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Scenic artist vs visual designer

The differences between scenic artists and visual 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 a visual designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a visual designer has an average salary of $86,495, 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 visual designer are sketch, visual design, and graphic design.

Scenic artist vs visual designer overview

Scenic ArtistVisual Designer
Yearly salary$52,584$86,495
Hourly rate$25.28$41.58
Growth rate6%3%
Number of jobs4,09746,815
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4038
Years of experience612

Scenic artist vs visual designer salary

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

Scenic ArtistVisual Designer
Average salary$52,584$86,495
Salary rangeBetween $24,000 And $113,000Between $51,000 And $143,000
Highest paying City-San Bruno, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-ByteDance
Best paying industry-Start-up

Differences between scenic artist and visual designer education

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

Scenic ArtistVisual Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorFine ArtsGraphic Design
Most common collegeDuke UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Scenic artist vs visual designer demographics

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

Scenic ArtistVisual Designer
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 45.4% Female, 54.6%Male, 53.1% Female, 46.9%
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 visual 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.
  • Show more

Visual designer example responsibilities.

  • Design, project manage, and build retail stores from sketch to completion.
  • Manage website redesign including copywriting and updating all website content.
  • Produce and deliver HTML5, CSS3 and graphical items.
  • Design team brand and logo for organization.
  • Provide approved design in HTML5 to web developer for publishing.
  • Utilize expertise in Photoshop CS6, HTML5/CSS, Squarespace, and JavaScript.
  • Show more

Scenic artist vs visual designer skills

Common scenic artist skills
  • Theater Productions, 18%
  • Art Directors, 17%
  • Scene Painting, 14%
  • Scene Shop, 12%
  • Faux Finishes, 12%
  • Fiberglass, 7%
Common visual designer skills
  • Sketch, 19%
  • Visual Design, 8%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • UI, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • Visualization, 4%

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