Evansville, with a resident population well over 117,000, is the third largest city in Indiana. Evansville features a lively economy with numerous thriving commercial businesses, as well as a strong community of talented illustrators. Evansville is surprisingly rich with employment opportunities in this specialized visual arts profession.
Evansville Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators
All over Evansville, colleges and independent art schools offer classes, workshops and degree programs in visual arts, including illustrative design. Evansville illustration artists earning degrees typically study fine arts and communications design among other relevant topics. Evansville colleges with degree programs in visual arts include Harrison College, Ivy Tech Community College and University of Evansville.
Other Evansville artists obtain drawing skills and fine arts degrees online. Popular accredited virtual design colleges include Post University, DeVry, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes, National University and ITT Tech, among others. Some internet-based study programs provide additional local campuses and neighborhood resource facilities.
Working as an Illustrator in Evansville, Indiana
Commercial enterprises in Evansville, Indiana employing professional illustrators include interactive programmers, newspaper syndicates, local authors, photo labs, art schools and promotional advertising agencies. Some Evansville illustrators sign on with leading local graphic design companies like CH Graphics & Awards, Creative Imaging, Daniel Burton Dean, Designer Creation and Tri-State-Graphic-Plus, for example. Other local artists create technical illustrations for elite Evansville engineering firms like BC Engineering, Bernardin-Lochmueller, Diehl Evaluation, Industrial Control Engineering and Summit Contracting, among others.
According to recent data compile by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, professional illustrators employed full time in the city of Evansville, Indiana report an average annual gross income of about $36,130, with a reported mean hourly rate of around $17.40. Companies in Evansville, Indiana support approximately 180 full time graphic designers, which include illustrators as well as commercial digital designers and layout artists. These figures do not apply to the employment stats of part time illustrators or local freelancers.
Skills of a Professional Illustrator
Technical skills essential to professional illustrators include drawing, coloring and painting in a diverse range of styles and media. Most illustrators are freelance professionals accepting temporary gigs, so versatility is key. Other useful illustration skills include collage, page layout, photography, website design and especially digital art. Typically, illustrators are completely familiar with several related design software programs like Zoner Draw, Serif Draw, PhotoShop, InDesign and Freeverse-Lineform, among many dozen more prepackaged varieties.