Also called: Background Artist
Paints the scenery behind animated characters: forests, kitchens, alien skies.
A background painter takes a layout drawing and paints it with the show's colors and lighting, creating dozens of locations per episode.
BLS special effects artists and animators median ~$99.8k (May 2024). Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) studio jobs pay well; freelance, game, and small-studio work pays less, and layoffs are common.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Fine art or illustration degree.
Ways in: 4-year college, Self-taught. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Fine Arts, Illustration.
Growing slowly. AI image tools add pressure.
High risk for 10 years. AI image tools now paint backgrounds in a show's style fast, cutting painter jobs; key art and style setting remain human.
Classes: Art (painting), Art history, Photography, Digital art.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1014.
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.