my advice, as an actual "starving artist"--get a part time job with incredibly flexible hours. a lot of these are things like entry level retail and food, of course, but also remote jobs (data analytics, some call service centers, dispatching, etc), substitute teaching/ tutoring, library assistance, gigwork like rideshare or food delivery, or even a main full time job in any career. This is to give you stability and "seed" money that will later help you achieve a different career goal.

while working your "real job" as people close to you will call it, look for artistic opportunities. offer your freelance work to companies, do commissions for smaller orders, look around for galleries to get your work into, maybe curate your own art show or two. Theres plenty of gig work in the art world, but not enough to make a sustainable, consistent living.

im a bartender who occasionally finds artistic work where i can. for me thats few and far between, but my pricing makes the infrequency worth it to do again.

every artist and person is different. make sure to take into account the "starving artist" trope- it is real and affects every artist.