How To Make $1,000 A Month Selling Small Original Paintings

Summary

Artist Jose Trujillo explains how to work toward earning an extra $1,000 a month by selling small original paintings. He recommends starting with the income goal and working backward:

• At $50 per painting, sell 20.
• At $100 per painting, sell 10.
• At $200 per painting, sell five.
• At $500 per painting, sell two.

These are sales targets, not guarantees. How many paintings an artist needs to make depends on how many actually sell.

Trujillo began selling through eBay auctions, where he says his paintings averaged about $50. He later increased his output substantially and says he went on to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year selling online. He cautions against relying entirely on producing large quantities of very inexpensive work, which he feels can devalue art and make it difficult to earn a living.

Creative and Business Principles

• Put effort into the work. Trujillo argues that a painting should show enough care and time to justify its price. Both skill developed through practice or study and the time spent making an individual work can contribute to its value.
• Match the price to the work. Higher-priced paintings should have a visible reason for their higher price, such as greater size, more work, or a stronger established market presence. Similar-sized works made with similar effort should not be priced drastically differently without a clear distinction.
• Show up consistently. A practical starting routine is to make and offer one small painting a day, five days a week—about 20 paintings a month.
• Promote each work clearly. When offering a painting for sale, show it repeatedly and state its price. For Instagram, Trujillo suggests promoting it three times a day using a mix of formats, such as a process video, a brief presentation video, Stories, or a carousel post.
• Focus your efforts at first. His organizing principle is “one picture, one distribution channel, one goal.” He encourages artists to build a repeatable routine before expanding to more platforms.
• Use platforms that suit you. Options mentioned include eBay, Etsy, Instagram, a personal website, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Threads.
• Build recognition over time. A consistent presence in the market can make an artist’s name and body of work more familiar to potential buyers, which may help them feel more confident about purchasing.

Three Ways to Scale

1. Make more paintings, if production capacity allows.
2. List or promote work on more channels.
3. Increase targeted views by focusing on platforms where people engage—asking questions, commenting, or contacting the artist—and consider paid advertising.

Trujillo stresses that making more work is limited by time, while adding sales channels and reaching more interested viewers may offer more room to grow.

Creator featured: Jose Trujillo.