Also called: Color Stylist (Animation), Color Designer
Chooses the colors for characters, backgrounds, and lighting in each scene of an animated show or film to set the mood.
A color key artist paints small versions of key moments in a film, deciding that a sad scene glows cold blue and a chase turns hot orange. For TV they also make color models so a character's shirt looks right in daylight, at night, and underwater.
Approximate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in illustration or animation.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Illustration, Animation, Fine Arts.
Growing about average. Competitive; tied to animation production levels.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI can suggest palettes and recolor scenes, but mood, story, and style decisions stay with artists.
Classes: Art (painting), Digital art, Photography.
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.