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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 Etchers & Engravers Graphic Designers Special Effects Artists & Animators

Industries: Arts & Entertainment

Summary
Details

Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.
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.
Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
Teach artistic techniques to children or adults.
Create and prepare sketches and model drawings of cartoon characters, providing details from memory, live models, manufactured products, or reference materials.
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.
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.
Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.
Frame and mat artwork for display or sale.
Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.
Trace drawings onto clear acetate for painting or coloring, or trace them with ink to make final copies.
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.
Develop project budgets for approval, estimating time lines and material costs.
Create finished art work as decoration, or to elucidate or substitute for spoken or written messages.
Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.
Submit preliminary or finished artwork or project plans to clients for approval, incorporating changes as necessary.
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.
Collaborate with engineers, mechanics, and other technical experts as necessary to build and install creations.
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.
Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.
Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational legends, exhibit accessories, or finished paintings.
Create sketches, profiles, or likenesses of posed subjects or photographs, using any combination of freehand drawing, mechanical assembly kits, and computer imaging.
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.
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.
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.
Cut, bend, laminate, arrange, and fasten individual or mixed raw and manufactured materials and products to form works of art.

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

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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
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.
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.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
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.
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.
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.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
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.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
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.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
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.
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.
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:

Innovation
Tolerance for Ambiguity
Achievement Orientation
Intellectual Curiosity
Initiative
Perseverance

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

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Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Work Activities

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Knowledge

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Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES