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Scenic artist vs production artist

The differences between scenic artists and production artists 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 a production artist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a production artist has an average salary of $61,870, which is higher than the $52,584 average annual salary of a scenic artist.

The top three skills for a scenic artist include theater productions, art directors and scene painting. The most important skills for a production artist are graphic design, adobe photoshop, and adobe creative suite.

Scenic artist vs production artist overview

Scenic ArtistProduction Artist
Yearly salary$52,584$61,870
Hourly rate$25.28$29.75
Growth rate6%3%
Number of jobs4,09759,103
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age4038
Years of experience612

Scenic artist vs production artist salary

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

Scenic ArtistProduction Artist
Average salary$52,584$61,870
Salary rangeBetween $24,000 And $113,000Between $40,000 And $94,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-Apple
Best paying industry--

Differences between scenic artist and production artist education

There are a few differences between a scenic artist and a production artist in terms of educational background:

Scenic ArtistProduction Artist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorFine ArtsGraphic Design
Most common collegeDuke UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Scenic artist vs production artist demographics

Here are the differences between scenic artists' and production artists' demographics:

Scenic ArtistProduction Artist
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 45.4% Female, 54.6%Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8%
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 production artist 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.
  • Show more

Production artist example responsibilities.

  • Manage print jobs, design, copywriting.
  • Produce and code HTML emails that are browser/email client-friendly, as well code landing pages in CSS.
  • Code web pages with HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and WordPress.
  • Update and maintain CMS website.
  • Work almost daily in the mac studio.
  • Submit sketch approvals to USDA for their review.
  • Show more

Scenic artist vs production artist skills

Common scenic artist skills
  • Theater Productions, 18%
  • Art Directors, 17%
  • Scene Painting, 14%
  • Scene Shop, 12%
  • Faux Finishes, 12%
  • Fiberglass, 7%
Common production artist skills
  • Graphic Design, 12%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 9%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 7%
  • Adobe Illustrator, 7%
  • Adobe Indesign, 5%
  • Production Art, 5%

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