How To Become A Technical Artist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a technical artist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Rev.Henry Parker

The average technical artist salary is $90,692. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an graphic design major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a technical artist. Technical artists with a Laboratory Animal Technician (LAT) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 3,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Technical Artist?

Rev.Henry Parker

Fine Arts, Arkansas Baptist College

Professionalism is paramount in today's marketplace. You must be able to perform your craft at a level of excellence, be well acquainted with trends and future technological propensities, and have a digital presence that is attractive to industry gatekeepers.

ScoreTechnical ArtistUS Average

Salary

7.1

Avg. Salary $90,692

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.3

Growth Rate 5%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 7.64%

Black or African American 4.33%

Hispanic or Latino 14.17%

Unknown 5.56%

White 67.68%

Gender

female 24.07%

male 75.93%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress Level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.8

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.2

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a technical artist

Explore technical artist education requirements

Most common technical artist degrees

Bachelor's

68.4 %

Associate

18.4 %

Master's

8.2 %

Start to develop specific technical artist skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	16.81%
Animation	9.69%
C++	8.35%
Unity	7.03%
MEL	5.68%

Complete relevant technical artist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New technical artists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a technical artist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real technical artist resumes.

Research technical artist duties and responsibilities

Manage Unity3D assets for game prototype.
Write tools in Maxscript, MEL, javascript, python, and vbscript to automate repetitive processes.
Create 2D / 3D art assets for PC and PlayStation 3 video games.
Fill numerous roles as needed from UI & FX, to environment art, implementation, and tool authoring.

Prepare your technical artist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your technical artist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a technical artist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Technical Artist Resume templates

Build a professional Technical Artist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Technical Artist resume.

Apply for technical artist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a technical artist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do technical artists rate their job?

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Technical Artist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2022

Cons

It’s hard work, it feels like you will not make it and you’re jumping from job to job sometimes every now and then but the goal is to not give up, everyone is more than capable of achieving the things they put their minds too. :)