Jump to bottom

Closed Thread Icon

Topic awaiting preservation: artist's salary? (Page 1 of 2) Pages that link to <a href="https://ozoneasylum.com/backlink?for=6019" title="Pages that link to Topic awaiting preservation: artist&amp;#039;s salary? (Page 1 of 2)" rel="nofollow" >Topic awaiting preservation: artist&#039;s salary? <span class="small">(Page 1 of 2)</span>\

 
Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 05:17

well I have decided to be a 3D animator for living....and basicly a multimedia artist.....

I kinda have no clue what kind of average salary do animators recieve? any diffrent from standard animator and 3D animator?

how about graphic designers? illustrators? what about those peoples salaries?


anyway most of all does anyone knows what is the highest paying job artist can afford?




DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 05:24

Well, you;ve asked about an *amazingly* broad range of careers here.

So, you gotta figure -

starting salary: doodley squat.

top o' the heap: boatloads o' cash.

hope that helps =)



Dan
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 06:11

http://www.salary.com - (edit: you'll have to find it yourself)

Like most jobs that don't require that you go to university, you won't make a lot of money.

[This message has been edited by Dan (edited 04-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Dan (edited 04-11-2003).]

Suho1004
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: Seoul, Korea
Insane since: Apr 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 06:29

Well, whatever the salaries might be, you should ask yourself what your goal in life is. Is it to make a lot of money? If so, then don't become an artist--any kind of artist. Yes, some of them may make boatloads o' cash, but the chances are pretty good that you won't become one of them.

If you really want to be an artist, be an artist. Forget about the money. In fact, whatever you decide to do, don't do it because of the money. Money will not make you happy. Doing what you want to do in life--pursuing your dreams--this will make you happy.

Just about every one of my close friends from university now make more money than I do. They all also envy me. My best friend is an investment banker who makes a ton of money, and he tells me he wishes he could live like I do. But he's too hung up on money and security to follow his dreams. Don't let that happen to you.





www.liminality.org

Petskull
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist

From: 127 Halcyon Road, Marenia, Atlantis
Insane since: Aug 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 08:15

yeah, what Suho said- that's why I'm a programmer!

No money, no job security, no glory, no envy.... *trails off*


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

WebShaman
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist

From: Happy Hunting Grounds...
Insane since: Mar 2001

posted posted 04-11-2003 09:24

Starving artist - 'nuff said.

Only through either massive self-promotion, or a lot of luck, does an artist get to 'enjoy' the fruits of his labors while he is alive...

And who really respects self-promotion?

Being an artist is exactly that - being an artist. It is a way of life...and not a means to an end (get rich fast...).

So, Ruski, if you are looking at the salary thing, become a manager...hehe...or sell someone elses art...

bodhi23
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Greensboro, NC USA
Insane since: Jun 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 14:02

My sister in Boston has been trying to live off of her art for several years. Currently, she's in school to become a massage therapist because she can't make a living selling her own art... Go figure.

Now, if you can find a job that will allow you to apply your artistic talents, and still make a decent living? Well, then you've got something!

But yeah, manage, sell someone else's stuff, or do something else to pay the bills and create art to make yourself happy...

Bodhi - Cell 617

DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 15:09

Come ot think of it, ther term "artist's salary" is a bit of an oxymoron...

MindBender
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: a pocket dimention...
Insane since: Sep 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 17:11

WHOA... hold up. People get paid for this?! I basically just try to enjoy the masochism...


It's only after we've lost everything...
That we're free to do anything...

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 20:37

no I am not only thinking about money. I alrerady was thinking of becoming artist long ago.
my true dream is not money, but to creat or direct an animated motion picture. and make games...tahts why I want to study 3D animation.....as for the rest of stuff such as painting and other classic arts I will enjoy doing them for fun on my own....I was simply curiouse if any of people here are leading this type of living...and if so I wanted to know what kind of living they have....

by the way I saw something like in game developer magazine. that 3D artist starting salary minimum is from $300,000 a year...is that enough to make a good living?


and by the way suho what do you do for living?

[This message has been edited by Ruski (edited 04-11-2003).]

Slime
Lunatic (VI) Mad Scientist

From: Massachusetts, USA
Insane since: Mar 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 20:44

Oh, yeah. That's quite a bit more than good enough to make a living. Assuming we're talking about US dollars here.

But, I imagine the chances of getting a starting salary like that are really small, unless you're *incredibly* good at something.

bodhi23
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Greensboro, NC USA
Insane since: Jun 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 20:44

Yep - that would be enough to have a good living. I could live quite well on that myself!

Don't get us wrong, it's not that making that kind of money as an artist is impossible, because it's not. Just that those types of jobs are few and far between, and the majority of artists in the world aren't so lucky. It's difficult to make a start just as an artist. Usually, you have to have some vehicle for your art, such as website development or an entry level position in an animation studio. Takes time to work up to 3grand a year... But it's where we'd all like to be some day soon... *sigh*

edit - If a 3-D animator is starting at that salary, they must require some god-awful amount of education and experience. A person just walking in off the street isn't gonna make that starting. I'd like to see the hiring requirements for that job!

Bodhi - Cell 617

[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 04-11-2003).]

Fig
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Houston, TX, USA
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 21:02

um, i have friends in hollywood who have done visual effects work on films you've seen, and they don't make anywhere NEAR that much and they've got a few years experience. try dividing by 3.75 or so. for a starting salary as a graphic designer, divide by about 11. as an animator divide by between 7 and 8.

chris (math genius)


KAIROSinteractive

Human Shield
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Massachusetts, USA
Insane since: Jun 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 21:13

I can't think of anyone who becomes an artist for the money. If you want to make money, go to business school. If you want to draw or animate, do that. If you get paid to do it, congratulations. If you can live off it, I salute you.

Dan
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-11-2003 21:27

You won't make $300,000 US a year as an artist.. of any kind.
Not enless you become famous - which is vary rare for an artist. For a starting salary, assuming you're the best available, I wouldn't expect more than $30,000 US per year. Which is enough to live on, as a single person with a small house or apartment.

Human Shield: thanks for reminding me why I start my BCOMM in September

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 22:23

haha...

according to my friend who is finishing an 3D animation college teh average salary is 40$ per/h
......maybe even more depending how stable is your animation job.

now I wasnt refering this amount of cash for a desgner or illustrator...but for a game developer....yearly around 280,000 or little less for starters...YES I saw it in the article of game development magazine!

now programers in game companies get started with 300,000 or more..and I ofcourse mean BIG companies..namco capcom bla bla.....or stuff like Pixar for artists


I am very sure that after 4 years of animation college learning maya poeple can get that good job...since learning Maya cost alot of cash

counterfeitbacon
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Vancouver, WA
Insane since: Apr 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 22:32

I fired off an email to someone who works in the gaming field. He said that a starting salary for someone without proffessional experience but with schooling is around 45,000. The more experience you get (in a large company), the more you get paid. In other worlds: Stay with the company, get better, and get promoted. The top animators in companies like that have usually been with the company for over 10 years and get around 200-300,00 dolloars.

bodhi23
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Greensboro, NC USA
Insane since: Jun 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 22:34

I'd like to see some documentation about those starting rates. That just sounds insane to me. Starting positions are generally the lowest paid positions there are. Unless you have a supreme resume and lots of experience, you're not gonna get a starting salary like that... I don't care how good you are. You're an unkown quantity. There's not a business in the world that will take a risk of $300,000 on an unkown quantity.

Bodhi - Cell 617

[This message has been edited by bodhi23 (edited 04-11-2003).]

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-11-2003 22:51

I am sorry but thats what it said in an article of Game developer magazine.....

personnaly I am more interested in animation picture....

DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 02:21

Quite frankly, I don't think there is *anything* with a starting salary of $300,000 per year.

Perhaps someone with experience and reputation can get hired for that much under good circumstances, and perhaps in a big name company you can work your way up to that, but there's no way any business is going to have entry level positions at that kind of money.

There are rich people who don't make that kind of money...



Fig
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Houston, TX, USA
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 02:29

kinda what i was thinking. i'd have to see the article, or at least see it properly documented in MLA bibliography format

chris


KAIROSinteractive

silence
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: soon to be "the land down under"
Insane since: Jan 2001

posted posted 04-12-2003 02:41

I hate to burst your bubble Ruski, but I'd have to question the credentials of this "Game Developer" magazine.

First of all, in a survey conducted among game developers, the average salary came out to around $60,000 per annum. Survey(you have to register, but registration is free and if you're serious about game development then I'd highly recommend gamasutra.

The beginning salary was somewhere in the $30,000 range. However, there are some high paying positions where you'll see $300k per year or more, but these are for things like lead designer. Lead animator makes around $60k. And when entering the work force, don't expect anything higher than sub-assistant-to-the-assistant animator.

So you're looking at around $30 to $35k per year, $40k if you're lucky.

Oh, and don't forget working 80-hour weeks when its crunchtime and the game goes gold in a month.

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-12-2003 05:38

thanks for the info silence!

no I am not very seriouse with game developing, but I might possible do it...I am more into animated movies, both 3D and standard animation...

well I am just curiouse is 30k enough to make a good living as a starter?
I know its gonna be hard and alot of work no matter where...either games or movie..yes I am prepared to work 30-40 hours a week....if I will get tired of 3D I might simply go for graphic designe or simply a designer sinse after learning Maya photoshop will be childs play....currently I am working hard on my artistic skills..I am in no hurry getting into a softwares...I know that people in companies want to see your normal art like paintings sketches and so on.. more that 3D or PS stuff....

please tell me who has any friends or who works with video games I would like to hear from those people please..how are the industries and how are they livings...


DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 06:04

is 30k enough to make a good living as a starter?

Well, it won't make you rich. Can you afford a place to live, a car, food on the table, drinks on the weekend, with relative ease? Yes.

Will you be tossing cash out the window? No.

There are families that make less and get by, so a single guy can do just dandy on 30k.

{{edit
addendum: it all depends on wher eyou live too! you won't be renting nice apatment with a view in manhattan on 30k.... }}



[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 04-12-2003).]

Skaarjj
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist

From: :morF
Insane since: May 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 08:35

In Australia a single guy on 30K american a year can live VERY well...he'll be reting a nice appartment in Melbourne with a view of the bay...and almost anything else he wants...that 30K equates to almost 60K for us.

Fig
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Houston, TX, USA
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 09:08

ok, i need to correct quite a few misconceptions in your post there. like most of it

design and animation are two completely separate disciplines, knowing maya/xsi/whatever doesn't equate in any way to be able to do print or other graphic design. i know some killer 3d artists with no design sense whatsoever. its also not necessarily easy to crossover from field to field, if you're an experienced animator but haven't designed professionally before then you're making the starting designer salary. and if you find a design job that only works 30-40 hours a week please call me companies don't want to see traditional work more than whatever your speciality is either, some do like to see life drawings or sketches, especially for animators, but studios will be far more concerned with your reel or design portfolio.

the industry for film and animation is just like for design, its tight, but if you're talented you can get a job. animation, or at least high end visual effects, is also a very small world, everyone knows everyone and once you're in you're pretty much in.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-12-2003 17:51
quote:
yes I am prepared to work 30-40 hours a week



totally missed that the 1st time around, thanks for pointing it out Fig.

Ruski, that'd be like - a part time job.

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-12-2003 23:57

thanks again guys.

fig, I have a freand in NY who is studing mayors an animation. he also works and designes watches...he actually made official LOTR watch...yes I know what you mean that this are very diffrent subjects.....personally I have very good imagination...and graphic desige seems not so difficult subject....I might take electives to get experiance ofcourse....

umm DL, so that means real job is even longer? DARN!

counterfeitbacon
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Vancouver, WA
Insane since: Apr 2002

posted posted 04-13-2003 00:31

Really...If you're only working for eight hours a day, which I though was the regular time per day to work, and you only work 5 days a week, that would make 40 hours. Of course, with any job in this field, I'm guessing that you'd be working for 7 days a week with lots of overtime. Well...At least you enjoy it.

DL-44
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: under the bed
Insane since: Feb 2000

posted posted 04-13-2003 00:50

A 'standard' hourly wage full time job is a 40 hour work week.

Most salary positions require that you work more than 40, often more like 50-60, sometimes more like 80.

Obviously this will vary quite extremely depending on what you are doing and for whom.

So, 30-40, which really implies less than 40 hours, would be pretty much part time =)

You won't find a 30-40k salary position working 30 hours a week (of course, anything is possible - just don't count on it).




[This message has been edited by DL-44 (edited 04-13-2003).]

tikigod
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: outside Augusta National
Insane since: Nov 2001

posted posted 04-13-2003 01:11

If your just starting out, plan on making 22-24K thats a more realistic figure for your first job in either the internet or animation. Face it, since the ".com bubble" burst there is a glut of people with (I say this just to come up with broad term) "computer arts" skills. It's an employers market.

Even if the most talented artist in the world applies , he/she still doesn't have a very large body of work nor any work history for an employer to to examine. Beginning artists are always an experiment. And there are a lot of people out there right now with several years of experience and no job. For someone in the arts, the hardest job to land is the first one.

--tiki

p.s. salary.com's estimates are whacked. I wish I made as much as it said I should. Hell, I don't think my boss makes that much.

Perfect Thunder
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: Milwaukee
Insane since: Oct 2001

posted posted 04-13-2003 07:57

If you're really lucky, you can get a salaried position where they give you tasks, and you do them, and there you go, you're done until they give you some more. My roommate had one of those once -- he went to work "two or three times a week," and made $35k a year.

But in the game industry, man oh man, the only thing I ever hear is that you'll be making $20,000 a year or less, and working literally every waking hour of every day. If you want to be a game designer, plan on that, don't plan on making a lot of money (EVER) or having free time (EVER).

In graphic design, it's not quite as bad, but it's still pretty gruelling. Most departments where I've worked have definitely required a couple of twelve-hour shifts from time to time; on the other hand, they've always made sure I got something out of it, too, instead of making me take an unpaid day off or something. Belts are tighter, now, though, and you definitely hear stories.

As for me, I'm never going off hourly without a contract limiting my hours. Fortunately, I'm a freelancer (cough bum cough), so I have all the free time I can handle without going broke. Yep... lots of free time. ... anyone got some qualified leads?

Fig
Paranoid (IV) Mad Scientist

From: Houston, TX, USA
Insane since: Apr 2000

posted posted 04-13-2003 08:19

ruski, not that an artist/animator can't be good at both (i'm attempting to be), its just simply not easy. and just because photoshop may be easier to use than maya doesn't mean a thing about how easy something is to design. just because you can operate the software doesn't make you good.

tiki, i think there's a bit more range in starting salaries than that. an entry-level designer at a design firm is looking at probably $24k or so, true, but you'll make more in a corporate art dept (prob near $30k or so) and game employees i know started at upwards of that. its definitely not a get-rich quick sort of field tho, and if you don't truly love design and want to do it you'll burn out pretty quick. or just suck

chris


KAIROSinteractive

Suho1004
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: Seoul, Korea
Insane since: Apr 2002

posted posted 04-13-2003 15:26

Ruski: Sorry for not getting back to you--I was away for the weekend. What do I do for a living? Well, I'm not sure if I can call it a living yet, but I pay the bills by translating. I'm still a student, though (graduate student), so I've still got some decisions ahead of me. I will most likely become a professor, and continue translating, of course. Maybe not the most romantic thing in the world, but at least I followed my dreams.

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-13-2003 21:10

that really cool Suho! a beautiful wife and a dream
is all you need! LOL

anyway....well the more I mature the less I become interested in video games, and there is something that just keeps pulling me towars animated movies....

so what its like to be an animator? how do people work in animation studios....I am refering to both standard animation and 3D...


once again I thank you for all your time

silence
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: soon to be "the land down under"
Insane since: Jan 2001

posted posted 04-14-2003 06:45

Well, here's how it boiled down on Star Wars Ep. II.

In any digital effects animation studio, usually, you have two teams: modellers(sp?) and animators. For a single character, the modeller creates the character and gives it controls so that animation can do their thing. Once the modelling is done, the animator gets a list of shots and/or characters that he/she will be animating. For example, one of the animators was assigned something like 50 robots to animate, everything from the repair droids in the background to minor minor droid characters.

Main characters usually get their own animator, such as Yoda. At the end of each week or so, the visual effects supervisor shows Lucas the completed scenes and he signs off on them. Scenes that need changes go back to the animator to do the scene over.

And, for the record, I believe they used Maya for the production effects.

WebShaman
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist

From: Happy Hunting Grounds...
Insane since: Mar 2001

posted posted 04-14-2003 10:23

Happy (late) B-Day, Master Suho...hope it was a good one!

Free shocktreatments for everyone!

*what am I saying?*

Suho1004
Maniac (V) Inmate

From: Seoul, Korea
Insane since: Apr 2002

posted posted 04-14-2003 15:17
quote:
a beautiful wife and a dream is all you need!



Well said, Ruski.

WS: You're a week early, but I'll take it anyway.

Petskull
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist

From: 127 Halcyon Road, Marenia, Atlantis
Insane since: Aug 2000

posted posted 04-14-2003 17:28

I hope you realize, Ruski, that you're going to have to move for any of that.

The digital scene here in Puerto Rico is seriously sad, and at the ad agency I worked with, the graphic artist was, well, let's just say that you could tell he was poor. Add to that the fact that 53% of all the people I know "want to get a job drawing", and you've got a recipe for failure...

Puerto Rico is not the place to be beautiful and avan garde, if you can't weigh it, measure it or smack it, it seldom has a place here. You'll notice that most of the businesses around here got nice computers but run Excel, of all things, to jot down how much they're selling. Software is not 'tangable', art is not 'tangable' at least for the typical puertorican business owner...

..it seems we live on the same sad, leaky boat, Ruski.....

btw, the only game designing in Puerto Rico was last weekend or so when my friends and made a new Quake map to play on...


Code - CGI - links - DHTML - Javascript - Perl - programming - Magic - http://www.twistedport.com
ICQ: 67751342

Ruski
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Jul 2002

posted posted 04-14-2003 18:14

yeah PS we might live on the same boat, but after high school I am getting the ell out of here

yup, am planing to live somehwere in states...

[1] 2Next Page »

« BackwardsOnwards »

Show Forum Drop Down Menu