What Does an Illustrator Do?
Illustrators are artists that use their imagination to create images for various types of companies. They have excellent drawing, sketching, and painting skills, as well as strong concept design skills to succeed in this role.
Illustrators are responsible for creating intrinsic images that tell a story or express an idea or feeling to their clients. People in this field typically use digital media to complete their work, requiring illustrators to understand and utilize CAD and editing software. Illustrators typically work with others on their team to help turn concepts into clever marketable images.
This position gives individuals the creative freedom to make high-quality designs for their clients. The longer a person works with their clients, the easier it will be to get their name out there and demonstrate their talent to others. Illustrators that are able to meet strict deadlines and are precise in the work they accomplish will be rewarded with new clients and greater compensation.
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National Average Salary
Illustrator salaries vary by experience, industry, organization size, and geography. Click below to explore salaries by local market.
The average national salary for an Illustrator is:
$57,125
Illustrator Job Descriptions
It’s important to include the right content in your job description when hiring an illustrator. The following examples can serve as templates for attracting the best available talent for your team.
Example 1
[Your Company Name] is in search of an illustrator with a passion for the art of bringing ideas to life. An outstanding illustrator has the ability to work closely with our clients and marketing team to create artwork for our digital and print media publications. Experience with drawing, painting, and digital artwork across a variety of styles is a plus. If you are easily inspired to create from written words, models, sketches, and your own imagination even under set deadlines, you are the kind of person we are looking for.
Typical duties and responsibilities
- Collaborate with fellow creatives to brainstorm image packages
- Prepare budgets and production schedules
- Design rough drafts for client approval
- Create illustrations using hand-drawn and digital tools
- Edit and refine designs using illustration programs and platforms
- Format and share final files with the creative team for review
- Deliver final files to the client for review
Education and experience
This position requires a high school diploma, a GED, or an associate degree from a college or university; a bachelor’s degree is preferred.
Required skills and qualifications
- Proficiency using computer-aided design programs
- Excellent drawing, painting, and digital design skills
- Proficiency using image editing and design tools like Adobe Creative Cloud
- Ability to follow a creative brief and incorporate client feedback
- Strong creative and conceptual skills
- Ability to work under tight deadlines
Preferred qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Illustration or related field, or equivalent experience
- Exceptional proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite
Example 2
Illustration
- Responsible for producing:
- Quick Idea Sketches
- Concept Drawings
- Final Product Drawings
- Full Color Product Renderings
- All Control/Industrial Drawings
Ideation
- Contributes to the creation of new product concepts & market segment suggestions for the organization
- Responsible for inspiration boards based on projects requesting design
- Performs the 3D model printing tasks that include converting .stp files to .stl files, setting up 3D printer communication, model tray layout, cleaning support from models, ordering supplies, etc.
- Paint 3D models to accurately represent future products in both color and detail for customer presentation purposes
- Responsible for constructing thorough R&D packages, which include industrial control drawings, product measurements, texture references, product functions, and more
- Assists in determining color specifications for products in development
- Create clay models based on Illustrations/Drawings to help communicate concept
- Examine CAD drawings, clays, 3D models, and product samples by providing feedback and required revisions
Research
- Aid team in gathering competitive research, online consumer’s inputs and more
- Responsible for research on the pet industry, human marketplace online, and in-store
- Gather consumer reviews on existing products in the marketplace
- Organizes the information in a logical and clear format to aid in current & future product concepts
- Assists in the compilation of research into meaningful and thorough documents for the team as well as the CEO, Marketing, and R&D departments
Example 3
This role will provide illustrative and graphic design support to several of our internal departments, as well as external stakeholders and clients. Our ideal candidate should be able to perform well under tight deadlines and be able to manage several long-term projects concurrently with short-term ones as well. These projects may include making high-impact key art for gaming brands, creating digital assets for digital advertising, advertising decks, websites, and social media.
Responsibilities
- Manage all steps of the illustration process starting with rough sketches to communicate your ideas and ending with delivering high-quality photorealistic or stylized key art
- High attention to detail and work within diverse and established brand guidelines
- Brainstorm and pitch ideas to appeal to a US gaming audience in addition articulating your concepts and decisions
- Create and deliver character concept art to internal and external clients
- Develop illustrative work for our Video Team
- Provide support to the Graphic Design team as needed
- Creating logos for our websites including but not limited to Fanbyte and Wowhead
- Collaborate with various departments including marketing, sales, and website production
- Ability to work on creative concepts on a team and individually
- Receive, understand, and apply constructive criticism
Qualifications
- 3-5 years of professional illustration experience
- Ability to work in different styles, such as photorealistic and stylized
- Fluency with Photoshop and Illustrator
- understanding of visual storytelling
- good understanding of anatomy
- strong drawing/linework ability
- Strong typography, illustration, and conceptual skills
- Strong communication skills and familiarity with task assignment through Asana
- Passionate gamer with knowledge of various properties, communities, and trends
Nice to have experience and skills
- Experience with social media marketing and/or games marketing
Example 4
This position is for someone who wants to learn new things, get their hands dirty, and dive into a fast-paced environment. Applicants should have a proven track record of an impeccable work ethic, ability to meet deadlines, and self-motivation.
Responsibilities
- Visualize core concepts to make scientific, abstract, or complex topics understandable, relatable, and engaging
- Research existing styles and collaborate to develop differentiated approaches.
- Create in various transmedia formats from websites to social, from video (short narrative and documentary) to original illustrations, animation, pop-art, print, and or experiential
- Draft storyboards for animations that visualize voice over scripts
- Work in Adobe Creative Suite to create animation assets such as vector graphics, gifs, and artwork
Requirements
- Highly creative, collaborative, and organized
- Proven excellence creating in multiple formats and styles for multiple end user groups
- Comfortable acting with a sense of urgency and purpose while being able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
- Collaborative in the revision and approval process until the final design is approved
- 5+ years of experience in a design capacity
- Creative Agency or equivalent experience preferred
- Samples of creative briefs or case study samples required
Candidate Certifications to Look For
- Adobe Certified Professional. Adobe is the biggest name in artistic software in the world. Gaining certification as an expert in one or more of their programs shows that candidates know what they’re doing in their field. To become an Adobe Certified Professional, candidates have to take a test for their software of choice that includes both questions and practical tasks. For illustrators, the best programs to become certified in are Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Specialized Illustration Certification. Depending on the field candidates want to work in, there are certifications available for specific types of illustration. For example, a Certificate of Completion in Natural Science Illustration, a Certificate of Completion in Children’s Book Illustration, or an Associate of Arts in Fashion Illustration. These certificates all have their own requirements and allow candidates to deepen their skills in a form of illustration that suits them best.