Do you want to draw people and their characteristics? Sketch artists create likenesses of subjects using pencil, charcoal, or pastels. Sketches are used by law enforcement agencies to assist in identifying suspects, by the news media to depict courtroom scenes, and by individual patrons for their own enjoyment.
Are you interested in preserving old art work? Painting restorers preserve and restore damaged and faded paintings. They apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean the surfaces of the paintings, they reconstruct or retouch damaged areas, and they apply preservatives to protect the paintings. All this is highly detailed work and usually is reserved for experts in the field.
Education required: Bachelor's degree or higher
As the use of computers has evolved to bring together text, graphic art, sound, animation, and video to educate, inform, and entertain users, specialized occupations have emerged. Multimedia artists design artwork to express specific ideas, thoughts, or concepts in response to assignments or requests from employers or clients. They may also be called graphic designers, interface designers, illustrators, video producers, or animators.
Here are some examples of a project that a multimedia artist might work on:
Do you like to make very realistic drawings? Medical and scientific illustrators combine drawing skills with knowledge of biology or other sciences. Medical illustrators draw illustrations of human anatomy and surgical procedures. Scientific illustrators draw illustrations of animal and plant life, atomic and molecular structures, and geologic and planetary formations. The illustrations are used in medical and scientific publications and in audiovisual presentations for teaching purposes. Medical illustrators also work for lawyers, producing exhibits for court cases.
Do you want to arrange newspapers or magazines? Layout Artists create the visual aspects of advertising in magazine and newspaper ads, television commercials, and product packaging. They select photographs, draw illustrations, and decide on the colors and style of type to be used. They also prepare samples of art work for account executives planning advertising campaigns.
Education required: Bachelor's degree
Do you love to draw? Illustrators typically create pictures for books, magazines, and other publications, and for commercial products such as textiles, wrapping paper, stationery, greeting cards, and calendars. Increasingly, illustrators work in digital format, preparing work directly on a computer.
Education required: a Bachelor's degree is preferred
Do you love to create art? Fine artists typically display their work in museums, commercial art galleries, corporate collections, and private homes. Some of their artwork may be commissioned (done on request from clients), but most is sold by the artist or through private art galleries or dealers. Only the most successful fine artists are able to support themselves solely through the sale of their works. Most fine artists must work in an unrelated field to support their art careers.
Do you have strong opinions that you convey with pictures? Cartoonists draw political, advertising, social, and sports cartoons. Some cartoonists work with others who create the idea or story and write the captions. Most cartoonists have comic, critical, or dramatic talents in addition to drawing skills.
Education required: a Bachelor's degree is preferred
Are you interested in different ways to convey information? In audio visual design, the artist generally creates educational or sales presentations. A client submits a script which must be illustrated with a series of drawings, collages, or typographic images calculated to reproduce well in slide form. These pictures symbolically or illustratively present the ideas put forth in the script. The designer sees the slides through the production phase, organizes them to follow the script, and adds the sound track necessary to complete the presentation.
Do you love to look at art? Do you have an opinion about it? Art directors develop design concepts and review material that is to appear in periodicals, newspapers, and other printed or digital media. They decide how best to present the information visually, so that it is eye catching, appealing, and organized. Art directors decide which photographs or artwork to use and oversee the layout design and production of the printed material. They may direct workers engaged in artwork, layout design, and copywriting.
Education required: Bachelor's degree (usually a Bachelor of Fine Arts)