Statewide occupation search

Sort your search results or select and compare details of two occupations. Find out if an occupation is in demand or not in demand in your local area, at Learn about an occupation.

Statewide occupation search

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.

Related: Art Directors Craft Artists Graphic Designers Set & Exhibit Designers Special Effects Artists & Animators

Industries: Arts & Entertainment

Summary
Details

Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors.
Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.
Teach artistic techniques to children or adults.
Frame and mat artwork for display or sale.
Create and prepare sketches and model drawings of cartoon characters, providing details from memory, live models, manufactured products, or reference materials.
Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.
Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials.
Submit artwork to shows or galleries.
Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.
Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.
Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
Trace drawings onto clear acetate for painting or coloring, or trace them with ink to make final copies.
Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.
Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.
Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.
Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.
Collaborate with writers who create ideas, stories, or captions that are combined with artists' work.
Create finished art work as decoration, or to elucidate or substitute for spoken or written messages.
Develop project budgets for approval, estimating time lines and material costs.
Collaborate with engineers, mechanics, and other technical experts as necessary to build and install creations.
Submit preliminary or finished artwork or project plans to clients for approval, incorporating changes as necessary.
Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.
Photograph objects, places, or scenes for reference material.
Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.
Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.
Create sketches, profiles, or likenesses of posed subjects or photographs, using any combination of freehand drawing, mechanical assembly kits, and computer imaging.
Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational legends, exhibit accessories, or finished paintings.
Cut, bend, laminate, arrange, and fasten individual or mixed raw and manufactured materials and products to form works of art.
Create sculptures, statues, and other three-dimensional artwork by using abrasives and tools to shape, carve, and fabricate materials such as clay, stone, wood, or metal.
Shade and fill in sketch outlines and backgrounds, using a variety of media such as water colors, markers, and transparent washes, labeling designated colors when necessary.

Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.

Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

More than 1 year on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

78370/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

37.68/hr

Currently Employed

1,080

Yearly Projected Openings

130

Artistic: People interested in this work like activities that include creating, designing, and making your own rules. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Integrity
Initiative
Stress Tolerance
Adaptability/Flexibility

Anatomical models
Angle grinder
Artist knives
Bench scales
Blow torch
Calipers
Camera flashes or lighting
Camera lens
Camera lens filter
Camera tripods
Clay or modeling tools
Developing tongs
Developing trays
Digital cameras
Drying cabinets or ovens
Extruders for modeling materials
Film squeegee
Fountain pens
Gas welding or brazing or cutting apparatus
Grinding machines
Hammers
Handheld thermometer
Hydrometers
Kiln accessories for firing ceramics
Kiln furniture
Kilns for firing ceramics
Laboratory graduated cylinders
Laser printers
Masks or accessories
Mat cutter
Metal inert gas welding machine
Notebook computers
Paint sprayers
Palette knives
Palettes for paint or ink mixing
Personal computers
Photographic enlargers
Photographic timer
Plasma cutting machine
Pneumatic hammer
Potters wheels for hand made ceramics
Power grinders
Power sanders
Power saws
Protective gloves
Pyrometers
Rasps
Rock cutters
Safety glasses
Sand blasting machine
Scanners
Sharpening stones or tools or kits
Shielded metal arc welding or stick welding machine
Spatulas
Specialty brushes
Spirit burners
Stonemason chisel
Tablet computers
Thermocouples
Tile cutter
Tongs
Triple beam balances
Utility knives
Viscosimeters
Watercolor brushes
Welding masks
Wood chisels
Wood gouge
Wood mannequins

Accounting software
Computer aided design CAD software
Configuration management software
Data base user interface and query software
Desktop communications software
Desktop publishing software
Development environment software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise application integration software
Graphics or photo imaging software
Instant messaging software
Internet browser software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Point of sale POS software
Presentation software
Project management software
Video creation and editing software
Web page creation and editing software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Find Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators jobs Education and Training for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Work Activities

Skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Education

Pay

Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

Technology

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES