Painters produce works of art and create decor for homes, sometimes blurring the line between fine art and commercial interior design with works such as murals and decorative patterns. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), around 45 percent of all commercial painters and paperhangers, as well as 60 percent of artists, are self-employed. Self-employed status directly impacts the salaries and work conditions of these painters.
Average Earnings
The BLS notes that residential and non-residential construction businesses pay self-employed painters hourly wages between $14 and $17, with slightly higher pay for non-residential building construction and finishing tasks. This equates to an annual salary of between $29,000 and $35,000 for self-employed painters who work full-time schedules. BLS data also reveals that fine arts painters typically make between $29,000 and $61,000, with some earning as much as $83,000 per year. However, self-employed and salaried painters may earn very different wages due to differences in demand for their work or artistic skill level.
Factors
Many factors contribute to determining which self-employed artists prosper from their work and which earn low, or even unsustainable, wages. One of the biggest factors is skill level, which is true for both fine arts painters and commercial painters. Attention to detail, creativity and an ability to understand what a client wants all affect the final product. Painters use photographs of past work to represent themselves to new clients, which makes skill level and a strong body of past work even more important. Self-employed painters also rely on professional networks that include art buyers, home builders, interior decorators and curators to promote their work and put them in touch with potential clients.
Schedule Considerations
Unlike artists and commercial painters who work part-time or full-time for employers, self-employed painters are likely to see their salaries fluctuate from year to year and within a single calendar year. For example, seasonal shifts in home renovations and building will impact a residential painter's access to work, just as regional changes in new home construction and economic growth will affect how much work a painter can get. Fine artists are likewise subject to shifts in demand, facing the possibility of short periods of high demand for work and longer periods of work scarcity. This means that self-employed painters need to budget their incomes and, at times, may need secondary sources of income.
Career Path
According to the BLS, some painters choose to use a period of self-employment early in a career to gain experience and develop painting skills, as well as a portfolio of work, before seeing traditional employment. For example, students of fine art who sell work occasionally, or house painters who work during summers, are likely to be self-employed even if they don't have career aspirations that involve the challenges and freedom that self-employment brings.
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