Making money as an artist (for most people) is accomplished by using multiple streams of revenue. Artists are making art prints, monthly mail clubs, original art, and stickers to make a living from their passion.
(DISCLAIMER: For convenience, I've added links to each product. They are Amazon Affiliate links.)
I started out using the HP Envy 6155e. It's a pretty good printer. It just has a front tray, so it can't support cardstock over 50lbs, but the print quality is impressive for the price. I've used it for stickers mainly, but it also does well with normal weight copy paper. There is some HP-specific satin photo paper that I used. It was pretty good as well. The only con is that the back of this paper had a watermark on it which kind of eliminates the “art print” aesthetic in my opinion. It's also satin instead of matte, so it has a bit of a sheen, but it is the best I could find for that printer.
Overall, the Envy did very well for what it was, but it was not a good art printer.
I recently bought the Epson Ecotank 8500. I'll admit, I was skeptical. I saw a couple of bad reviews and became wary even while buying it (it was on sale, I had to). But when I started using it, the first page I printed (not meticulously altering settings, printed from my phone) made an ALMOST PERFECT art print on Epson Matte Presentation Paper. I was honestly shocked. With all of the “rave reviews” for products that end up being useless, I was pleasantly surprised with a purchase that not only met but EXCEEDED my expectations. Since then, I've been printing consistently without any issues. In total, I've printed around 800 pages in the past couple of weeks, which seems like probably too much, but it's such a powerhouse.
Of course, nothing is perfect. It can be more difficult to find the ink bottles compared with cartridges (or maybe this is a local issue, everyone may have gotten the same printer and now no one has ink). It is more difficult to print from my phone than the Envy, and for some reason I need to have the window open the entire time I'm printing or it cancels, but this doesn't happen on my PC, so I'm assuming it's a user issue as opposed to a printer issue. 😂😅
All in all, I would 100% recommend the Ecotank 8500 for art prints. I've also used it to print cardstock coloring books (hence the 800 pages of printing I forced it to do). It has some confusing quirks with regards to printing from your phone, but it produces AMAZING results and seems to use much less ink than cartridge printers. It also has a rear feed and manual feed slot (I tried the manual feed slot, and it works, but I am too impatient to use the manual feed slot for larger print jobs, so I tend to use the rear feed).
ACEO Art Card Print on Epson Matte Presentation Paper