street sketch artists (Union, Orleans: unemployment rate, school, income)

[knoxblox]

Hey all,

I'm an advanced art student looking to start attending the Art Students League by the fall of 2012.
Of course, my plans are to come with enough savings to carry me for two school semesters (about six months) minimum. Beyond that, I'm worried about whether or not I'd be able to find sufficient work of any kind to live on, or have to leave after only one school year.

Do portrait sketch artists still exist in NYC? I'm talking about people who specifically do it in public for money.
I'm thinking a possible supplement to my income could be doing portrait sketches in public for tourists or others, but I'm not sure what the situation is with that these days...it would be great way to keep my abilities sharp when outside of classes, too.
I know that NYC has a busker audition for the MUNY, but do sketch artists have to audition for certain spots in the city, like I've heard they do in New Orleans, or can you just do it wherever it's allowed with a street performer permit, like in Chicago?
OR...have the police simply run off all the sketch artists under threat of arrest?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not wanting to clutter the streets with junk art.
I'm only wanting to go to the Art Students League for as long as necessary, and then GTHO of NYC, but still afford to eat some peanut butter and jelly while I'm in school. Just considering the alternatives if the unemployment rate is still just as high a year and a half from now.

I've tried to find info on this, but the only recent stuff I can find is articles and websites for buskers, not for sketch artists.

[Alkonost]

Heya,

It is brutal here for artists because the arena is flooded. It may be hard to claw out a niche for yourself in that environment even if your work is supurb.

It's been many years since I've seen a portrait artist, my stomping grounds are the union square area. Maybe others can report in on different areas.

There may be licencing involved, most people who I see selling art in Union Square have to get permission to set up shop. I'm not sure what the fees or procedure is. If you get a chance, maybe visit some of the artists there and ask how biz has been and what you can expect.

[mc33433]

I see them all the time on Central Park South, by 6th Avenue.

[SkyBob]

I see quite a few on 5th Avenue, just north of Central Park South.

[knoxblox]

Okay, thanks for the info. I figured there would be artists in Central Park, if there were any at all, but you just don't hear about them on the internet very often.

@Alkonost: Yeah, I figured that the competition might be fierce, but I'm only thinking of a backup plan, really. I'd still like to keep all legal options open in case times get a little bit hard.
Most of the time when I'm painting out in the open, I get inquiries about selling my art. That's mostly dealing off the street at a later time, rather than a direct sale.
Good thing life portraits are my specialty. At least nobody would be offended because I sucked. I hate those "I drew your portrait, even if it's not so good, so pay up" guys that used to try and scam people in Chicago.

[mc33433]

I googled the area that I always see them at and sure enough you can see how many there usually are

[knoxblox]

I just saw some video from last year posted on the Central Park Portrait Exchange website.

Dang! Those artists literally have to run to stake out their territory when the park opens! New Bloomberg rules, from what it says. Guess there was a big to-do about it last year, with protests and everything, but the artists still lost the court battle.