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Senior artist vs animator

The differences between senior artists and animators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior artist and an animator. Additionally, a senior artist has an average salary of $83,394, which is higher than the $76,853 average annual salary of an animator.

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

Senior artist vs animator overview

Senior ArtistAnimator
Yearly salary$83,394$76,853
Hourly rate$40.09$36.95
Growth rate5%5%
Number of jobs3,665551
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age4040
Years of experience22

What does a senior artist do?

A senior artist has a variety of duties and responsibilities. These include designing all the concept art, online advertising assets, and graphics, designing and creating marketing brochures, invitations, greeting cards, and other materials, and creating the process for different artwork. Additionally, you will be responsible for identifying client objectives and translating them into an efficient multimedia solution. As a senior artist, you are also expected to create original graphics and user interfaces for multimedia projects.

What does an animator do?

The animators are specialized artists who conceptualized ideas from their creative minds with technology applications. Animators cater to different specialties depending on their expertise. They used multiple techniques and tools to create a digital masterpiece. An animator is required to have an excellent time and project management skills to meet deadlines. They should also be detail-oriented and technology savvy to keep up with the latest trend in the digital market. Animators are required to have regular communication with the respective department for the updates or adjustments as needed.

Senior artist vs animator salary

Senior artists and animators have different pay scales, as shown below.

Senior ArtistAnimator
Average salary$83,394$76,853
Salary rangeBetween $54,000 And $128,000Between $52,000 And $112,000
Highest paying CityReno, NVLas Vegas, NV
Highest paying stateNevadaNevada
Best paying companyMetaMeta
Best paying industryTechnologyMedia

Differences between senior artist and animator education

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

Senior ArtistAnimator
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common majorGraphic DesignAnimation
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior artist vs animator demographics

Here are the differences between senior artists' and animators' demographics:

Senior ArtistAnimator
Average age4040
Gender ratioMale, 71.8% Female, 28.2%Male, 71.9% Female, 28.1%
Race ratioBlack 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%Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 5.8% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 7.5% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between senior artist and animator duties and responsibilities

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.
  • Show more

Animator example responsibilities.

  • Lead a team of artists to create the art and animation for motion comics aspects of the show.
  • Train & supervise newly appoint employee in achieving realistic looking effects and help integrating the effects in compositing with cg elements.
  • Create many logos for a YouTube sketch.
  • Sketch every seen multiple times utilizing several camera angles and character blocking.
  • Assist in the animation development of learning videos and nursery rhymes for YouTube.
  • Implement uniform display geometry to support texture artist and UV mapping artist, demonstrating advance UV mapping skills.
  • Show more

Senior artist vs animator skills

Common senior artist skills
  • Maya, 12%
  • Animation, 7%
  • AAA, 7%
  • ZBrush, 6%
  • In-Game, 6%
  • VFX, 5%
Common animator skills
  • Animation, 36%
  • Motion Capture, 7%
  • Storyboards, 5%
  • Motion Graphics, 5%
  • AAA, 3%
  • Graphic Design, 3%

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