Also called: Layout Designer
Sets the camera angles, staging, and character positions for each shot in an animated scene.
A layout artist turns storyboard panels into precise shots, deciding exactly where the camera sits and how big each character appears.
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. A bachelor's in animation or film with a portfolio showing staging and camera work, then about a year as a junior layout artist at a studio.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Animation, Film Production.
Growing about average (about 2% over 10 years). Tracks animator growth.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI and game-engine tools speed camera setup, but staging shots to tell the story still needs layout artists.
Classes: Art, Film/video production CTE, Geometry, Photography.
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.