Drawing, painting, modeling, and animating images for films, games, books, medicine, and more.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Animation Director: Leads the creative direction of an animated film, series, or game, guiding animators to bring characters to life. Typical pay $150k.
VFX Supervisor: Oversees all visual effects on a film or show, from planning on set to the final shots. Typical pay $170k.
Game Art Director: Defines the visual style of a video game and leads its artists. Typical pay $145k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
3D Animator: Brings 3D characters and creatures to life for films, games, and ads by animating their movement. Typical pay $100k.
2D Animator: Creates hand-drawn or digital 2D animation for TV series, films, games, and online content. Typical pay $82k.
Storyboard Artist: Draws the comic-strip-like panels that plan every shot of a movie, show, commercial, or game cinematic. Typical pay $100k.
Concept Artist: Paints the first images of characters, creatures, worlds, and vehicles for films and games. Typical pay $90k.
3D Modeler: Builds the 3D models of characters, props, and environments used in games, films, and AR/VR. Typical pay $80k.
Character Rigger: Builds the digital skeletons and controls that let animators move 3D characters. Typical pay $105k.
VFX Compositor: Blends live-action footage with digital effects so the final shot looks seamless. Typical pay $85k.
Illustrator: Draws images for books, magazines, ads, packaging, websites, and products. Typical pay $60k.
Medical Illustrator: Creates detailed drawings and animations of anatomy, surgery, and diseases for textbooks, courts, and medical companies. Typical pay $85k.
Technical Illustrator: Draws precise diagrams for manuals, patents, assembly guides, and aircraft maintenance books. Typical pay $62k.
Stop-Motion Animator: Animates puppets and models one tiny movement at a time for films and commercials. Typical pay $70k.
Patent Illustrator: Creates the precise black-and-white drawings that must accompany patent applications for new inventions. Typical pay $55k.
Pixel Artist: Creates characters, backgrounds, and animations one pixel at a time, mostly for indie and retro-style video games. Typical pay $60k.
Medical Animator: Makes 3D animations showing how drugs work, how surgeries are done, or how the body works inside. Typical pay $80k.
Graphic Recorder: Draws big live murals of what people are saying at conferences and meetings, turning talks into pictures in real time. Typical pay $65k.
Starter: fastest way in
Comic Book Artist: Draws the panels of comic books, graphic novels, and webcomics. Typical pay $45k.
Children's Book Illustrator: Creates the illustrations for picture books and children's books, working with publishers' editors and art directors on characters and page layouts. Typical pay $42k.
Scientific Illustrator: Draws plants, animals, fossils, and scientific discoveries for museums, field guides, and research papers. Typical pay $50k.
Animation Production Assistant: Keeps an animation project organized by tracking shots, schedules, and files. Typical pay $52k.
Animation Cleanup Artist: Refines rough animation drawings and draws the frames between key poses. Typical pay $52k.
Botanical Illustrator: Draws plants in precise, beautiful detail for field guides, gardens, museums, and scientific papers. Typical pay $45k.
Comic Book Colorist: Adds color, lighting, and mood to inked comic book and graphic novel pages. Typical pay $42k.
Fashion Illustrator: Draws stylized fashion figures and clothing for designers, magazines, brands, and live events. Typical pay $45k.
Comic Strip Cartoonist: Writes and draws a daily or weekly comic strip for newspapers or the web, earning from syndicates, Patreon, books, and merch. Typical pay $40k.
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.