Someone asked for financial advice for artists and writers. OK. Here it goes: the biggest one—live somewhere cheap. I have lived in New York City, Vancouver, and San Francisco. THEY ARE ALL TOO EXPENSIVE. I now live in a town with a pop. of 8k. It's awesome and cheap.
If you work for yourself, remove 30% from your income automatically and keep it in another account for taxes. Keep your business purchases on a separate credit card so you can get the maximum deductions in the easiest way.
Avoid owning a car if you can. They are expensive and ultimately end up as a loss. If you can exist without a car, you will save SO much money. Reduce all outgoing costs to a minimum. I do internet (duh), but we haven't had cable in a decade, for example.
Sock away money as much as you can, when you can. If you freelance, you'll find you have lean weeks, months and even YEARS, when, for one reason or another, no one wants to hire you. You still have to eat. These savings will help.
Use your credit card to pay for groceries and other monthly incidentals BUT ALWAYS PAY THE BALANCE DOWN TO 0 at the end of the month; in other words, don't charge what you can't afford. This will boost your credit rating.
Work on lots of different things at once. This requires self-discipline but most creatives I know can handle two or even four things (on and off) in the same time-frame. Jobs have a way of self-destructing into kill fees or vanishing altogether, it pays to have a backburner.
And last, but not least—as told to me by a GREAT artist, a man who literally invented a genre—when you come up with a price to create a piece of freelance work, DOUBLE THAT PRICE. We ALWAYS short-sell ourselves.
