Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.
- Median pay
- $55,490
- Doing it now
- 28,900
- By 2035
- Down 2.9%
- Usually needs
- Bachelor's degree
a year
across the country
2,200 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
- Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.
- Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.
- Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.
- Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.
- Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors.
- Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Fine and Studio ArtsSee 1,083 colleges that teach it
- Visual and Performing Arts, GeneralSee 317 colleges that teach it
- Medical Illustration and InformaticsSee 44 colleges that teach it
- Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged ArtSee 2 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Creative and expressive
Hands-on and practical
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $55,490 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.