Touring - Financial Self-support on Tour through Creative Work?

Performance arts [like music (which was mentioned on another thread recently -- a couple were supporting their touring this way), busking, and spray paint art] would be one area.

Arts and crafts would be another. Some people make earrings and other jewelry, and sell them while touring. There might be other crafts that could work as well. Found-object art has books written about it, and touring seems well suited in some ways to this art form.

Body painting might be another way.

Paintings on canvas, paper, or other surfaces would be another area.

Miniature painting would be another.

Any other ideas?

1) The internet: writing and selling books plus earning commissions from sales through your site, like these folks: http://www.downtheroad.org/.

2) Robbing banks along the way, sorry no example.

3) Winning a lottery, no example either.

Adam

I've seen a fellow who wrote extemporaneous poetry on a typewriter from the street corner. Aside from the hassle of hauling a typewriter around, one could do this in any cities they pass through.

On a more realistic note, I have a friend who hand-makes greeting/post cards for tourists on the street. It could be an interesting twist to have a bike tourist who makes and sells post cards from the places they pass through.

There is a lot to be said for the old profession of the wandering minstrel, singing songs and telling stories for meals and money....a modern day bard, if you will.

I do computer stuff and any kind of technical things. I find I normally just help being people nice while on tour because they are so nice, and they end up just giving me some money for the road. Never count on but never forget the charity of others.

I'd say if you are already engaged in a creative profession, you may be able to carve out a way to work while on the road. E.g. if you are a photographer, you hit the road for 3 weeks and shoot a bunch of images for stock.

In order for this to really work though, you pretty much need to be set up in said profession to begin with. So in the above example, you kinda need to be set up already with the stock agency if you expect to (eventually) get paid for that selection of work.

There is a lot to be said for the old profession of the wandering minstrel, singing songs and telling stories for meals and money....a modern day bard, if you will.

I like that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM&feature=related

On some of those ideas, you'd have to be pretty selective about where you went. For example, you won't normally see any kind of street performer here in north Texas. I think I've seen one or two maybe in downtown Dallas, but it's not an area where I'd want to set a collection hat out where anyone could grab it. I understand that kind of thing is much more common in Europe.

Also, on some of the ideas, you have to get local permits in places. Not a big deal if you live there or spend some time there, but would cut into your earnings if you're just there a day or two.

Some of the ideas might be workable on an itinerant basis, but not necessarily a touring basis. For example work a renaisance festival two or three weeks here, and a state fair for two or three weeks there, flea markets in-between, etc.. But that would involve adjusting your route and schedule for the business, not just doing your thing whereever you happened to be at the time.

We are two tourists supporting ourselves with creative work. Laura makes jewelry, most notably the Bike Mustache ( http://pathlesspedaled.com/?p=828 )and I'm a photographer shooting family portraits and food photography as we travel (also freelancing for Adventure Cyclist).

www.pathlesspedaled.com

Best,
Russ and Laura

Amway

I play online poker as I travel and sometimes stop at casinos along the way if they offer poker. I traveled for 6 months this year. I'd go to a nice cafe with wifi and hang out for a couple hours playing as I ordered lunch and I played at hostels

It's not for everybody but works well for me :)

You might want to look at Census financial data about regions before you plan your route (the Census updates their financial data more frequently than it's decennial head count so it's usually pretty up to date). In areas that have incomes well below the national average the local populace won't tend to support many artistic endeavors. That's certainly true of the community I live in now. They barely support a farmer's market and then it's only vendors selling fruits, vegetables and food stuffs. Those vendors trying to sell crafts and artwork at the market don't tend to last long because no one buys their wares. In this economy, many residents in communities with higher average incomes may not be spending much on non-essentials. Good luck.