Whether you already enjoy drawing, painting, sketching, or doodling images of food or want to learn these skills, food illustration can make a great creative part time job for dietitians.
Creating art in any genre or style can be an enjoyable and creative outlet regardless of whether it brings in some extra income. Sometimes the repetitive nature of our work can lead to burnout, stagnation, and feelings of a general lack of balance with life. Making time for a creative outlet can help relieve some of that stress.
What if you want to see if there’s a way to make some extra money (without sucking all the fun out of it)?
If creating food illustrations is a side hustle you’re curious about pursuing, here are some ways you can get started.
Getting Started With Food Illustration
Choose Your Medium
First you’ll want to decide on a medium to focus on. You don’t have to stick with this medium forever, but as you develop your style it’ll be much clearer what your style is if you choose a clear medium.
Traditional media like watercolor, acrylic, ink, graphite, and charcoal all offer unique opportunities to develop your illustration style and can be less cost prohibitive to get started with if you don’t have equipment for digital illustration.
Digital illustrations have many advantages over traditional media, plus with tools like Procreate and Adobe Illustrator the options and flexibility of digital illustration are certainly appealing.
Take time to consider your ideal clients and what will appeal to them, but choose a medium that you enjoy and are excited to work with.
Build Your Portfolio
If you’re starting from scratch and building your portfolio from nothing, start by creating illustrations of foods you’re familiar with. These could be produce items like fruits and vegetables, or whole ingredients like nuts, dry pasta, or fresh herbs.
Share your illustrations on social media, sharing a mix of finished illustrations and in-progress or process videos. Include captions that highlight your nutrition expertise to attract clients in the health, wellness, and food industries.
If you have a website, publish your portfolio on your site so you can direct people to view a collection of your best work.
Use Your Existing Platforms
Rather than starting from a following of zero, utilize your existing platforms, such as an Instagram account or blog focused on dietetics or nutrition.
Incorporate your illustrations into your content - illustrating recipes, illustrated infographics, or time-lapses of your creation process.
Adding this artistic flair to your feed can help attract new followers interested in food art.
Part Time Jobs for Dietitians
There are lots of ways to make money from food illustration. Here are some creative part time jobs or dietitian side hustles you can dive into today:
Freelance Illustrator
A great part time job for dietitians interested in illustration is a freelance illustrator. Leverage your expertise and knowledge of nutrition to find clients in the food and nutrition sectors. You could even collaborate with fellow dietitians to illustrate books for dietitians.
Food Illustration Prints and Products
There are numerous websites you can upload your illustrations to and offer digital downloads or prints of your food illustrations. Design a whole shop dedicated to gifts for dietitians, gifts for nutritionists, or just gifts for foodies in general.
Stock Image Contributor
Another option is to upload your food illustrations to stock image sites where users can license your work and download it to use in their projects, products, etc.
You can earn income from selling stock imagery that ranges from a couple dollars a month, to hundreds or even thousands of dollars per month depending on your volume of uploads, how saturated your niche is, the type of downloadable asset, the licensing type, and the platform's pay structure.
Some examples are Adobe stock contributor, Canva contributor, Shutterstock contributor, and Vecteezy contributor, but there are so many more to choose from.
Social Media and YouTube Creator
If you’re interested in building a following on social media, consider building a dedicated food illustration YouTube channel and/or social media account. You can host live studio hours, share tutorials of your process, create videos of you working, or vlog a day-in-your-life.
In addition to building an audience that may want to purchase something from you directly, such as an illustration, print, course, or membership, growing an audience can lead to additional monetization avenues through ad revenue, sponsorships, and brand deals.
Create Educational Resources
Take your food illustrations a step further and incorporate them into unique educational nutrition resources. Sell these digital products on your own website or utilize a site like Etsy or Well Resourced Dietitian.
You can also use these unique educational resources as a part of your marketing funnel, offering them as free downloadable resources to grow your email list and attract potential clients.
Final Thoughts
Food illustration is a unique niche and offers so many great opportunities for dietitians to apply their expertise while doing something creatively fulfilling.
Even if you don’t want to make money off your food illustrations, the process of creating can offer many benefits including improved mental health, increased personal fulfillment, improved problem-solving skills, and increased self-expression.
If you do want to try out a new creative side hustle, food illustration is one option that allows you to merge your passion for food and nutrition with creativity.
Can’t wait to see what you make!
If you haven't already, join the Artists & Creators in Dietetics Facebook group.
About the Author
Sara is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, artist, writer, and video editor. She holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Nutrition from Oregon State University. In 2021 she founded The Kerrminator LLC, which specializes in creative services including video editing, graphic design, and content creation.
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