15 Jobs & Career Paths For ARTISTS (that actually make money)

there are a lot of ways to be a full-time artist and not all of them involve having to post on social media so if you're looking for art careers and you're basing your understanding of the market on your favorite artists influencers or content creators you're doing it wrong if you want a really thorough realistic look at all of the options out there for you you're gonna have to do some leg work I'm so sorry bestie you're gonna start having to think really hard about who designs all of the objects that you interact with or you see on a day-to-day basis and that's what I want to talk about today I want to talk about all of the job options out there for Creative people I want to open your eyes a little bit without further Ado let's get into the list and I also want to give a big thank you to SVS for sponsoring this week's video foreign [Music] number one the first job that I want to talk about is as a textile designer textile designers can use Fine Art like oil painting watercolor acrylics Etc or digital art to design patterns patterns for fabric that eventually turn into Furniture upholstery clothing Etc all of the stuff that you see in stores that's on fabric like the cutesy patterns in children's clothes or baby items or a really high-end expensive clothes there are people that design that stuff that work either independently as like kind of art licensing freelance textile designers or in like an in-house agency fashion house kind of setting that their whole job is to make stuff that is eventually like put on clothes the second job that I want to talk about is also like very much in line with the first one but it's as a surface pattern designer surface pattern designers they design stuff that will eventually be turned into things like station area or wallpaper it's very much the same concept the same kind of experience you don't need a degree to do this you just need to have a portfolio and make cool stuff and have the right connections and depending on the kind of industry that you want to Corner it could be like really professional stationary or like Kawaii stationary like really cute stuff there are tons of opportunities out there for you and it's really suitable for tons of art niches and like Styles number three is kinda zesty but it's as a medical illustrator so medical illustrators are increasingly going to be in high demand a variety of sources say that it's one of the fastest growing Industries out there for artists and creative people and basically what you're doing is you're like visually communicating really complex medical Concepts so think of like kids that have to have really complex surgeries or medical procedures that are terrified right your job is to create some kind of visual aid that could be a diorama it could be like a product like some kind of plushy toy or an illustration that conveys what's gonna happen in like an easy to understand digestible visual format if you want to go into this there are some degree programs that specialize in this field there are also a couple people in our Discord server that do this that I think are really cool to talk to if you want to join and chat with them but this is really interesting and you have to have some kind of complex understanding of what's actually going on to be able to like you know communicate it but if you have that understanding then you can use your art skills to really help people and the medical field is one of the fastest growing Industries in the country and in the world and these artists are really going to only become more in demand going forward so number four is a movie poster artist while major Studios might go to one artist to design their primary poster for a project they might also go to a variety of smaller freelance artists to design what's known as alternate posters alternate posters are like more experimental sometimes like really really creative but still convey like like the idea of the film and serve as advertising at things like film festivals small Indie theaters and can also be used for stuff like merch yeah put some stuff out there start making fan art posters and then see if you can actually get attention of these major Studios number five is as an icon artist this is kind of a niche position Edition in a lot of game development Studios but basically you're designing various inventory ability and kind of vanity icons as part of the larger UI team you might also find luck here looking for asset artist positions where basically you're designing stuff that's going into the game so you're like concepting and 3D modeling things like weapons like Potions all of the stuff that you pick up and put in your inventory you need icons for and then also like actually the object in the game but if you're looking at these Studios and you can't find like a position in Game Dev that works really well for your skill set these companies might usually have what's known as general art applications where you submit your resume in your portfolio and they kind of have that on file and they reference it whenever looking for someone new and if you fit what they're looking for they might reach out to you number seven is a Splash artist I love this job title I think it's so fun Splash artists work on designing things like title and loading screens that players see in between levels of games depending on what studio size you work in if it's like a large studio or a small Studio you could be wearing multiple hats in this position and working on stuff like marketing material for social media investors Etc while you go into this position wanting to design just loading screens and logos and titles you might end up doing some other stuff too but before we get into the rest of this list I want to briefly thank the sponsor of this week's video the school for visual storytelling the School of Visual storytelling also known as SVS has a robust guided curriculum of online classes designed to give you all of the skills that you need to become a working illustrator to start making money off of your art they have an amazing array of instructors on offer from artists like Marco Bucci Jake Parker Peter Han and Anna Davis Court some of their previous clients include companies like Disney Dreamworks Apple National Geographic and Blue Sky Studios with classes cover bring everything from perspective drawing to character design composition and visual storytelling you'll finish your journey at SVS with a nine piece foundations portfolio and all of the tools you'll need to start making a living with your art you can try SVS for free for 14 days to see if it's a good fit for you and once you're ready to commit they have a monthly and annual subscription option and they're also planning on offering a specific course bundles from our focused learning coming really soon check out the link in the description or go to svslearn.com Kelsey Rodriguez to learn more Jake Parker reached out to me personally to sponsor this week's video and I just want to say thank you to him for thinking of me because this is great and I really hope you guys check this out because SVS has some really truly amazing resources for all of you guys to check out all right let's dive back into our list number eight is as a production artist or graphic designer there are a ton of small to mid-sized companies that really want graphic designers and artists in-house to work on their marketing material and like stuff in-house I was browsing LinkedIn to kind of do research for this video and I noticed a lot of just like really random job listings out there for things like wine gift basket companies because they really wanted an artist to help design their marketing material and it really kind of forced me to realize that there is a ton of opportunity out there for really random things someone in our Discord server last week was talking about how they used to animate like HR training videos as a part of their job it totally goes so that there's a ton of opportunity out there you just have to look for it in places that you might not be expecting number nine is a lighting artist so as movie stuff goes increasingly digital or like a hybrid of digital for example like they don't usually film things in front of green screens anymore a lot of times now it is increasingly like in front of a bunch of these led screens that kind of wrap around that provide a much more immersive environment for the actors and all of the crew and then you kind of put everything together in the edit in like crazy ways that I cannot explain or really understand but they need lighting artists people who are really really just incredible understanding how light and color interact to be able to light a scene on these screens and on the set in real life as accurately and sometimes also as creatively as possible my friend Jeremy Vickery a foreign Pixar animator and lighting artist has worked on the set of shows like Westworld at like as a part of this job I think that's like a really cool really cool thing to be a part of and so technical but also a ton of room for artists to exert their kind of creative muscles here and do some really cool stuff Jeremy Vickery is here on YouTube if you want to check him out his channel is called light ponderings and I really recommend because he talks a lot about his experiences working on shows like Westworld and also at companies like Pixar number 10 is Studio staff this so makerspaces and art studios usually like to have artists on hand to help maintain and set up their equipment and just kind of monitor their maker space in studio usually as a part of this job as compensation you might get your own private Studio space on location I think this is a really sweet gig for artists I'm going to be honest you are not making art as a part of your job no I will give you that the critique is valid I understand but if you need a studio space that is very specific like some kind of Kiln or a glass blowing Studio or some kind of metal working space or like whatever and you can't afford to have that whole setup at home you might really actually thoroughly enjoy and like it could save you a ton of money to work as a studio staff member at one of these makerspaces or Studios I'm gonna be honest if I didn't have this Channel and if I didn't have my own business I would be trying to get work as a studio staff member at one of these places all right we are nearing the ends of our list here let's finish off strong wrong shall we number 11 is as an art Handler art handlers really get a thorough understanding of the inner workings of Art Gallery operations if you really wanted to be represented by a gallery going forward sometime in the future of your career then it could be almost invaluable to be honest to have an understanding of how galleries work from the inside if you're just up and coming if you don't have the skills quite yet to get into a gallery maybe consider working as a part of their operations team to get a really good understanding of how they work from the inside number 12 is as a conservator conservators are really highly trained artists you're going to have a thorough understanding of pigments traditional art techniques and how to repair and just maintain old masterpieces these artists usually have master's degrees and are really experienced and knowledgeable about art history if you have a good technical understanding of how pigments work and like the science behind restoring old artwork and you're really good at tedious work and you have a high attention to detail as a person this could be a really great job for you it is a thing that will require a lot of commitment you do have to usually go to grad school for this and intern at some really selective museums like the met but if you can get into it I think it could be really cool and really fun and super fulfilling to be able to leave your mark on restoring artwork that the rest of humanity can benefit from I think that would be really creatively fulfilling and just I think mean a lot you know what I mean number 13 is as a set designer I have been watching a lot of dropouts Dimension 20 a live ttrpg d game and it's great it's so much fun I love having in the background while I work on my new paintings but Dropout is a relatively small production company but there's so much so much art that goes into it from like set design to props the little Miniatures to the art that goes into the edit of of this show you might really enjoy making small dioramas like fantasy Landscapes or painting on little Miniatures and you could work as a set designer at Dropout or one of the other many Indie production companies out there and just see if it works out for you and number 15 is as a prop artist for kind of the same thing you're just designing a little objects little tchotchkes little like you know Miniatures Etc that bring this show to life it could be as part of like a theater performance or for a show like this one this is kind of cool to think about you know what I mean I don't know I would I would really enjoy this to be honest I would really enjoy this last but not least number 15 this is a typeface or font designer I know I know fonts are kind of random but hear me out okay well you might think of fonts like Baskerville Comic Sans Ariel Times New Roman when I say the word fonts there is a ton of creative opportunity and just like unexplored Avenues when it comes to font design you could design fonts that are entirely made up of ferns or flowers or paint brushes you could hand make a font like hand paint it yourself with oil paints watercolors acrylics and then you could turn into a thing that other folks can use in their creative projects font designers can work independently or they can join like a larger font design house and kind of be one of like the team members there but there's a ton a ton of cool things to do here and I really hope that one thing on this list inspired you I know this list wasn't super comprehensive and that maybe some of the things in here felt really random but I really do hope that maybe it opens your eyes just a little bit into what's out there all the possibilities to explore because I think that a lot of artists that are really starting out look at YouTube and Instagram and social media in general and think that they have to post on socials they have to become an influencer or content creator and I know that not everyone wants to be that I know that not everyone wants to have like this kind of job and you don't have to is kind of my whole point here you can really just explore the Big Wide World of other things out there to do and see what works for you that is it for this video if you want to chat more about this and kind of build some connections with artists from a wide variety of Industries please consider joining our Discord server it's totally free to join we have tons of artists in here that have worked at all of the things that I've listed out in this video and I think it's a great place to be so with that I will let you guys go and hope you have a great rest your day and I'll see you in the next one bye

Channel: Kelsey Rodriguez

Views: 72,336

Keywords: school for visual storytelling, jobs for artists, career paths for artists, business tips for artists, how to make money as an artist, income streams for artists, career advice for artists, artists don't starve, school of visual storytelling

Id: waIErI3nsjY

Length: 15min 2sec (902 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 01 2023