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Im an Art Student and I Need a Job Now

Terminal Updated on May 27, 2021

Where can studying Art or Design take you lot? What kinds of careers exist for those who written report creative subjects at high school? While you might take heard that becoming an builder, fine artist, sculptor or gallery assistant is an option for those who study Art or Design, there are many other careers available for those who are able to envision, design and create cute things. This article highlights a selection of these – including digital and graphic design jobs – and illustrates the range of exciting art-related careers that are possible. It contains a list of over 150+ crawly careers, with 25 examples showcased in detail.

A growing list of art careers

150+ Art Careers - the ultimate list

Whether you honey photography, graphic pattern, painting or any other art-related speciality, career options are limited but by your imagination. Fine art education propels people towards creative and unexpected destinations – many of which have non even been discovered however. As noted in Need a Job? Invent It, in the New York Times:

…knowledge is available on every Internet-connected device, what you know matters far less than what you can do with what y'all know. The capacity to introduce — the ability to solve issues creatively or bring new possibilities to life — and skills like disquisitional thinking, advice and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge.

It is hoped that the 25 hand-picked, creative, inspirational people below willawaken your imagination and remind you that the world needs (and appreciates) those with creative skill.

Movie Set / Costume / Special Furnishings Designer – Sir Richard Taylor

Sir Richard Taylor is the co-founder of the Weta Workshop, a New Zealand company that provides digital and physical special effects for film and television set, producing costumes, props, make-upward effects, prosthetics, models, miniatures, vehicles, armour and weaponry. Weta Workshop has won five Oscars, four BAFTAs and many other awards for their work on a range of well known film and television projects, including Peter Jackson'southward The Lord of the Rings. Sir Richard Taylor studied at the Wellington Schoolhouse of Design and attended the Dick Smith makeup grooming plan. Some of the work completed by Weta Workshop tin be seen in the video below.

Upcycled Jewellery Designer – True cat Ivins

Cat Ivins found a drove of blackened auto plugs in her hubby's truck repair shop and began designing jewellery using these and other recycled materials. Later on 10 years of working in a bank, she had no prior experience and attended a welding class and so that she was able to create the jewellery she desired. She began selling these through Etsy, an online marketplace for creative people.

She describes her experience in the Etsy Quit Your Solar day Chore series:

I started a business selling from mall carts during the holidays — I likewise sold things I fabricated at craft shows during the year. Afterwards a while, I thought information technology was time to go dorsum to schoolhouse, when my niece showed me Etsy and I simply fell in dear with it. People making things with their ain hands and making a living by sharing those makings with other people — it was exactly the fashion the earth was evolving and I knew I wanted to be a office of it.

With two Etsy shops (Polarity and Uncorked), sales from her own website, doing shows and wholesale, Cat has a sustainable, full time income. She credits part of her growth to 'artistic tithing' – giving a percentage of her profits back to the customs.

upcycled jewellery created using corks and steel car parts
A selection of the original, hand-crafted jewellery created by Cat Ivins using recycled materials.

Web Based Curator – Christopher Jobson

Christopher Jobson finds, discovers and shares artwork via his website Colossal. Colossal has more than 350,000 Facebook followers, 76,000 Twitter followers and 33,000 Pinterest followers and has almost 5,000,000 monthly page views. Work that is featured on Colossal ofttimes turns into a viral cyberspace sensation.

In an interview with the National Endowment for the Arts Christopher explains:

Colossal was born from a lack of creativity and inspiration in my own life. I had been working for years as a web designer in a role that was personally unfulfilling and was unsure of what to do almost it. As a manner to expose myself to new ideas in art and design, I started the blog as a way to catalogue and share the interesting things I encountered around the web. Three years afterward it's notwithstanding going and has completely taken over my life – Christopher Jobson

christopher jobson colossal
Christopher Jobson – creator of Colossal

Game  Designer – Stephen Harris

Stephen Harris co-founded the game company Ninja Kiwi with his brother Chris. Ninja Kiwi'southward most popular game, Bloons, involves monkeys popping balloons with a dart. Later attention Western Springs Higher, Stephen gained a degree in geophysics and, later, a Post Graduate Diploma in Game Evolution from the Media Design Schoolhouse. It was here that he learnt programming, design and use of Adobe Photoshop – and was surrounded by others who 'lived and breathed' game design.

Ninja Kiwi makes close to $10 million NZD in revenue a twelvemonth and has about 40 employees. They earn coin by selling advertising on their website, virtual currency and smart phone apps.

Bloon Tower Defense - game design by Ninja Kiwi
Graphic symbol design sketches and a screenshot of Bloon Tower Defense 5 by Ninja Kiwi

Firebowl Sculptor – John T. Unger

John T. Unger creates sculptural firebowls that are hand-cut from recycled industrial steel tanks using a plasma torch. Providing light and warmth, the firebowls create a dramatic eye point in an outdoor environment.

Although I did attend the writing program at Interlochen Arts University in my senior year of high school, I dropped out of college the outset year to pursue my fine art. I got my education past buying books, tools and materials, by making piece of work, by looking at fine art in galleries and museums and past occasionally working for more than established artists as a studio assistant. The upside of this approach for me was that I had no loans to pay off, was able to focus solely on learning nearly the art that resonated for me (which is quite a broad surface area), and my practice was easily-on and built a body of piece of work. So many of the friends I have who went to art schoolhouse eventually abandoned their art to take jobs that would pay off their loans. – John T. Unger

John reaches a worldwide audience using his own website and online network, and has and so far shipped over a thou firebowls (typically selling for betwixt $1,000 – $iii,000 Us each) to twelve different countries.

john unger fire pits
Hand-cutting Sculptural Firebowls: photography by John T. Unger

Upcycled Piece of furniture Designers – Jason and Adam Podlaski

Jason and Adam Podlaski design unique, upcycled furniture made from broken skateboards for their business Deckstool. The scraped marks on the skateboards go featured surface decoration, with every slice of piece of furniture i-of-a-kind. Deckstool have recycling programmes in place to collect cleaved boards and produce furniture that combines modern structure techniques, fine craftsmanship and an artistic aesthetic.

upcycled furniture by deckstool, made from broken skateboards
A sample of the dramatic upcycled furniture pieces available from Deckstool

Digital Portrait Creative person – Cliff Roth

Cliff Roth paints digital portraits using Google+ 'Hangouts on Air',  creating the works live on video – the equivalent of a modern 24-hour interval street caricature creative person. His subjects include a number of famous people, including Guy Kawasaki. While it is free to attend i of Cliff's Hangouts and potentially exist painted, $40 guarantees you will get one. The portraits are completed in 10 – threescore minutes using Adobe Photoshop CS5 and a Wacom Cintiq 21UX (digital pen and screen).

Cliff studied Art, Photography and 3D Blueprint (Sculpture) at Hopatcong High School, taking every bit many classes equally he could, followed by introductory courses at Country College of Morris. He also completed The Fine art of Caricature, an online course by Jason Seiler.

Live speed-painting has allowed Cliff to aggregate a huge Google+ post-obit, with well-nigh 300,000 in his circles. It has likewise boosted the number of paid commissions he gets (for more than detailed, fully rendered digital paintings, as in the examples below).

speed-paintings by digital painter Cliff Roth
Detailed digital caricatures of Tim Jones and Noam Chomsky past Cliff Roth

Magazine Art Manager, Graphic Designer, Photographer – Adrienne Pitts

Adrienne Pitts discovered a passion for photography at historic period xvi, when Kristin Schoolhouse first introduced the subject field. Adrienne studied both Photography and Design in her senior high schoolhouse years and, later a twelvemonth-long student exchange in Chile, completed a Bachelor of Design from Massey University, achieving First Class Honours. Although majoring in photography, Adrienne ensured that all of her elective papers helped prepare her for a graphic design job, allowing her to get the all-time out of her four year degree.

I found my caste ready me up for my career – as I essentially did my own picayune double major. I came out of Academy able to find piece of work as both a designer and photographer – and I even so practice both. These are added strings to my bow, and the quality of education I received from lecturers who were passionate and leaders in the field really made a huge deviation to how I approached finding work 'in the existent world'.

A degree in a creative field tin can be a funny thing. I think much of it tin be learned in existent life, on the job, however internships and apprenticeships in things similar photography and pattern didn't really exist when I was at Academy in NZ, and I knew I wanted to become the all-time grounding and education possible. – Adrienne Pitts

Adrienne is currently an award-winning Art Director for the Jamie Oliver magazine in London.

Adrienne Pitts photography
Beautiful photographs by Adrienne Pitts from a contempo issue of the Jamie mag

Brian Wood – graphic novelist

Brian Wood studied Illustration at Parsons the New School for Pattern and is a now a popular writer and illustrator of graphic novels. After working nights and weekends for 6 years, Wood now works total time.

Having a career in comics is a lot similar beingness in a ring. You have to start small and play a lot of free shows. But you have complete creative freedom. – Brian Forest

Brian has won several Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards and his books accept been translated into several languages. Some are currently beingness developed for the big screen.

Brian Wood illustration - The Massive
Brian Wood'due south latest graphic novel, The Massive, is set in a post-war, post-crash, post-disaster world

Pet Rock Painter – Ernestina Gallina

Ernestina Gallina paints detailed, realistic images of animals onto smooth river stones. After the cracks on the stones are filled, outlines are sketched with chalk earlier the animal is painted using acrylic. Ernestina did not nourish art schoolhouse, but has refined her craft through countless practise. Based in Italia, Ernestina teaches stone painting and sells her piece of work via shops, exhibitions and her own website.

pet rock paintings
The infinitely popular 'pet rocks' painted by Ernestina Gallina on smooth, rounded river stones

Personalised Sticker Designer – Emily Lopez

A huge number of people take monthly photographs of their babies to document their growth. When Emily Lopez had her ain children, she began creating personal, custom designed baby stickers to assistance with this procedure then selling them via her Etsy store PurplePossom. Emily has a caste in public relations and graphic design.

PurplePossom has fabricated over 50,700 sales through Etsy at an boilerplate toll of $11 – $eighteen NZD (this equates to an approximate average of over $viii,700 a calendar month).

monthly baby stickers from Purple Possom
The stickers from Purplepossom are designed to be photographic aids – worn by children in photographs equally a reminder of their historic period

Handmade Stamp Maker – Susan Walton

Susan Walton runs the Safe Postage Tapestry with her family in North Carolina. The stamps are handmade from wooden pegs and safe and are used to create frames, borders, decorations and other artwork on cards, jotter, scrapbook pages and ceramics. The stamps are sold through the Safe Postage Tapestry website or via an Etsy store, where they are ane of the top sellers.

hand-made stamps from the Rubber Stamp Tapestry
A sample of some of the products from the Rubber Stamp Tapestry

T-Shirt Designer – Stephen Harris

Stephen Harris sells T-Shirts and other products through his Redbubble store Zomboy. Redbubble is a website that allows designers to take reward of print-on-demand engineering science, with products printed and shipped as they are ordered (all the artist needs to practise is upload a design; anyone can sellonline without any upward-front end investment and make profit from the first sale). In a field where there is tough competition, Zomboy is consistently in the Redbubble Tiptop Seller category.

Stephen designed his first T-shirt when he was twelve years sometime, using permanent cotton markers. He studied both Design and Technical Drawing at Auckland Grammer School and gained a Criminal Justice degree from Griffith University. Stephen credits his success to his discipline to describe every day, a passion for concepts and a commitment to trying new art techniques.

best selling T-shirt design by Zomboy
A top-selling T-shirt design from Stephen's RedBubble print-on-need store

Upcycled furniture designers – Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri

Based in Beirut, Hoda Baroudi and Maria Hibri run the blueprint and arts and crafts studio Bokja, creating furniture pieces made from recycled textiles and tapestries: harmonious combinations of blueprint, texture and color. Bokja avoids mass production and employs merely local artists, carpenters and designers.

Maria studied Arabic Literature at the American University of Beirut and Journalism at the Lebanese American University. She cultivated her love for article of furniture from the 50's and 60's during her fourth dimension as an antiquarian dealer. Hoda Baroudi has a Available caste in Business Administration and an MBA from the American University of Beirut. Following years of feel in finance and cyberbanking, her life-long interest in traditional tapestries, textiles and rugs of the orient lead to the cosmos of Bokja.

Education tin can really open doors, but at the end of the day talent is what really leaves a mark. We are a poster visitor for this, neither of us have a formal education in what we are doing. It is that talent behind this company that has fabricated information technology what it is. We accept an center and an instinct for what we do and it's not so much the result of our didactics, but our passion.

Bokja is an amalgam of things, it is layers and layers of reactionary thoughts, it is 'of the moment' and transient. Our designs are never innocent every bit they are oftentimes references or reinterpretations of something from our past. Within these objects at that place is a tangible charm that takes united states of america back to the way things used to exist, when products carried legacies that transcended time. We have created a cult following around the globe; our designs speak a universal language, while appealing to people on a personal and emotional level. – Bokja Design

Their furniture is available in the US and sells for well over $ii,000 USD a chair

upcycled furniture by Bokja
Four pieces from Bokja'due south upcycled furniture range: antique couches and chairs covered with strips of recycled cloth – stunning, functional, abstract fine art

Font Designer – Daniel McQueen

Daniel McQueen is a young, entrepreneurial typographer and possessor of Ten Dollar Fonts – a website where selected designers sell font licenses to the world. Afterwards studying both Design and Photography at St Bede's College, Daniel gained a degree in Visual Communication from CPIT School of Art and Design, with a focus on typography.

When his fonts began to gain attending on the social media website Tumblr, Daniel decided to sell licenses to his fonts. Worried that his work would get lost amid the crowd on an existing font marketplace, he created his ain website. X Dollar Fonts gained the attending of several well known designers and features prominently in social media.

Daniel gives communication for new graduates in an interview with Zoe Nash of Design Assembly:

…if you lot're similar me and you're not excited by the idea of working for someone else, my communication would be as simple as do something for yourself. Have projects that you lot savour and have it seriously. Be patient and stick at it, you never know where it could take y'all. Even if you exercise have a total time task, have creative outlets and work hard at them. You're young and most likely don't take to support anyone just yourself right now, and then there is no ameliorate time to put your ideas to work. – Daniel McQueen

Daniel McQueen of Ten Dollar Fonts
Daniel McQueen in X Dollar Fonts' Christchurch office

Graphic Creative person / Printmaker / Collage artist – Matt Dinniman

Matt Dinniman is a graphic artist with over fifteen years of experience. He has fabricated a name for himself selling affordable hand-fabricated prints, using a combination of photography, digital collage and mixed media. He sells his work via his own website, Collage-O-Rama, and his Etsy store. His well-nigh well known works are animals printed onto lexicon pages.

Nosotros accept old books about to be destroyed and upcycle them in order to requite them new life. The aging, slightly-yellowed page is advisedly removed, and the image is printed directly on the recycled paper. Matt Dinniman

Based in Seattle, Matt has made over 55,100 sales since joining Etsy, with artwork usually priced between $8 – $24 NZD (this roughly equates, on average, to sales of over $9,500+ a month).

Collage O Rama Etsy
A collection of some Collage-O-Rama'due south popular animate being prints on upcycled lexicon pages

Moving-picture show Concept Artist – Dean Sherriff

For many Art students, the notion of creating cute, imaginary worlds is the dream career. Dean Sherriff does this for a living, as a concept artist for Universal Pictures. He has produced concept designs for popular films such as Later Earth, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Day the Globe Stood Still and Night at the Museum. Dean trained at Ontario College of Art and Blueprint in Canada, gaining an Honours in Illustration.

concept art for 300 Rise of the empire
Concept art completed by Dean Sherriff for 'After Globe' and '300: Rise of the Empire' copyright Universal Pictures

Cake Decorator – Brian Stevens

Glory Chef Brian Stevens co-founded the specialty baker Crazy Cakes with his wife, Jennifer. Brian has an Art degree, and became a cake artist after a varied career, including sumo wrestling, digital illustration, sculpting and video game development. He has starred  in the Food Network and TLC's Cake Boss: Next Great Baker. He is known for producing meticulously hand-crafted sculpted cakes of all kinds, with detailed textures and realistic painting.

cake decorating by Crazy Cakes
Some of the exciting, sculptural cake designs produced by Brian Stevens of Crazy Cakes

Soft Toy Maker – Wendy Tsao

In a earth when things are readily available to everyone, original, handmade items are in demand. Wendy Tsao makes soft toys that are inspired by immature children's drawings, taking orders through her website, Kid'due south Own Studio. Her work has become an internet sensation. She recently opened for orders and in three hours was booked out for the whole year.

I am inspired past the child'south drawing, a wonderful expression of babyhood. Typically, a drawing is sent to me, and I decide if I tin work with it. (I normally piece of work merely with children's drawings, manus-fatigued and coloured). There may be notes included with the cartoon. I may ask for clarification about some details. And so I get to work, in my Vancouver studio. The machine whirs, scissors snip, needles null, and everything gets covered in fibrefill fluff. – Wendy Tsao

soft toys inspired by children's drawings
Wendy Tsao makes adorable soft toys inspired by the drawings of immature children

Illustrator – Ryan Berkley

Later working in a small Arts college for ten years, Ryan Berkley and his wife Lucy set up Berkley Illustration – an Etsy store where they sell Ryan's prints – often animals wearing suits. The illustrations are drawn using markers and coloured pencil, sometimes with digital blocks of color added in the groundwork. A self taught artist, Ryan speaks well-nigh his regret well-nigh not attention Art school in the Etsy Quit Your Day Chore Serial:

And I am regretful for many reasons. I feel similar I could have learned how to properly depict the human figure, rather than learning from comic books. I besides feel I could have an actual agreement of colour theory, which would exist nice. I would have loved to learn some painting techniques. I was ever jealous of my friends being in college in general, and in other cities, living on their ain. I think that would have been fun. Especially with a bunch of talented art kids.

With over 41,000 sales made in Etsy, and items ordinarily priced between $12 – 24 NZD, Berkley Analogy generates approximately $7,000 per calendar month in sales on average. This income is supplemented with wholesale orders, gallery shows and commercial commissions, including large clients like Nike, The Discovery Channel and Spoon.

animal prints by berkley illustration
Two popular prints from Berkley Illustration: formally posed animals wearing traditional (human being) attire

Online Art Gallery Creator, Artist and Engineering science Entrepreneur – Amanda Lane

After completing her high school education at Rangitoto College and studying Pic Animation equally part of her Graphic Design caste from Auckland Academy of Technology, Amanda began a rich and varied career, working as a traditional animator, theatre and movie scenic artist, fine art director and set up designer. She now co-owns Exhibbit, a software development company that sells virtual Art galleries to students, artists and traditional galleries. This means that people are able to embed their own virtual 'gallery' inside their website (encounter the image below).

…I have had a number of jobs within the artistic industries – at that place is huge telescopic for creatives in business, especially now the cyberspace plays such a big office. – Amanda Lane.

exhibbit virtual gallery software
Exhibbit contains simple, elegant gallery spaces for users to display their fine art. With the ability to move around the gallery, website visitors simulate viewing the works in existent life

Pet Portrait Creative person – Ron Burns

Focusing on a particular niche (pet portraiture) and combining creative skill with generosity and business knowledge helpedRon Burns plough painting into a lucrative career. Ron has adapted a style that sets him apart from the ordinary (the market is flooded tiresome, realistic pet portraits) and produces vibrant paintings that are rich with emotion-filled colour. Ron began painting dogs in animal shelters (giving a percentage from sales back to the shelters) and, afterward nine/11, documenting dogs that have lost their lives in tragedy or were involved in bomb detection, disaster relief, or search and rescue. Focusing upon heroic or disadvantaged animals, Ron has supported spay and neuter programmes, anti domestic dog-fighting legislation and helped to generate significant funds for non-profit organisations. Ron has received several awards, television receiver and media publicity and public commendations for his efforts – exposure that has helped to cement Ron as 1 of the leading dog portrait artists.

Through his ain website, Ron sells prints and ready-to-hang, commissioned acrylic paintings of pets to their owners.

dog paintings from photos by Ron Burns
The appeal of Ron's pet portraits lies in his intuitive understanding of color: the selection of warm reds and oranges, assorted with cools blues and greens, creating an image of hope and emotion in the dogs. Backgrounds take simplified flat, decorative areas, creating emphasis on the dogs alone.

Printable Wedding Invitation Designer – Eleanor Mayrhofer

Eleanor Mayrhofer designs downloadable wedding stationary, invitations, greeting cards and other newspaper items. With quality printers now at an affordable price, Eleanor creates and sells PDF templates with editable text via her Etsy shop east.thousand.papers, allowing people to print their ain invitations at home. After graduating from Art school as a graphic designer, Eleanor was employed by a consulting firm. She now works full fourth dimension on e.m.papers. Her products accept been consistently featured in the media, appearing in magazines such as Marth Stewart Weddings and BRIDES.

printable wedding invitations
An example of two of the contemporary printable hymeneals invitation sets designed by Eleanor Mayrhofer of e.1000.papers

Ceramic Creative person – Karolina Grudniewska

Later gaining a Available of Arts, Karolina Grudniewska worked equally an English teacher and a florist, earlier returning to higher to report Interior Compages. After a varied career, Karolina has become a self-taught ceramist. She sells work from Ireland via her Etsy store KaroArt, and her work is bachelor locally through stores and arts and crafts shows. She is full time Etsy seller, with an online shop filled with functional items with beautiful, organic class. As she commented in the Etsy Quit Your Day Chore series:

I detect working with clay very intuitive. Once you get the basics, there'due south a world of possibilities in front of you. It takes hours and hours of practice, with many trials and many failures, only each broken piece teaches y'all a lesson. Do and repetition brought me to proficiency, but I feel like I'1000 learning a new matter almost every day, and at that place's yet and so much I'd like to discover and acquire.

ceramic pieces by Karoart Etsy
Nearly Etsy sellers know that quality photographs help to sell a product. The photographs of Karolina Grudniewska's ceramic pieces are well-nigh as beautiful as the hand-crafted ceramic pieces themselves.

Repurposed Furniture Designer – Rupert Blanchard

Rupert Blanchard takes mundane, discarded pieces of furniture, reclaimed plywood, used wooden fruit crates and other donated or discarded items and reassembles these to create stunning, contemporary furniture pieces. Working with an assortment of styles, techniques, surfaces, patterns and materials, Rupert creates dressers and piece of furniture items that are reminiscent of abstract art: functional installation pieces for the modern home.

As described past the gentle author:

Rupert has developed a trained centre for the beauty of the disregarded and, equally a consequence, lives at the mercy of his compulsion to hoard information technology, taking him to at to the lowest degree iii car kick sales a week and connecting him to an elaborate network of scavengers, junk dealers, house clearance people, skip raiders and demolition workers. "Time will run out before the rubbish does," he pronounced, pulling a long quizzical confront, shaking his head and crossing his arms in bewilderment at his crazy hoarding instinct. Yet everything here is wonderful in its manner, and Rupert has found means to requite new life these artifacts once their original incarnation is defunct. Most of his piece of furniture is one-off pieces, however some have a more streamlined production process.

upcycled furniture - chest of drawers by Rupert Blanchard
Upcycled Article of furniture: Repurposing material that is destined for a landfill, Rupert Blanchard creates an assortment of sought after, hand-made pieces

Concluding words

The examples of Art, Photography, Sculpture, 3D Design, Game Design and Graphic Pattern jobs illustrated to a higher place are just a scattering of the exciting career paths that are possible for high school Art students. Information technology is clear that the journey to a creative career is not always clear cut. A Art caste is non ever necessary. Related degrees (Graphic Design, Animation, Computer science, Web Design, Architecture, Marketing, Business organization) and/or skill-based courses – among many others – may also pb to successful outcomes.

Skill is good and refined ultimately by doing. Combine your artistic skill with ambition, generosity, persistence, hard work and business organization sensibility.If you want a creative career, carve out a little space in the world where you can become an expert: hone your craft via daily practice and make something that people love. Build a website and show off your talent. Let your work screw out through social media and exist discovered past the world.

And remember: if y'all are one of those lucky enough to be good at Art and other things…exist prepared for people to effort and convince yous that Art is a swift and certain route to poverty (it's non: read ix Reasons to Written report Art in Loftier School). If this happens to y'all, keep in mind that those who are proficient at Art and other things are in the best position of all to succeed.

This article is a work in progress. New careers volition be added regularly! You may wish to bookmark this page.

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Source: https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/art-careers-list

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