The aims of this study were to investigate the associations among personality traits, perceived creation stress, and life satisfaction in visual artists, as well as examine the mediating role of perceived creation stress. We recruited 201 visual artists in Beijing's Songzhuang art colony to participate in this study and used the Mini International Personality Item Pool-Five-Factor Model measure, the Perceived Creation Stress Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Extraversion and conscientiousness positively predicted life satisfaction, and conscientiousness was negatively associated with creation stress. Positive U-shaped curvilinear relationships between personality traits and life satisfaction (neuroticism, conscientiousness, extroversion, and agreeableness) characterized the nonlinear relationship model. Meanwhile, perceived creation stress mediated the relationship between conscientiousness (both linear and quadratic) and life satisfaction. Our findings highlighted the dark-side traits (e.g., neuroticism, introversion, low agreeableness, and conscientiousness) associated with visual artists' subjective well-being.