’s hard work, but it will make you a better and more versatile artist in the long run. Remember you don’t have to create your entire course before you start teaching. You can just start with a general outline and create it ‘just in time’ if you are brave enough 😉
4. Create course materials which students can take home
This adds value to what you are offering and sets you head and shoulders above the rest of the private art tutors in town who are just teaching in an ad-hoc fashion.
5. Charge well for your classes
You will get more respect from your students if your classes are refreshingly expensive. Your professionalism will allow you to command a good price for your time. Don’t worry about the competition or community groups that charge next to nothing. You are not in that market. You are providing an excellent and very professional art tuition program and people will expect it to pay for it. Don’t undersell what you are offering by going too cheap.
6. Advertise in ‘Good Places’
We found over time that students who made enquiries via classified ads were harder to teach and generally did not stay with us as long as those who came via ads placed in the main part of a newspaper (usually the ‘lifestyle’ section). They also tended to be looking for ‘what they can get’ rather than ‘what they can learn’. The two audiences seem to have a different mindset. In our experience its worth advertising in places where people are looking for quality of service rather than value for money.
7. Charge up front
Many art tutors seem timid about asking students to pay up front, instead opting to allow them to pay on a week by week basis. Don’t be afraid to charge upfront on a ‘per term’ basis, and request a deposit to secure course places. This also makes things much easier administratively.
8. Keep overheads as low as possible
Renting a hall or commercial space is very expensive, and so are art materials. Do your sums. If they don’t add up, don’t do it. Adding more students to your workload will not get you around this. It will only make you very tired, stressed and overworked 😉
9. Share what you know freely
Many students came to us because their previous tutor seemed to be holding back their ‘trade secrets’, afraid that a students might steal a bit of their original art style. Don’t be afraid that a student will be become a better artist than you using your tricks of the trade. In our experience the students that really pick up the baton and run with it only reflect well on the master artist that taught them (that’s you).
10. Don’t forget why you are doing this
You are teaching art to support your art practice. Remember to leave time in your weekly schedule for your own art.
Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
Hello, thanks for the great tips about “art tutoring”. I hadn’t really considered this route as a way to generate extra income, but it’s really given me something to think about! I’m selling my work, a few pieces per month as I am still quite a new artist, and would love to learn more about how to be an art tutor.
I’ve really enjoyed teaching on the side and am looking forward to doing it again this fall. Your tips are great, exactly what I do in nearly all cases. I make the “secret methods” part of my advertising sell. It really helps if you are at a show and people want to know how you did something. “Take my class and find out!” is my response!
Another by-product of teaching is that many students cannot do exactly what you do and may eventually want to purchase art from you. Students can easily turn into buyers, so remember to be courteous and fair to all of them.
Great articles, thanks…
A lot of good commonsense information. I have been running my own business for ten years and need to be paid up front. I am still not sure what to charge on a one to one basis. I am a professional painter.
If you are good at what you do and have a good professional rep then charge very well for your time. (Just the same as other professionals) Go cheap and peeps will not value what you teach. 😉
Be refreshingly expensive – but not beyond reach 🙂
If you are good at what you do and have a good professional rep then charge very well for your time. (Just the same as other professionals) Go cheap and peeps will not value what you teach. 😉 Be refreshingly expensive – but not beyond reach 🙂
Hi,
thank you for the great article. I am just starting my private tutoring career in Art, because i love art and love to share it, especially with children. I am having a hard time though with location. I have given lessons at students’ homes, but I’d like to find a good public location. Do you have any ideas of what an art tutor can do, where to look and how much it might cost to rent a studio space for once a week for a couple of hours? are there schools or institutions that provide private tutors with a space like that? I’d appreciate a reply. thanks!
I am assisting an artist with marketing, exhibits, sourcing for quality and affordable giclees, etc.
We have been discussing the possibility of teaching/tutoring during the crunch. I was actually working on our business plan, and low and behold in researching ideas for “different kind of exhibits”, tired of the same-o same-o exhibits. Your website heading was a wow since I wasn’t expecting anything so thorough, thus I read the entire article and want you to know we are on the right path your comments are encouraging.
Thanks for the info and your humor :))
Great information and insight on how to get generate income through teaching and through our God-given gifts and talents. I have already began my journey in my teaching career at the same time occasionally working an an independent graphic artist for faith-based organizations, businesses and communities. I believe this is what I was called to do. Thanks!
Thank you for the great article! Very helpful. Can you tell me what your policy is on cancellations of classes when you charge up front? I am about to take on a new private art class student and the family goes away a lot. At this point, they are not expecting to pay up front and they obviously don’t expect to pay for missed classes so I am currently formulating a letter stating my policy. In the past when one on one students missed a class, we just made it up by doing two classes the following week. These are students who have paid at the end of each class – not up front for a series of classes. This new student cannot do two classes a week so I was wondering if you charge the full amount when they are away or just a portion of the class, like 50%? Thank you! Christine
We keep those things as simple as possible when running live classes. Students pay for a structured course, which they must commit to studying and that course runs to a schedule. A student booked into a course place cannot be replaced if they dont turn up, so we dont offer discounts or refunds for non-attendance. To help students who miss the odd class we may arrange for the student to catch up in a different session, but since the course follows printed course notes, they can do these in their own time and turn up early for the next class so we can take a look at the homework. Of course if your classes a ‘recreational’ and unstructured then its a different kettle of fish, as people dont expect to pay for ‘unstructured’ classes they dont turn up to.
Thank you for the information regarding art tutoring- this is what I have been lacking
Hi!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I really appreciate it. I am currently working on how to start my own art class but I’m struggling to come up with a structure to teach. Would you mind please help me with that? It would be a great help if you can solve my problem.
Thank you.
The solution is to license a curriculum that is already created which includes instructor training. If you want to find out more about that just use our contact form and we’ll get back to you.
This is great info but I am curious about legal fees or certifications…
I am considering an open studio for this very task and I was wondering about cost and time, so not to be considered a daycare.
You would have to check your local authority regulations. Keep your costs down as far as possible (materials are expensive). To not be a daycare then only accept kids who really want to learn, or only teach adults.