Professional cartography and income

[Cuin]

Just curious. I'm wondering if anyone on the site is 100% financially supported by cartography commissions. I made a poll for anonymity. The ranges in the poll are % annual income.

[J.Edward]

I get a lot from map making but not my entire income.
I do a lot of architectural illustration, some graphic design, some lettering, a bit of concept design work and some 3d every so often.
In 2015 I got a huge spike in map making income but it leveled out as other illustration picked back up to fill the gap.

[xpian]

I have some income from freelance graphic design, and a little from commissions doing fantasy maps, but most of my income currently comes from a "day job" that involves caring for my developmentally disabled son. My wife has a job doing ergonomic evaluations for big tech companies in the San Francisco area. We're lucky enough to have gotten into a rent-controlled apartment in the City about 13 years ago--otherwise, we'd have trouble affording to live in such a beautiful but expensive city.

[Wired]

I logged in at 20-29%, but that's really the best I ever managed so far. Even if I wanted to, my dayjob doesn't allow for much more commissions.

[snodsy]

I put 0%, I have a day job as an Environmental Graphic Designer (3D graphics - signage/exhibits/branded environments which includes some graphic maps (hospitals/stadiums, etc), however I would like to do maps in the future once I retire (9 years off), so I'm trying to develop my skills now before I forget, have a trembling hand or lose my eyesight completely, but I guess If any of those happen I won't be doing map either, so just doing it for fun I suppose.

[Jaxilon]

So far it's minuscule compared to my day job. It makes it very hard to give quotes because dollars per hour there just isn't much of any comparison between the two. By that I mean I'm WAY better off working my day job compared to making art and since I work as a consultant I can put in as many hours as I want. I just love making art so much I have to do it. So it's a way small percent. I would love to see that change but for now that's the reality.

I might also add that while I do paid commissions I am not making my living from artwork.

[Vhey]

My only income is from art, be it commissions or perpetual assets. I've only just gotten map commissions so I put 30%. That's my current balance if I complete the backlog I have now.

[Deadshade]

Cartography and art is only my hobby. I am not actively looking for commissions but as I tend to actively help people who need art/cartography expertise, in most cases they finish by paying me Something to acknowledge the added value.
So it's clearly in the 0-9% range and I would never think or want to make my living with it - physics is much more interesting and challenging

[AurelianDesign]

I get a moderate chunk of my graphic design business from map design. It's been increasing over the last couple years. I just started doing some maps for a textbook publisher. First ones were a couple maps of parts of the ancient world. I also do a fair amount of real estate related maps - developments and such.

[- Max -]

I'm making 50% of my annual income with maps commissions but I only involve 50% of my working time on it.