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

What is a visual artist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

The term visual artist refers to any type of artist that expresses their art through visual and sometimes tangible art. They can be found in almost any type of industry, but most find employment in animation, filmmaking, advertising, and other artistic fields. The role of a visual artist is to convey feelings and ideas into art that viewers can appreciate through their sense of sight. Visual artists use many different types of mediums, including but not limited to paint, clay, wood, charcoal, digital art, and even random objects. They spend a lot of time creating art, making adjustments, and capturing their art in an ideal way.

Similar to many jobs in the artistic field, you do not need a college diploma to become a visual artist. Experience, skill, and work ethic are often more important than education. However, having a degree in fine arts, digital art, or other relevant fields can serve as a great edge. The average salary of a visual artist depends on his/her or her industry, level of skill, and experience. But based on the current salaries in the country, the average pay for a visual artist is around $74,000 a year or $36 an hour.

What general advice would you give to a visual artist?

Dr. Sarah Satterfield Ph.D.

Department Chair Visual and Performing Arts, Professor of Music and Humanities, College of Central Florida

I was once told if you do what you love you will never "work" a day in your life. I have found this true in my own career and hope our VPA graduates will find it true in theirs as well. The arts offer such a unique means of engaging and we, as arts educators, have an ability to "reach" those we have contact with in a unique way.

ScoreVisual ArtistUS Average

Salary

6.4

Avg. Salary $81,873

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 7.75%

Black or African American 4.36%

Hispanic or Latino 14.39%

Unknown 5.73%

White 67.03%

Gender

female 40.55%

male 59.45%

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

Key steps to become a visual artist

Explore visual artist education requirements

Most common visual artist degrees

Bachelor's

69.6 %

Associate

13.7 %

Master's

9.2 %

Start to develop specific visual artist skills

Skills	Percentages
Animation	15.25%
Maya	11.24%
Visual Development	9.47%
Visual Effects	6.88%
VFX	6.44%

Complete relevant visual artist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New visual 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 visual artist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real visual artist resumes.

Research visual artist duties and responsibilities

Edit video, write copy for television, radio, and web-base commercials while managing the scheduling of all studio employees.
Design creative materials, including advertisements, media kits, logo and promotional materials for several collaborative projects.
Model, texture and integrate 3D mesh FX with 3DSMax
Modele and shade 3D facial replacements and simulate smoke effects in Maya.

Prepare your visual artist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your visual 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 visual 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 visual artist resume templates

Build a professional visual 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 visual artist resume.