About Commercial Art Careers

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By Nina Makofsky
eHow Contributing Writer

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Commercial art is an umbrella term that covers many types of careers, most commonly graphic design, animation, illustration, cartooning, fashion artists and scientific and medical illustrators. The job duties in these fields are both creative and practical, integrating design and technical skills with administrative work.

Types

Within each general field of commercial art, workers often specialize. Hence, a graphic artist may work in the areas of corporate design, branding, marketing, collateral, book packaging, lettering or typeface, photo illustration, broadcast, greeting cards, maps or production art. Similarly, an illustrator may be a generalist or may focus on a specialty such as advertising, pre-production, film, publishing, editorial, packaging, fashion or architecture. Cartoonists and animators are typically involved in the media, but may also work in licensing and development.

Considerations

Self-employment in commercial art is a growing trend in the era of telecommuting. Freelancing affords artists more flexibility in their schedules and the opportunity to give more attention and energy toward creative projects, but it also can be a challenge for people unaccustomed to marketing their services and products. To successfully freelance demands creating a network of contacts, maintaining a regular roster of clients and pitching ideas to potential new clients. An online portfolio and technical expertise help a commercial artist stay competitive and land clients.

Potential

With the necessary educational background, technical skills and sufficient experience (which may be in the form of an internship or a volunteer gig), a career in commercial art is not only viable, but lucrative. For example, the Graphic Artists Guild (see Resources) states that the starting salary of staff animators in Los Angeles and New York is $1,000 per week, with senior staff earning over $2,000 per week.

Geography

The chances of landing a full time job increase in major metropolitan areas and media centers such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago. However, with new media, many freelancers can work from any location, even though their major clients may still be grouped around the bigger cities. International cities such as Tokyo, London, Barcelona, Paris and Toronto also offer promising markets for commercial artists.

Warning

Aspiring commercial artists may find the creative side of the business appealing but, if they decide to freelance, they must learn the ropes of running a small business. A significant percentage of working hours must be devoted to administrative tasks such as answering messages and tracking income and expenses.