Also called: Colorist (Comics), Flatter
Adds color, lighting, and mood to inked comic book and graphic novel pages.
A colorist "flats" each page by filling areas with base colors, then paints shadows, glows, and effects to set the mood of a night chase or a sunny flashback. They might color 20 pages a month for a series.
Freelance page rates; well-known colorists earn more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
No formal education, about 0 years after high school. Self-taught or art school; strong digital painting and color theory.
Ways in: Self-taught, 4-year college. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Illustration, Sequential Art.
Growing slowly. Tied to comics and webtoon output.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. AI already automates flatting and can color pages; mood, lighting and an artistic eye still win work from top publishers.
Classes: Digital art, AP Studio Art, Art color theory.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1013.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.