What Jobs Do I Qualify for With an Art Degree?

One of the biggest questions prospective art students have is whether or not they will be able to make a substantial income with their art degree. The stereotype of the starving artist is all too prevalent in our society and it is a scenario few wish to emulate. Rest assured, it is possible to make a living as an artist. Although the majority of artists in the U.S. are self-employed, students who earn a bachelor’s degree in art have many options for full-time work.

Fine Artists

Fine artists are those who create paintings, sculptures, or print images for display at museums, galleries, and studios. Fine artists often work on commission or receive a portion of proceeds from art that is sold in galleries. While few fine artists can support themselves entirely by selling their work, for those that do, the median income is about $42,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Multimedia Artists and Animators

Multimedia artists and animators are professionals who create visual images that appear in movies, video and computer games, music videos, television shows, and commercials. Multimedia artists use a mix of computers and hand-drawn images to create their art. On average, multimedia artists earn about $50,000 annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because multimedia jobs are heavily related to the film and television industry, many work in California, New York, and other East Coast states.

Art Directors

Art directors are artists who conceptualize and present visual information in advertising, marketing, and publications such as newspapers or magazines. Art directors also often work as managers, overseeing the work of other artists such as photographers or graphic designers. They earn an average of $70,000 a year and, like multimedia artists, the majority of jobs are concentrated in New York and California.

Illustrators

Illustrators create drawings for books, magazines, or advertisements. They also often create images for greeting cards, postage stamps, wallpaper, posters, record album covers, or other commercial products. Many illustrators work freelance, receiving commissions for specific projects. They can also sell work not created for a particular client to stock houses, or larger corporate entities that compile illustrations and photographs and sell them to Web sites and print publications.

One subset of the illustration field is medical and scientific illustrators. These artists create the images used in medical and scientific textbooks, pharmaceutical advertising, or medical court cases. Medical illustration requires a detailed understanding of biology and anatomy. Most medical illustrators have a bachelor’s degree in art or biology and a master’s degree in medical illustration.

Some illustrators choose to work in sketch artistry. Sketch artists, sometimes called criminal or forensic sketch artists, generally work for law enforcement agencies, drawing age-progression illustrations or composites of criminal suspects based on witness descriptions. They also sometimes draw courtrooms scenes for use by news media. The requirements for sketch artists vary across police departments and it is common for smaller departments to use freelance sketch artists rather than hire full-time ones. The average salary for illustrators is an average of $42,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Art Teachers

Students with an art degree can also work as art teachers in primary and secondary schools. To teach in public schools, most states require that a teacher have a bachelor’s degree in education. However, many states allow teachers with a degree in a particular field, such as art, to obtain a teaching certificate or license through an alternative program. These programs vary state by state and generally take one to two years to complete. In general, people working towards a license are allowed to teach while enrolled in a certificate program. Private schools do not have license requirements and often hire teachers who have a bachelor’s degree in the subject they intend to teach. The average salary for teachers varies based on the state and the individual teacher’s level of education, but the median salary for elementary and secondary teachers is about $50,000.

Article Resources:

U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook
International Animated Film Society
Art Directors Club
National Center for Alternative Certification
Society of Illustrators
Illustrators Partnership of America
Association of Medical Illustrators
International Association for Identification