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.
Senior artist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior artist resumes:
- 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.
- Modele, uv'd and rig all in game weapon assets.
- Create and produce concepts for advertising layouts, brochures, and specification sheets.
- Build web tools in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to generate art request tickets from a web form.
- Develop brochures, postcards, invitations, logos, greeting cards, stage renderings and a myriad collateral pieces.
- Increase the flexibility of the staff by training staff 3D artists and graphic designers in photography, which saves $50,000/year
- Perform stereoscopic tracking of cameras and objects for the feature film, Journey2 using 3D EqualizerR4, PfTrack and Maya 2011.
- Modele and texture assets for prototyping
- Work closely with animation to ensure characters animate to expectations.
- Establish and maintain the animation pipeline technical requirements and system structure.
Senior artist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Senior Artists are proficient in Maya, Animation, and AAA. They’re also known for soft skills such as Artistic talent, Communication skills, and Computer skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Artists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Maya, 12%
Composed reference material and tutorials for utilizing Maya with the Elemental proprietary game engine.
- Animation, 7%
Established and maintained the animation pipeline technical requirements and system structure.
- AAA, 7%
Worked as a character technical artist, on 3 different AAA projects.
- ZBrush, 6%
Sculpted high poly asset in Zbrush, baking down assets in 3D Max and creating all associated texture maps.
- In-Game, 6%
Designed the interface and produced the interface artwork, 3D in-game shapes/textures for the Nintendo Wii game Circus Games.
- VFX, 5%
Pushed limits of cutting edge tech to create compelling 3D visualizations, animations, and VFX.
"maya," "animation," and "aaa" are among the most common skills that senior artists use at work. You can find even more senior artist responsibilities below, including:
Artistic talent. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior artist to have is artistic talent. Their role and responsibilities require that "animators and artists should have artistic ability and a good understanding of color, texture, and light." Senior artists often use artistic talent in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "recruit and maintain contact with talent for community annual fine arts festival. "
Computer skills. senior artists are also known for computer skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to senior artist responsibilities, because "many special effects artists and animators use computer programs or write programming code to do most of their work." A senior artist resume example shows how computer skills is used in the workplace: "create a 2d computer game in unity with a small team. "
Time-management skills. For certain senior artist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior artist rely on this skill, as "the workdays required by most studio and game design companies can be long, particularly when there are tight deadlines." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior artists do: "created library of icons, and animations used in unity meet project deadlines and milestones. "
Creativity. Another common skill required for senior artist responsibilities is "creativity." This skill comes up in the duties of senior artists all the time, as "artists and animators must be able to think creatively to develop original ideas and make them come to life." An excerpt from a real senior artist resume shows how this skill is central to what a senior artist does: "designed the high school pride catalogue for company ceo larry graveel skills used adobe creative suite production art presentations"
The three companies that hire the most senior artists are:
- Activision Blizzard21 senior artists jobs
- Accenture17 senior artists jobs
- ZeniMax Media14 senior artists jobs
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Compare different senior artists
Senior artist vs. Visual designer
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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior artists and visual designer. For instance, senior artist responsibilities require skills such as "aaa," "zbrush," "in-game," and "vfx." Whereas a visual designer is skilled in "visual design," "user experience," "visualization," and "html css." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Visual designers really shine in the start-up industry with an average salary of $121,675. Comparatively, senior artists tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $93,336.On average, visual designers reach similar levels of education than senior artists. Visual designers are 1.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior artist vs. Web graphic designer
A web graphic designer specializes in the aesthetics and functionality of a web platform, software, and other applications. They are primarily responsible for building a platform that adheres to the subject's purpose and the client's preferred theme while prioritizing an easy-to-use and navigate interface. They must conduct regular testing and maintenance on the platform to ensure its efficiency and significance to the brand involved. Furthermore, a web graphic designer may work independently or work for a company, usually within a team setting.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior artist responsibilities requires skills like "maya," "animation," "aaa," and "zbrush." But a web graphic designer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "wordpress," "css," "website design," and "html css."
On average, web graphic designers earn a lower salary than senior artists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, web graphic designers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $56,507. Whereas senior artists have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $93,336.web graphic designers earn similar levels of education than senior artists in general. They're 2.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior artists in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.
Department Chair Visual and Performing Arts, Professor of Music and Humanities, College of Central Florida
Senior artist vs. Graphic designer/production
A Graphics Designer in production is the person in charge of designing and interpreting ideas pointed out by the client or the company. The graphics designer must use market standard applications and techniques to produce attention-grabbing designs intended to market a product, service, or company. Graphic designers are an integral part of a company's digital marketing, especially over the internet. The graphic designer must have a good eye for style, typesetting, and the use of colors.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior artist is likely to be skilled in "maya," "animation," "aaa," and "zbrush," while a typical graphic designer/production is skilled in "adobe illustrator," "adobe indesign," "signage," and "brochures."
Graphic designer/productions earn the highest salary when working in the technology industry, where they receive an average salary of $59,531. Comparatively, senior artists have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $93,336.When it comes to education, graphic designer/productions tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior artists. In fact, they're 4.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior artist vs. Graphic designer
Graphic designers are visual communicators who create graphic ideas to deliver a message through art and images which inspire, inform, and motivate consumers with the use of computer software, especially Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign or by hand. They have the ability to design stunning illustrations that are easily understood, even without a lot of thinking or based on the demand of their clients. It is very crucial to them as well to be flexible and to stay on top of the design trends. They create websites, posters, packaging, logos, advertising, and marketing materials, depending on the nature of the business.
Types of senior artist
Updated January 8, 2025
