Today you don't need to be a famous artist to sell your art for a lot of money. Among the people making a mint from their hobby are world-famous musicians, Hollywood actors, and even presidents and kings.
Read on to discover the famous faces who you (probably) never knew make money from their art. All dollar amounts in US dollars, unless otherwise stated.
Brad Pitt has often spoken about his love of art in interviews and has even commissioned a piece by Banksy, according to a 2012 Metro story. But he doesn't just collect other people's work – he creates his own, too.
The Fight Club star has taken painting lessons with the British artist Colin Davidson, and has also built a home sculpture studio.
From September this year until January 2023, a selection of Pitt's sculptures will be on display at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Finland (pictured) as part of an exhibition that also features work by artist Thomas Houseago and musician Nick Cave.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Pitt – who turned to sculpture in the wake of his 2016 split from Angelina Jolie – said: "I always wanted to be a sculptor; I'd always wanted to try it".
Miley Cyrus is no stranger to controversy when it comes to her image, so it should come as little surprise that her visual art has proved just as eyebrow-raising.
In 2014, fashion magazine V showcased a number of sculptures crafted by the former Disney channel star. Pieces included a party hat with an in-built iPod and a mask made out of small white teddy bears (pictured).
Speaking to the magazine about the collection, which she titled Dirty Hippie, Cyrus described the mask as "my favourite piece". However, she noted that "[the mask is] the one that's taking the most time. I'm figuring out the strap now because I've done it so many different ways, and it keeps being too heavy and stabbing people".
King Charles III has just taken on one of the most high-profile jobs in the world – but ruling the country is far from the only string to his bow.
The new monarch is also an accomplished artist and has seen his watercolour paintings sell for thousands.
This painting of Balmoral Castle, where the late Queen Elizabeth II passed away in September, sold for a respectable £5,737.50 ($6.4k) at auction last month.
Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins is one of the most commercially successful artists in our round-up, with some of his acrylic paintings reportedly selling for up to $80,000 (£71.6k).
The Silence of the Lambs star began painting as a child back in the 1940s but didn't turn his hobby into a side hustle until his wife encouraged him to sell some of his work in the early 2000s. Since then, Hopkins has exhibited in Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, London, and Edinburgh.
He says painting "keeps [his] brain functioning, and makes [him] laugh", and he spends hours in his home studio every week.
In October 2022, Hopkins launched his debut NFT art collection. Titled The Eternal Collection, the series of digital artworks sold out in under seven minutes.
Elementary actor Lucy Liu studied art at the New York Studio School in the 1990s and originally exhibited her work under her Chinese name Yu Ling.
Liu's body of work now ranges from silkscreen prints to sculptures, with some pieces selling for between $10,000 (£8.95k) and $50,000 (£44.75k). She has exhibited at the likes of Salon Vert in London, as well as at the National Museum of Singapore.
Sylvester Stallone was one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 1980s, and while his skills as an actor and screenwriter are world-renowned, his talent for painting is lesser known.
Citing his key influences as Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol (the latter of whom photographed the Rocky star in 1980), Stallone has exhibited his artwork in museums in Russia and France. In a 2015 interview with The Telegraph, he stated that he'd produced somewhere between 300 and 400 paintings.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Travolta are among the names who've snapped up a Stallone original, with the artist humorously noting: "People bought them early on before they knew better".
As an actor, writer, comedian, TV and radio host, and activist, it's amazing that Rosie O'Donnell finds time to even think about art.
But the SMILF star has exhibited her paintings and collages across New York, and has even sold her work via online marketplace Etsy.
Much of her art is political. Her 2007 exhibition Rosie O'Donnell: Solace was created as a response to the 9/11 attacks, and she's since become known for making unflattering digital portraits of Donald Trump, with whom she has a long-standing feud.
Much like Rosie O'Donnell, Jim Carrey has also used his artistic talent for political purposes.
Regularly sharing his pieces on social media, Hollywood star Carrey has said he loved sketching as a child but discovered painting in adulthood, when he realised he "needed colour" in the midst of a grey New York winter.
Earlier this year, he reportedly announced his intention to retire from acting and focus on creating digital art and NFTs instead.
Carrey has released several NFTs in the past and has donated a chunk of the proceeds to World Central Kitchen, a non-profit that provides meals to people affected by natural disasters.
British actor Jane Seymour has a little-known side hustle. Under her own eponymous design label, the former Bond girl sells scarves, pyjamas, jewellery, sculptures, and fine art prints that showcase her love of watercolour painting.
She's previously even created her own painting kits for beginners, which come complete with an instructional DVD.
Seymour has exhibited her work in Toronto and describes art as "something [she] can't live without".
From a Bond girl to James Bond himself. Actor Pierce Brosnan has been painting since the 1980s and will be exhibiting his work in Santa Monica, California on 13 May 2023.
During an appearance on The Tonight Show earlier this year, Brosnan told host Jimmy Fallon that he'd originally planned to be an artist after leaving school.
He admitted: "I left school at 16, 17, with nothing but a cardboard folder of drawings and paintings. I got a job in a little studio in Putney, South London, and I thought 'I'm off to be an artist.' And then I discovered acting, or acting discovered me. And thank god for that!"
In 2018, Pierce Brosnan auctioned off a painting of Bob Dylan for a staggering $1.4 million (£1.2m). But the Minnesota-born musician hasn't just inspired other artists; he's also a painter himself.
Dylan started making visual art in the early 1960s, including this magazine cover (pictured), and later spent two months studying art with the painter Norman Raeben.
Dylan's work has since been exhibited all over the world, from Miami to Shanghai, with some pieces on sale at Castle Fine Art for as much as £17,500 ($20.1k).
Back in July, Johnny Depp "broke the internet" when he released a series of portraits called Friends & Heroes.
After the actor announced his debut art collection in an Instagram post (pictured), stunned fans crashed the Castle Fine Art website in a bid to purchase one of Depp's pieces.
According to Castle Fine Art, it was their fastest-selling collection in history, with the 780 prints snapped up for a grand total of $3.65 million (£3.2m).
"Before acting, and before music, art has always been an important outlet for [Depp's] creativity," the collection catalogue read.
James Franco hasn't kept his artistic side hustle a secret. In fact, he's fought to be considered an artist as much as an actor, telling Vulture in 2016 that he's been making art longer than he's been making films.
That very same year even saw him hang some of his artworks on the set of his rom-com movie Why Him?, as the character he played was an art lover. But not everyone has been quite so enamoured with Franco's paintings...
In a New York Times article dating back to 2014, art critic Roberta Smith wrote: "Perhaps James Franco should just stick to acting. He remains embarrassingly clueless when it comes to art".
While Jemima Kirke found fame on Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls, she hadn't always planned on becoming an actor.
The star majored in art and has a degree in Fine Arts, specialising in painting, from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Kirke has displayed her work several times, with exhibitions including a 2017-2018 show at NYC gallery Sargent's Daughters. Pictured is Kirke's sketch of her Conversations with Friends co-star Alison Oliver.
Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen has a secret side business: an independent publishing house called Perceval Press.
The company specialises in "art, critical writing, and poetry" with the purpose of publishing "texts, images, and recordings that otherwise might not be presented". This includes the work of Mortensen himself, a keen painter, poet, and photographer who founded Perceval in 2002.
CBS News reports that the actor exhibited his artwork long before becoming an actor and helps finance the small press because he believes that "it's a worthwhile thing to feed".
KISS frontman Paul Stanley put his artistic talent to good use with his iconic face paint – but his bold look and anthemic music aren't his only creative outlets.
Stanley "creates portraits and abstracts that are emotionally charged compositions", according to his website. His paintings have apparently made him upwards of $10 million (£8.6m) in sales, and he's also dabbled with sculptures.
Billy Dee Williams rose to fame in the 1980s as Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise and reprised his role in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. However, you're as likely to find him with a paintbrush in his hand as you are a lightsabre.
After graduating from the National Academy of Fine Arts & Design, Williams reportedly turned to acting as a way of funding his art supplies. It proved a lucrative career move – and he's continued to make money from painting too.
Currently, examples of his artwork are listed online for upwards of $8,500 (£7.3k) and he's previously sold pieces for as much as $35,000 (£30.1k).
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood doesn't just channel his creativity through music. A classically trained artist, Wood studied at London's Ealing Art College and has since "mastered a range of genres, from abstract to landscapes and portraiture", according to Castle Fine Art.
Many of his portraits have featured his fellow bandmates or other musicians he admires, as can be seen in this photo from 1987. Wood's other subjects have included everything from wild animals to ships; last month, he unveiled two new paintings called The Eleventh Hour and Storm On The Sea Of Galilee in Hampstead, London.
One quarter of the so-called Fab Four, former Beatle Paul McCartney started drawing as a child but didn't exhibit his artwork until 1999 when he was in his early forties. The paintings he exhibited in Siegen, Germany were later printed in his 2000 book Paintings (pictured).
McCartney has reportedly battled against being thought of as a "celebrity painter" and doesn't exhibit his work regularly, but the musician has sold limited-edition prints in the past and donated the proceeds to breast cancer charities.
Exhibiting alongside Pitt in Finland is the Australian musician Nick Cave, who is breaking into the art scene as a ceramicist.
His debut collection, titled The Devil – A Life, consists of 17 ceramic figurines that he made between 2020 and 2022.
It's the latest artistic project from Cave, who's worked variously as a poet, screenwriter, novelist, and actor. However, he's best known for fronting the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
When George Bush's email account was infiltrated back in 2013, the hacker didn't discover state secrets: instead, they stumbled across a series of the former president's paintings, with subject matter ranging from golf courses to self-portraits of Bush in the bath.
The ex-POTUS has been widely derided for his artistic endeavours, but they've proved profitable nonetheless. In 2017, Bush published a book containing 98 portraits of US veterans (pictured) and has since spoken about his artwork in interviews and on TV chat shows.
Wondering whether you've stumbled upon a Bush original? Check the signature. Rather than signing his paintings with his name, the 43rd president – who will "go down in the history books as a great artist", according to his art teacher – apparently prefers to write "43" in the corner of his masterpieces.
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