There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a portrait artist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.56 an hour? That's $67,729 a year!
What Does a Portrait Artist Do
There are certain skills that many portrait artists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed artistic ability, business skills, and customer service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a portrait artist, we found that a lot of resumes listed 30.2% of portrait artists included art direction, while 24.6% of resumes included customer service, and 12.6% of resumes included photography. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the portrait artist job title. But what industry to start with? Most portrait artists actually find jobs in the retail and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Portrait Artist
If you're interested in becoming a portrait artist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 54.4% of portrait artists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.9% of portrait artists have master's degrees. Even though most portrait artists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a portrait artist. When we researched the most common majors for a portrait artist, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on portrait artist resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a portrait artist. In fact, many portrait artist jobs require experience in a role such as an artist. Meanwhile, many portrait artists also have previous career experience in roles such as internships or sales associates.