A graphic artist, often known as a graphic illustrator, is an expert artist and computer user. You’ll be producing art for a variety of graphic tasks, including covers, posters, and commercials. Even when you have your own art style, you can be required to utilize a particular one. The ability to effectively convey the project’s or business’s message through your artwork is crucial.
You need strong analytical abilities, excellent communication skills, and, of course, exceptional aesthetic ability to succeed as a graphic artist. All of these abilities are necessary for you to succeed as a graphic artist.
The average annual compensation for a graphic artist is $50,710. You can also consider alternative roles and advance your career with a 3% job growth rate. You can work as a design manager, a designer, or a graphic designer. There are numerous options available to you when you start out as a graphic artist today; this is only one one.
When it comes to being a graphic artist, there is more to it than meets the eye. For instance, did you know that their hourly wage is, on average, $30.16? That amounts to $62,736 a year. Similarly, this career is anticipated to expand by 3% between 2018 and 2028, creating 8,800 new work opportunities.
What Does a Graphic Artist Do?
Many graphic artists need to possess specific skills in order to carry out their duties. We were able to focus on the most typical competencies for someone in this position by looking through resumes. We found that a lot of resumes listed communication, artistic, and analytical skills.
The ultimate objective of a graphic designer is to increase the company’s visibility and recognition. They convey a certain idea or identity to be utilized in advertising and promotions by employing text, graphics, and a range of media. Fonts, sizes, shapes, and colors, as well as print design, photography, animation, logos, and billboards, are all examples of media.
On projects, graphic designers frequently work along with web designers, digital marketing experts, multimedia animators, programmers, and art directors. They work closely with copywriters who produce the content to determine if it should be placed in headlines, paragraphs, lists, or tables when employing text in layouts.
The following are some of the duties of a graphic designer:
- To ascertain a project’s scope, meet with clients or the art director.
- Provide clients with advice on how to reach a particular audience.
- Establish the message that the design should convey.
- Make visual representations of products or messages.
- Create illustrations for products, logos, and websites using graphics and audio or visual images.
- Either by hand or with the aid of computer software, create designs.
- Choose the layout, color scheme, and text style.
- Show the art director or clients the design.
- Adapt the final design to the client’s suggestions for changes.
- Prior to printing or publication, check designs for flaws.
Career Outlook for a Graphic Artist
A designer can benefit various companies because graphic design is a crucial marketing tool. The need for graphic designers does, however, differ by business. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are less options for graphic designers to find work in the publishing sector. But as more businesses continue to expand their digital presence, the demand for graphic designers in computer systems design and related services is anticipated to rise.
Additionally, there are several chances for graphic designers to diversify into other design disciplines. A graphic designer can go into adjacent fields like web development or UX/UI design because of their many transferrable talents.
How To Become a Graphic Artist
If you’re interested in becoming a graphic artist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. According to our research, 61.2 percent of graphic artists hold a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education, we discovered that 3.2% of graphic artists hold master’s degrees. Even though most graphic artists hold a college degree, becoming one requires only a high school diploma or GED.
When looking into how to become a graphic artist, picking the right major is usually a crucial first step. When we looked at the most popular majors for graphic artists, we discovered that bachelor’s degrees or associate degrees are what they most frequently receive. High school diplomas and master’s degrees are two additional degrees that we frequently see on the resumes of graphic artists.
It’s possible that working in other professions will prepare you for a career as a graphic artist. In reality, many positions for graphic artists demand prior experience in a position like graphic designer. In the meantime, a lot of graphic designers have also had prior work experience as art directors or intern graphic designers.
Graphic designers with some practical experience are in high demand. There are numerous ways to acquire this knowledge. While many businesses prefer candidates with relevant work experience, you can also demonstrate your abilities through personal projects, volunteer work, and internships.
Although smaller businesses are more tolerant, the majority of graphic design positions will require a minimum of one year of experience. A solid portfolio containing a variety of personal work will assist pique an employer’s attention if you lack considerable experience. You can start freelancing right immediately to expand your portfolio while you apply for graphic design employment.