7 international services where artists, illustrators and photographers make money from their own work

How to make money as an artist online has more answers than most people assume. Most artists know one or two: a commission through friends, or work listed for sale. In practice there are at least four income models, and they do not compete. One-off commissions from new clients. Sales of finished work — prints, merch, digital files. Regular support from your own audience. And a salaried remote job.
Below are seven international services, one per model. For each we looked at what decides things in practice: how much the service keeps, where it can be used from, and what payouts require. The cuts vary widely, from zero to twenty per cent, and that shows on every order.
Each entry says who it suits, who it does not, and what access involves. Two or three platforms usually cover one profile. Still, read the whole list — that is how you spot the model you had not considered.

Fiverr
The largest services marketplace, where the order comes from a client you have never met. Illustration, branding, UI/UX, motion, game graphics. You package a service at a set price and the client buys it. An AI option exists too: train a model on your work, and clients generate “in your style” with the rights still yours. Artists are divided about it.
Know up front: the 20% commission is the highest here. It applies to everything, tips included, whatever your seller level. The client also pays about 5.5%, so your work costs more than your price.
A good fit if: you need new clients and have no audience yet. Especially when a service fits a fixed-price package.
Less suitable if: the platform does not operate in every country. What counts is where you actually live. Signing up through a VPN on someone else’s address leads to a block, money included.
Access: the account costs nothing, the commission is 20%. PayPal withdrawals are not charged; a bank transfer through Payoneer costs a couple of dollars.

VGen
A commissions marketplace grown out of VTuber and streamer culture: avatars, emotes, overlays, character illustration. Clients here look for the artist themselves, so work arrives without pitching. Every deal generates an invoice, payment is protected, and reviews run both ways.
The storefront takes verification, though, and the bar is strict: 10 followers, $100 earned in 30 days, 3 reviews, a 4.6 rating and at least 80% of orders delivered on time. Without verification you simply do not appear in the marketplace.
A good fit if: you draw characters, avatars and emotes, and want clients to find you.
Less suitable if: you work outside that niche, or would rather not hold the bar. Letting on-time delivery slip below 80% removes verification.
Access: 5% from the artist plus payment fees, and nothing for withdrawal. Built-in payments cost 2.9% plus $0.30, with another 1.5–2.5% for payouts outside the US; through PayPal it adds up to roughly 10%.

Artistree
A commissions platform with a rare model: it is free for the artist, and the 6.5% commission is paid by the client. Registration is open: no invitations, no portfolio review. Two ways to work. The full cycle through the service, where the client pays up front and messages and delivery are kept as evidence. Or issue an invoice and deliver outside the platform — then you keep 100%, but lose part of the protection.
The service leans on ethics as well: a tree planted per order, and a stand against AI generation and NFTs.
A good fit if: you have an audience of your own to bring in, and keeping the whole fee matters.
Less suitable if: you need a ready flow of new clients — the storefront is weaker than VGen’s. For selling originals with shipping it is no use either.
Access: free for the artist, 6.5% paid by the client. You need an account in one of the supported countries; the list is wide, so check yours first.

Etsy
The only platform here for physical work: originals, prints, merch, craft. With print on demand you upload a design and a partner prints and ships each order — a T-shirt, a poster, a mug. So making and posting the goods yourself is optional.
Do the maths carefully, because the fees stack. A listing costs $0.20 for four months, sold or not. The transaction fee is 6.5%. Payment processing depends on your account’s country, and currency conversion takes 2.5% if prices are in another currency. On top comes Offsite Ads: 15% of an attributed order, and it cannot be switched off. Altogether that lands at 10–15% of the price.
A good fit if: you work with physical objects, or want to sell prints without production and logistics.
Less suitable if: payouts only go to an account in the shop’s country of registration. A shop opened on someone else’s details gets blocked, funds included.
Access: a one-off setup fee, then 10–15% of the price. Payouts require ID, an address and an account in the shop’s country.

Ko-fi
The most flexible support service: donations, paid memberships, a shop for digital and physical goods, and commissions on one page. The owner is an independent British company.
Money works unusually here: there are no payouts as such, and amounts land straight in your PayPal or Stripe. The service fee is 0–5%. On the basic tier one-off donations carry no fee, while memberships, the shop and commissions take 5%. Ko-fi Gold at $12 a month removes service fees entirely. Payment processing always sits on top, around 3% plus $0.30.
One detail is easy to miss, though. New accounts default to Contributor status, which takes 5% of tips, so switching it off is manual.
A good fit if: you have an audience and want donations, memberships and a digital shop in one place.
Less suitable if: PayPal and Stripe do not work where you live. Then Ko-fi cannot take money for you.
Access: the basic tier carries a 0–5% fee, and Ko-fi Gold costs $12 a month with no service fees.

Patreon
A paid-membership platform, and the income here is not one-off: your audience pays every month for access to what you make. Memberships split into tiers with different content — posts behind a paywall, work in progress, early access, live calls.
The platform fee is 10%, the same for everyone who started or updated a page in recent years. Long-standing creators may keep an older, lower rate. Payment processing comes on top: 2.9% plus $0.30 by card, 3.9% plus $0.30 for PayPal outside the US. Currency conversion adds 2.5%. In-app memberships on iPhone cost more because of Apple’s fee.
A good fit if: you already have an audience, and something to give it regularly.
Less suitable if: you have no audience yet — memberships do not appear on their own. Payouts need an account abroad, a European one for example.
Access: the account costs nothing, and the platform fee is 10% plus payment processing.

Remotive
The only service here about a salary rather than sales: a remote job board with a separate Design category. The payer is neither your audience nor a client but an employer — once a month, predictably.
The site is honest about one thing: without a subscription you see less than 1% of the job base. A subscription runs about $29 a month or $89 a year; the exact price is not published and depends on the country. Remotive takes no cut of your salary.
The free part is still useful, though. Filter by the Design category and press Create Email Alert — new listings then arrive by email, no subscription needed.
A good fit if: you want steady remote employment with a company abroad rather than one-off orders.
Less suitable if: work rights and an account for international payouts will be required. Money comes from the company directly, usually through employer-of-record services, which do not operate everywhere.
Access: browsing and email alerts are not charged, and the full base costs about $29 a month.

So how to make money as an artist online is a choice of income model, not of platform. There are four, and they stack. One-off commissions come from Fiverr, VGen and Artistree. Sales of finished work — Etsy. Regular support — Ko-fi and Patreon. A steady salary — Remotive.
The choice gets simpler if you start not with a platform but with a question: do you have an audience of your own? If you do, Artistree, Ko-fi and Patreon work, because there you are not paying for client flow. If you do not, Fiverr and VGen supply that flow, and charge noticeably more for it. Before registering, check two things: how much the service keeps and what payouts require in your country. Those, rather than the size of the platform, decide how much reaches you.