Can An Illustrator Become A Graphic Designer?

You should stick with your design degree because there are a lot of opportunities. However, a minor may be good if you are a good illustrator. There are design firms that have an illustrative touch to their branding projects and there are studios that focus on poster design. Your illustration minor will help you and give you an interesting edge, but an illustration degree on its own may be more difficult to find opportunities.

If you do love illustration you should take advantage of your teachers and really learn from them. Incorporate this into your design work. I think it will give you a very interesting point of view and skill that other designers may not have.

If you continue with your design degree and make illustration your minor it IS possible to become an illustrator. It’s also possible to be an illustrator and switch to a designer (I’ve met some) but I think it’s slightly more difficult.

Graphics Designer

A graphic designer uses digital images and texts to create layouts and visual outputs for their clients. Their art style and medium are a bit different from the illustrator who uploads and produces digital copies of the images that they manually paint and draw.

The main responsibilities of the graphic designer/illustrator includes the skillful designing of eye-catching images using various computer programs and software. They follow client specifications and requests, and they usually share the project with copywriters and other professionals.

They typically work in offices and studios. Employers are commonly from the marketing and publishing industry, putting the graphic designs and illustrations for commercial use and products. This includes magazines, websites, brochures and advertisements.

With the progress of the digital age, career growth for graphic designers/illustrators in the U.S. is set to climb to 3 percent between 2018 and 2028, resulting in 8,800 job openings.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a graphic designer/illustrator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.33 an hour? That’s $42,282 a year!

Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 8,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What is graphic illustration?

Graphic illustration takes characteristics from both graphic design and classic illustration and combines them. While graphic design puts more emphasis on communication, and illustration leans more into fine art, the graphic illustration is what happens when we marry both together. It’s the best of both worlds.

Graphic illustration applies the classic design principles of color, form, shapes, and layouts to organize and showcase original artwork.

As graphic design and illustration separately, graphic illustrations help to express ideas visually, clarify concepts, sell products, educate and promote. They’re found everywhere: flyers, fabrics, books, advertisements, packaging, posters, and websites. They can utilize any technique, from printmaking and drawing to graphic depictions of data and statistics.

Graphic illustrators come with a skillset involving drawing, painting, art history, digital illustration, business and marketing. They require both artistic skill and creative thinking necessary to communicate abstract concepts simply and effectively.

When should you use a graphic illustration?

When your business needs a much more specialized, stylistic approach to your marketing, a graphic illustrator is the best professional to consult. Graphic illustrations keep creative expression at the forefront, while also making sure to adhere to your marketing strategy and design elements. It’s a great chance to build a deeper connection between your users and products or ideas.

Is your brand in the process of developing a strong aesthetic and illustrated character to act as the face of the company? Or are you interested in featuring a detailed illustration of your company culture on your homepage? These are great opportunities to bring this stylistic technique to your business.

Graphic illustration: the best of both design worlds

Our current design era can be described as ambiguous. But it’s also a chance for distinct art forms and practices to entangle skill sets and share potential with one another. That’s just how art evolves. Graphic design, illustration and graphic illustration offer beautiful opportunities to take your brand to the next level.

What Does a Graphic Designer/Illustrator Do

There are certain skills that many graphic designers/illustrators 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 analytical skills, artistic ability and communication skills.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a graphic designer/illustrator, we found that a lot of resumes listed 13.8% of graphic designer/illustrators included adobe creative suite, while 9.8% of resumes included graphic design, and 9.2% of resumes included company website. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

How To Become a Graphic Designer/Illustrator

If you’re interested in becoming a graphic designer/illustrator, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We’ve determined that 64.9% of graphic designers/illustrators have a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.5% of graphic designers/illustrators have master’s degrees. Even though most graphic designers/illustrators 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 graphic designer/illustrator. When we researched the most common majors for a graphic designer/illustrator, we found that the most commonly earn bachelor’s degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on graphic designer/illustrator resumes include master’s degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a graphic designer/illustrator. In fact, many graphic designer/illustrator jobs require experience in a role such as the graphic designer. Meanwhile, many graphic designers/illustrators also have previous career experience in roles such as art director or graphic designer internship.