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Scenic artist vs assistant designer

The differences between scenic artists and assistant designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a scenic artist, becoming an assistant designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a scenic artist has an average salary of $52,584, which is higher than the $52,475 average annual salary of an assistant designer.

The top three skills for a scenic artist include theater productions, art directors and scene painting. The most important skills for an assistant designer are sketch, tech packs, and adobe illustrator.

Scenic artist vs assistant designer overview

Scenic ArtistAssistant Designer
Yearly salary$52,584$52,475
Hourly rate$25.28$25.23
Growth rate6%3%
Number of jobs4,09747,598
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4038
Years of experience612

Scenic artist vs assistant designer salary

Scenic artists and assistant designers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Scenic ArtistAssistant Designer
Average salary$52,584$52,475
Salary rangeBetween $24,000 And $113,000Between $37,000 And $73,000
Highest paying City-Seattle, WA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-PVH
Best paying industry-Construction

Differences between scenic artist and assistant designer education

There are a few differences between a scenic artist and an assistant designer in terms of educational background:

Scenic ArtistAssistant Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorFine ArtsGraphic Design
Most common collegeDuke UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Scenic artist vs assistant designer demographics

Here are the differences between scenic artists' and assistant designers' demographics:

Scenic ArtistAssistant Designer
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 45.4% Female, 54.6%Male, 28.3% Female, 71.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%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 Percentage11%13%

Differences between scenic artist and assistant designer duties and responsibilities

Scenic artist example responsibilities.

  • Airbrush, touch up guns, car sprayer equip.
  • Solo shows in NYC, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
  • Maintain the integrity of the show by touching up paint on scenery and repairing costumes.
  • Work as a stitcher, sewing costumes, making alterations, and general maintenance of costume pieces.
  • Match colors to paint chips and utilize various spray equipment including binks, hand hold pumpers and airbrush.
  • Create a multi media advertising campaign by creating a Wix base website, Facebook page and several print methods.
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Assistant designer example responsibilities.

  • Develop marketing and brand awareness initiatives through social media outlets; create and manage company Facebook and Houzz profiles.
  • Direct yarn development team.- propose PLM transitional initiatives.- Collaboratively work to evaluate and elevate in-house design process efficiency.
  • Work in mac format adobe suite programs and pc format u4ia.
  • Generate and update style numbers and BOM's in WebPDM system BlueCherry.
  • Research fashion, textile, make up, accessory, and footwear trends.
  • Acquire in depth training in the PLM and used this system on a daily basis.
  • Show more

Scenic artist vs assistant designer skills

Common scenic artist skills
  • Theater Productions, 18%
  • Art Directors, 17%
  • Scene Painting, 14%
  • Scene Shop, 12%
  • Faux Finishes, 12%
  • Fiberglass, 7%
Common assistant designer skills
  • Sketch, 15%
  • Tech Packs, 9%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 7%
  • Line Sheets, 5%
  • Trend Research, 4%
  • Garment Construction, 4%

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