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How many ways can you make money by illustrating pictures? A whole bunch! One of the ways, which could bring in passive income, is by selling your illustrations on online stock image sites. They’re easy to submit to!

Here’s how it goes. You create an image, whether it’s an illustration, a photograph, or a film clip. You look at stock image websites like 123RF, Jupiter Images, Big Stock Photo, Corbis Images, or Crestock, and you find out if the quality of your art matches the quality they are looking for.

Check their site to find out what the 80 most downloaded styles of images are in a particular category, so you can find out if your image has a good possibility of selling. For instance, if you like to create glamour images, find out if human models are the most common to illustrate, or if it is a beautiful woman gettting a spa treatment or a glass of red wine against a bright background. Or if you like to illustrate money images, find out what type of pictures are the most popular. On one site, surprisingly, I did not see a lot of pictures of coins and bills; instead I saw a stock chart lying on a table. On top of the chart was a fancy pen, a men’s pair of gold rim glasses, and an outdated calculator. I did not expect to see a 10 year old calculator on the paper, so I checked other stock image sites to see if this style of calculator was common. And guess what? It was.

Another common picture, which I did not foresee, were blank street signs. The signs could be filled in with words like “Wall St.”, “Number One Road” or “Success St.” by the buyers of the picture.

After you make sure the type of illustration the stock image company is looking for is the type of illustration you like to create, start illustrating!

Before choosing exactly which site you want to submit your illustrations to, look at their terms of agreement, and consider whether you want to sell your images royalty free or rights managed, and whether you think the site is a good fit with your needs.