A career in the art field often involves making use of your creative and technical skills in creating arts, displays, and products for marketing, entertainment, software design, and publications.
Artists who wish to excel in their career should have these skill sets, as they are crucial in making it in this career field: problem-solving, teamwork, time management, critical thinking, leadership, drawing, painting, including other art-related skills, computing skills, coding, animation, design concepts, in-depth knowledge of the art and color theory, attention to details, communication, listening, interpersonal, and adaptability.
If you have obtained a degree in the arts field and don’t know the route you should take, our list of the highest-paid jobs in the arts field will help you narrow down your search. Read on!
Art Teachers
If you have a passion for sharing your knowledge and skills with others, then why not consider becoming an art teacher? With this career, you can have the comfort of a job since there are dedicated hours, and you also get to enjoy holidays. Art teachers earn up to $115,430 average on an annual basis.
Furniture Designers
Furniture designers are saddled with the responsibility of developing and producing designs for items and various forms of furniture. There are two broad types of furniture design that you can choose from as a start:
I) Independent furniture designers: Their work is offered on a commission basis, and they create designs without having to depend on clients.
ii) Commercial furniture designers: They are workers who create their designs on the basis of their company’s goals and have in mind their target market.
Whichever one you choose to go into, furniture designing would pay you more than you imagined; annually, you could earn up to $69,577.
Product Designers
Product designers monitor the development process of new products; they develop comprehensive specifications and documentation, which are crucial to the rest of the work team; they present the product drafts using sketches and storyboards; and experts make use of architectural blueprints and prototypes to test the functionality of new and existing products. Product designers also gather feedback from their clients, reviews from upper management, the engineering department, and other teams. They work in bright studios or workshops, and on an annual budget, product designers make up to $64,851.
Design Managers
Design managers are saddled with driving efficiency and management in a team of designers and graphic designers. These managers are to come up with excellent design strategies, make sure that the technical resources are utilized efficiently, and also take charge of quality checking, approval procedures, and various parties of production and design in order to get rid of the potential issue for upper management. Most times, their work requires a standard office hour period and full-time dedication, and you can earn up to $134,700 a year.
Art Directors
Art directors are to oversee a team of designers who are handling a creative project for visual styles and images. These projects are mostly in the fields of web design, film and television production, publishing, product packaging, and marketing.
They are expected to meet with clients to discuss the brand’s objectives and their target market, hire and offer training for designing staff, and also keep track of the campaign’s performance.
The majority of employers hiring for this position search for people who have a master’s degree in art-related disciplines. Art directors make up to $142,765 every year.
User Experience (UX) Designers
UX designers develop wireframes and task flows that are structured to meet their user needs. They are first required to have an in-depth understanding of the product specifications and the user psychology. With these, they can build prototypes based on the needs of their customers, and they also create a strategic design for new tasks and features.
These workers work in collaboration with other designers and developers as they draw plausible feedback after running a series of tests. They are also expected to be experts in standard UX software, like Framer, InVision, and UXPin. On an annual basis, you could make up to $99,265 as a UX designer.
Architect
Architecture is not only a science discipline, but it has a lot more arts involved. Architects design residential and commercial buildings, and their roles include planning, designing, and overseeing the entire construction process. Most architects work in offices, with meetings occasionally scheduled for clients outside the office as well as in the project locations.
You can be employed by private construction companies or government agencies, but on average, you should be earning up to $91,185 annually.
Advertising Designers
Advertising designers are to devise ideas for advertisements and work to make these advertisements active and reach different channels. The range of advertising channels includes TV stations, website content creation, print media, newspapers, magazines, online and offline books, or even promotional giveaways. They make engaging designs using visual concepts that are made of shapes, drawings, computer-generated objects, and photographs.
Advertising design is one of the highest-paid jobs in the arts field, and you can make up to $72,300 every year as an ad designer.
Fashion Designers
Fashion designers are saddled with the responsibilities of designing and assisting in the production of clothes, shoes, as well as accessories. You can choose to work as a generalist, dealing in almost all niches, and you can also narrow it down to an expert area like men’s wear, game wear, haute couture, high-street fashion, children’s wear, and more.
You basically have to create an idea and develop the idea in the form of a design. Then plan, formulate ranges, and work with other members of the team to provide product reviews or feedback on the styles. You should also keep track of the current trends in the fashion industry. Fashion designers make up to $63,704 annually.
Multimedia Artists and Animators
Multimedia artists and animators are among the highest earners in the arts field. By making use of a list of modern technologies, they create animations, special effects, and other visual images to be used for TV shows, movie production, video game production, and other kinds of media. The animations made by these artists are usually in the form of two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D) models. Multimedia artists and animators develop complex graphics and animation using computer programs and with the help of illustrations.
Photographer
If you are fond of taking snaps of new things that you come across and you can present them as captivating, then a career in photography could be perfect for you. You should have excellent communication skills, and you should also be inventive, bringing in new angles and ideas. Photography is one of the highest-paid jobs in the arts field, and you can earn an average salary of up to $38,950.
Editors
If you are a bookworm who has excellent skills in writing, do you have a strong command of grammar? You can make a lot as an editor. The average salary of an editor annually is $76,400.
Creative Directors
They work with the team to dish out creative ideas, taking charge of client pitches and proposals, reaching out to clients or upper management. Creative directors also review works, and they give feedback to the group. This job expects that you have sound experience of not less than five years and, if possible, up to eight years. On a yearly basis, you can make up to $145,148 working as an experienced creative director.
Illustrator
With an average salary of up to $69,010, this is one of the highest-paid jobs in the arts field. Illustrators make use of their creative skills to tell stories using images and graphics for their target audience. They can tell the story on the front cover of a book or even in pictures or photographs, as well as other forms of digital illustrations.
Art therapist
With an average salary of up to $53,900 annually, you’ll be able to earn a living by combining two passions as both an artist and a therapist. This profession basically involves working with people who are facing a series of physical or mental health problems, as well as clients who wish to gain emotional, spiritual, and creative growth. You can achieve this by following a wide range of artistic processes (the likes of painting and drawing).
Art curators
With an average salary of $63,880, art curators are tasked with the role of managing art collections in government and private-owned institutions like museums and galleries; they also help with exhibitions.
Floral designers
With an average salary of up to $32,100, this art career does not require formal education, and you can become one without a degree. Floral designers combine their artistic expression with their unceasing love for flowers.
Video producers
Video producers have creative ability, along with a zeal for entrepreneurship. They work on the project from the onset to the finish line. They are the ones who select artistic elements in any production room and hire editors, actors and actresses, stylists, videographers, and other team members who should be needed for the success of a project. They earn up to $62,700 on an annual basis.
Rigger
Riggers work in the animation industry to create digital skeletons for 3D characters for animation projects. This is one of the highest-paid jobs in the arts field, and you can make up to $48,972 per year as a rigger.
User Interface Designer
User interface designers create interactive programs on websites that are structured to boost a user’s experience and improve the appearance of a business’s products or software. You can make up to $77,692 annually as a user interface designer.
End Notes
We have highlighted our list of the top highest-paid jobs in the arts field. Please note that no specific order was followed in our listing, and each of these jobs we mentioned can earn you thousands of dollars. If you want to earn a lot in any one of these jobs, please do well to conduct in-depth research and prepare for all it takes to make it to the top.
