Commercial Art

Job Forecast
While some artists can work from home at their own pace, many are throwing in the unpredictable income mentality and getting jobs with big-name companies in advertising, publishing, even motion pictures and video. You can create art and hope to sell it, or you can sell your talent right off the bat and become a company team member doing what you love.

Dedicated commercial artists find that their skills are utilized and compensated in many ways. However, since competition for salaried positions is inherent as the number of qualified workers exceeds the number of jobs available, you can set yourself apart with a degree in commercial art.

Commercial Artist Perks
Once you've completed a commercial art program, you can look forward to earning reasonable dollars as a commercial artist.

An art director employed at a publishing house, advertising agency, or design firm, for instance, may earn $63,840 (median annual earnings as of May 2004). Keep in mind, 50 percent of them earned between $47,890 and $88,120. Even better, the highest 10 percent earned more than $123,320, with only the lowest 10 percent earning less than $35,500.

Aside from art director positions, companies are also hiring multi-media artists and animators. These jobs require an artist to draw by hand and use computers to create pictures, animated images, or special effects for the motion picture and video industries, advertising, and other computer systems design services.

Now what? How can you become a commercial artist? It's as easy as enrolling in a commercial art program. Although artists and graphic designers may have the inherent talent of being creative, drawing, etc., they must cultivate their craft in the classroom.

Aspiring commercial artists can dully develop their skills at a commercial art program. With proper computer and graphic design training, their careers can soar.