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Senior artist vs visual designer

The differences between senior artists and visual designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a senior 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 $83,394 average annual salary of a senior artist.

The top three skills for a senior artist include maya, animation and AAA. The most important skills for a visual designer are sketch, visual design, and graphic design.

Senior artist vs visual designer overview

Senior ArtistVisual Designer
Yearly salary$83,394$86,495
Hourly rate$40.09$41.58
Growth rate5%3%
Number of jobs3,66546,815
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4038
Years of experience212

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 a visual designer do?

A visual designer is someone who creates designs for a variety of platforms such as Internet and intranet sites, games, and wearables. The duties of visual designers depend on the specific project or industry in which they are working. Duties include creating user-centered interaction models, working with information technology and business teams to resolve complex issues, and designing logos, icons, and infographics. The qualifications to become a visual designer include possessing strong problem-solving, communication, and negotiation skills and obtaining a bachelor's degree in design.

Senior artist vs visual designer salary

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

Senior ArtistVisual Designer
Average salary$83,394$86,495
Salary rangeBetween $54,000 And $128,000Between $51,000 And $143,000
Highest paying CityReno, NVSan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateNevadaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaByteDance
Best paying industryTechnologyStart-up

Differences between senior artist and visual designer education

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

Senior ArtistVisual Designer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorGraphic DesignGraphic Design
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior artist vs visual designer demographics

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

Senior ArtistVisual Designer
Average age4038
Gender ratioMale, 71.8% Female, 28.2%Male, 53.1% Female, 46.9%
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, 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 senior artist and visual designer 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

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

Senior artist vs visual designer skills

Common senior artist skills
  • Maya, 12%
  • Animation, 7%
  • AAA, 7%
  • ZBrush, 6%
  • In-Game, 6%
  • VFX, 5%
Common visual designer skills
  • Sketch, 19%
  • Visual Design, 8%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • UI, 5%
  • User Experience, 4%
  • Visualization, 4%

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