ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Careers in Fine Arts

Updated on September 8, 2012
Source

© 2012 by Aurelio Locsin.

Fine artists create beautiful or thought-provoking objects for exhibition at museums or for sales to private collectors and businesses. They use different media such as oil paints, canvas, glass, stone or clay, and techniques such as painting, glassblowing, or sculpting. Most earn their pay through self-employment, though some have jobs with private companies and the government.


Types

Fine artists are typically known by the type of art in which they specialize. Cartoonists draw cartoons to poke fun at politics, advertise a product or service, or entertain in comic books. Fine art painters paint such subjects as landscapes and portraits using styles ranging from realistic to abstract. Sculptors create three-dimensional art using clay, glass, plastic, metal or wood. Illustrators draw pictures for books and magazines. And printmakers use a silk screen, woodblock, metal etching plate and other matrixes to create images. Though both fine artists and craft artists create beautiful thing, the former concentrates on aesthetics, while the latter’s works have utilitarian functions.

Education

A formal education is not a necessary prerequisite for fine artists, and many may express their artistic sensibilities beginning from childhood. However, classes and degrees are available for fine art, which improves skills and employability. Courses can focus on skills such as art history and studio art, or on core subjects such as English, natural science and social science. Getting a degree allows the student to develop a portfolio, which is a collection of the artist’s best work. Employers generally look at these portfolios when deciding to hire their owners.

Pay

Fine artists averaged $53,400 per year, or $25.67 per hour, as of May 2011, states the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The highest paid 10 percent earned $90,050 per year, or $43.29, while the lowest paid earned less than $19,150, or $9.20 per hour. About 4,290 of the total 11,830 were independent artists, with averages at $49,930, or $24.00. Next for employment were the 1,970 in the motion picture and video industries. They earned a mean $65,980, or $31.72. The highest paying employers were architectural, engineering and related service, with annual means at $75,430, or $36.27.


Prospects

Jobs for fine artists will grow by 8 percent from 2010 to 2020, according to the BLS. This is far faster than the 1 percent predicted for all artists and related workers. But it is still under the 14 percent rate expected for all jobs in all industries. Jobs can depend on the state of the economy. When times are good, more people are buying. When they are bad, they buy less. Competition will be fierce because more qualified candidates exist than there are jobs to hire them. (REFERENCE 4)


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)