Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between animation artists and freelance 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 freelance designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an animation artist has an average salary of $80,929, which is higher than the $57,260 average annual salary of a freelance designer.
The top three skills for an animation artist include animation, maya and character animation. The most important skills for a freelance designer are sketch, CSS, and HTML.
| Animation Artist | Freelance Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $80,929 | $57,260 |
| Hourly rate | $38.91 | $27.53 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 3,822 | 45,914 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| 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.
Freelance designers are creative, independent contractors who create visual and graphic designs for their clients. They develop text and illustrated versions of brands, messages, and communications with strong visible influence with their clients. Typical activities include networking, seeking projects, and negotiating prices to their customers. They manage client proposals, develop concepts, present solutions, and ensure the timely completion of projects. Freelance visual and graphic designers are creative, self-motivated as well as result and deadline oriented.
Animation artists and freelance designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Animation Artist | Freelance Designer | |
| Average salary | $80,929 | $57,260 |
| Salary range | Between $52,000 And $125,000 | Between $39,000 And $83,000 |
| Highest paying City | Las Vegas, NV | - |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | - |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | - |
| Best paying industry | Media | - |
There are a few differences between an animation artist and a freelance designer in terms of educational background:
| Animation Artist | Freelance Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Animation | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between animation artists' and freelance designers' demographics:
| Animation Artist | Freelance Designer | |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 76.4% Female, 23.6% | Male, 48.0% Female, 52.0% |
| 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% |