What is an Animation Artist?

Disney. Pixar. Cartoon Network. These companies and many other studios, video game developers, and even advertising agencies would be nowhere without the hard work of animation artists. Animation artists design and develop animated videos that can be only a few minutes long or entire feature length films.

It goes without saying that animation artists have to be good at drawing. They need to design memorable characters and know how to make those characters move. However, animation in the modern age is not just about putting pen to paper. Animation artists need to be able to work with software like Photoshop, Maya, and AfterEffects.

Becoming an animation artist isn't easy. Many earn bachelor's degrees in visual art and spend years honing their craft. The hard work doesn't stop once they get hired. If the studio is trying to hit a tight deadline, animation artists often stay late and work many hours of overtime. Animation is hard work, but for many artists the satisfaction of seeing their work on screen is worth it.

What Does an Animation Artist Do

There are certain skills that many animation artists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed artistic talent, computer skills and creativity.

Learn more about what an Animation Artist does

How To Become an Animation Artist

If you're interested in becoming an animation artist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 70.2% of animation artists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.9% of animation artists have master's degrees. Even though most animation artists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Top Animation Artist Jobs Near You

Animation Artist Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an animation artist can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as 3d artist, progress to a title such as lead artist and then eventually end up with the title senior art director.

Top Careers Before Animation Artist

Animator (551 Jobs)

26.9 %

Artist (3,870 Jobs)

11.4 %

Internship (51,064 Jobs)

6.9 %

Top Careers After Animation Artist

Animator (551 Jobs)

27.2 %

Artist (3,870 Jobs)

10.2 %

3D Artist (3,978 Jobs)

6.4 %

Average Salary for an Animation Artist

Animation Artists in America make an average salary of $80,929 per year or $39 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $125,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $52,000 per year.

Average Animation Artist Salary

$80,929 Yearly

$38.91 hourly

$52,00010%

$80,000Median

$125,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Animation Artist

There are several types of animation artist, including:

Graphic Designer

Role:

Graphic Designers are responsible for creating visual concepts either through a computer software or by hand. The goal of becoming a graphic designer is to really engage consumers through inspiration. So being creative is kind of needed.

Typically Graphic Designers need a Bachelor's degree, but perhaps the most important thing you can bring to an interview is having a well-rounded portfolio.

Average Salary: $49,450
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Designer

Role:

A career as a designer can go so many different directions. From fashion designers to floral designers or even graphic designers or interior designers, as long as you have an eye for detail and a steady hand you could design whatever you wanted.

The education that is required to become a designer can vary depending on what type of designing you're going to be doing. For example, a floral designer only needs a high school diploma, but a graphic designer may need a Bachelor's degre. It really depends on what direction you want to take your career.

Average Salary: $66,347
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Artist

Role:

As the name implies, an artist is a wide term for occupations like web design, fine arts, crafts, animation, desktop publishing, and video game production. Artists work as an animator, fine artist, and web designer, depending on where you work and what you will do. Either way, you are expected to design interactive animating experiences, micro-sites, and website content. You will assist in sustaining the art production pipeline and decision-making process.

You are also in charge of setting up feedback and debugging systems, handling technical aspects of digital campaigns, designing projects and working with team members to achieve the project's excellent overall success. All of these will make you deliver excellent artistic projects. You will also ensure project submission by the project manager, evaluate it, and review the sources. Plus, you will often need to supervise and work with a team to ensure project success.

Wide knowledge of 3D Max, Maya, graphic programming languages, photoshop, and texturing is required as an artist. An outstanding ability to create, knowledge of modeling, lighting, special effects, and good organizational and communication skills are also required. The yearly salary of an artist is $48,560, and you will earn this with a bachelor's degree in art or other related fields.

Average Salary: $68,690
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Animation Artist Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active animation artist jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where animation artists earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Animation Artist Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	769	$104,493
2	New York	353	$80,136
3	Texas	313	$60,333
4	Florida	193	$57,251
5	Georgia	162	$50,670
6	Washington	159	$100,189
7	Massachusetts	149	$63,721
8	Virginia	142	$74,387
9	Illinois	136	$76,534
10	North Carolina	129	$61,090
11	Pennsylvania	128	$60,044
12	Ohio	118	$44,905
13	Michigan	116	$73,351
14	Wisconsin	106	$61,742
15	Indiana	101	$68,001
16	Maryland	100	$91,108
17	Oregon	93	$78,952
18	Minnesota	88	$51,384
19	Tennessee	72	$63,612
20	Colorado	69	$69,135
21	New Jersey	69	$68,096
22	Connecticut	66	$109,603
23	Utah	66	$65,980
24	Arizona	64	$69,594
25	Missouri	60	$46,223
26	Iowa	56	$69,086
27	Kentucky	56	$63,837
28	Alabama	45	$49,869
29	South Carolina	45	$40,703
30	New Hampshire	44	$107,351
31	Louisiana	41	$44,543
32	Oklahoma	37	$55,075
33	Nebraska	33	$46,699
34	Kansas	29	$68,352
35	Arkansas	28	$65,336
36	Rhode Island	26	$110,247
37	Idaho	26	$84,064
38	New Mexico	24	$78,524
39	Mississippi	23	$49,958
40	Nevada	20	$127,398
41	Maine	17	$76,081
42	Wyoming	16	$53,601
43	South Dakota	16	$41,317
44	Delaware	15	$106,878
45	West Virginia	15	$70,585
46	Hawaii	13	$53,402
47	North Dakota	10	$68,869
48	Vermont	10	$64,527
49	Montana	10	$47,884
50	Alaska	8	$58,026

Animation Artist Education

Animation Artist Majors

Animation

35.9 %

Fine Arts

14.8 %

Graphic Design

14.2 %

Animation Artist Degrees

Admissions

Most Popular Majors

Journalism

Liberal Arts

Communication

Computer Science

Entertainment Business

Top Skills For an Animation Artist

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 28.7% of animation artists listed animation on their resume, but soft skills such as artistic talent and computer skills are important as well.

Animation, 28.7%

Maya, 9.7%

Character Animation, 7.6%

Concept Art, 7.3%

Motion Graphics, 6.8%

Other Skills, 39.9%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Animation Artist Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Animation Artist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Animation Artist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Animation Artist Demographics

Animation Artist Gender Distribution

Male

76%

Female

24%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among animation artists, 23.6% of them are women, while 76.4% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among animation artists is White, which makes up 66.9% of all animation artists.

The most common foreign language among animation artists is Spanish at 33.3%.

Online Courses For Animation Artist That You May Like

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Show More Animation Artist Courses

Job type you want

Full Time

Part Time

Internship

Temporary

Best States For an Animation Artist

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an animation artist. The best states for people in this position are Nevada, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Animation artists make the most in Nevada with an average salary of $127,398. Whereas in Rhode Island and Connecticut, they would average $110,247 and $109,603, respectively. While animation artists would only make an average of $107,351 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Rhode Island

Total Animation Artist Jobs: 26

Highest 10% Earn:

$177,000

Location Quotient:

1.35

$110,247

Avg. Salary

View 26 Animation Artist Jobs In RI

2. New Hampshire

Total Animation Artist Jobs: 44

Highest 10% Earn:

$173,000

Location Quotient:

1.59

$107,351

Avg. Salary

View 44 Animation Artist Jobs In NH

3. Connecticut

Total Animation Artist Jobs: 66

Highest 10% Earn:

$178,000

Location Quotient:

1.26

$109,603

Avg. Salary

View 66 Animation Artist Jobs In CT

Full List Of Best States For Animation Artists

How Do Animation Artist Rate Their Jobs?

Top Animation Artist Employers

Most Common Employers For Animation Artist

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Microsoft	$145,212	$69.81	10
2	The Walt Disney Company	$129,553	$62.29	14
3	Digital Domain	$113,542	$54.59	5
4	Pixar Animation Studios	$112,239	$53.96	7
5	Blur Studio	$98,677	$47.44	19
6	PlayStation	$98,394	$47.30	3
7	DreamWorks Animation	$97,647	$46.95	6
8	Curious Pictures	$92,506	$44.47	3
9	Electronic Arts	$92,115	$44.29	6
10	Riot Games	$91,379	$43.93	3

Animation Artist Videos

Animation Careers : Career Options for Animators

How to Get a Job at Pixar

Updated February 6, 2023

What is an Animation Artist?

What Does an Animation Artist Do

How To Become an Animation Artist

Animation Artist Career Paths

Top Careers Before Animation Artist

Top Careers After Animation Artist

Recent Job Searches

Average Salary for an Animation Artist

Roles and Types of Animation Artist

Graphic Designer

Designer

Artist

States With The Most Animation Artist Jobs

Number Of Animation Artist Jobs By State

Animation Artist Education

Animation Artist Majors

Animation Artist Degrees

Top Colleges for Animation Artists

1. University of Pennsylvania

2. Harvard University

3. Carnegie Mellon University

4. New York University

5. Stanford University

6. University of Southern California

7. University of Texas at Austin

8. Northeastern University

9. Duke University

10. Northwestern University

Top Skills For an Animation Artist

Choose From 10+ Customizable Animation Artist Resume templates

Animation Artist Demographics

Animation Artist Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Animation Artist That You May Like

Best States For an Animation Artist

How Do Animation Artist Rate Their Jobs?

Top Animation Artist Employers

Most Common Employers For Animation Artist

Animation Artist Videos

Animation Artist Related Careers

Animation Artist Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs