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The differences between animation artists and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an animation artist, becoming a designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an animation artist has an average salary of $80,929, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.
The top three skills for an animation artist include animation, maya and character animation. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Animation Artist | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $80,929 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $38.91 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 3,822 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
Animation artists or animators are skilled professionals who create multiple images that form animation, which can be seen in movies, commercials, television programs, and video games. To produce those illusions of movements, animation artists must use several animation software such as Maya, AfterEffects, and Photoshop. They must collaborate with graphic designers and editors to create animations for the entire show. Animation artists must also create high-quality animations by producing expressive characters that can portray a wide range of emotions.
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
Animation artists and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Animation Artist | Designer | |
| Average salary | $80,929 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $52,000 And $125,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | Las Vegas, NV | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | Washington |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Media | Technology |
There are a few differences between an animation artist and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Animation Artist | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Animation | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between animation artists' and designers' demographics:
| Animation Artist | Designer | |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 76.4% Female, 23.6% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 7.7% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 13% |