Animation director vs senior artist

The differences between animation directors and senior artists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an animation director and a senior artist. Additionally, a senior artist has an average salary of $83,394, which is higher than the $71,266 average annual salary of an animation director.

The top three skills for an animation director include animation, maya and motion capture. The most important skills for a senior artist are maya, animation, and AAA.

Animation director vs senior artist overview

	Animation Director	Senior Artist
Yearly salary	$71,266	$83,394
Hourly rate	$34.26	$40.09
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	4,968	3,665
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	40	40
Years of experience	2	2

Animation director vs senior artist salary

Animation directors and senior artists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Animation Director	Senior Artist
Average salary	$71,266	$83,394
Salary range	Between $43,000 And $117,000	Between $54,000 And $128,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Reno, NV
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Nevada
Best paying company	Microsoft	Meta
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between animation director and senior artist education

There are a few differences between an animation director and a senior artist in terms of educational background:

	Animation Director	Senior Artist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 76%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Animation	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Animation director vs senior artist demographics

Here are the differences between animation directors' and senior artists' demographics:

	Animation Director	Senior Artist
Average age	40	40
Gender ratio	Male, 75.1% Female, 24.9%	Male, 71.8% Female, 28.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 7.7% White, 67.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 7.6% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between animation director and senior artist duties and responsibilities

Animation director example responsibilities.

Manage animation department, promote to manage video and animation departments.
Lead a team of artists to create the art and animation for motion comics aspects of the show.
Translate storyboards into rough previz animations and work with director adjusting cameras and actions.
Assist with QA of code within Xcode environment.

Senior artist example responsibilities.

Lead a team of artists to create a series of space adventure games for the PC.
Edit video, write copy for television, radio, and web-base commercials while managing the scheduling of all studio employees.
Maintain servers, install software packages for Apple/Mac base computers and maintain editing suites for video and audio production.
Design and programme pop-ups using HTML.
Mentore team members and conduct Zbrush training.
Edit footage, and photography base on authentic styles.

Animation director vs senior artist skills

Common animation director skills

Animation, 37%
Maya, 16%
Motion Capture, 6%
Unity, 5%
Medical Care, 5%
CG, 4%

Common senior artist skills

Maya, 12%
Animation, 7%
AAA, 7%
ZBrush, 6%
In-Game, 6%
VFX, 5%

Animation Director vs. similar jobs

Animation Director related careers

Animation Director related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Industry
Animation Director
Animation Director vs Senior Artist

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse arts, entertainment, sports, and media jobs