Sketch artists are often paid less than their counterparts who draw traditionally. So how much does a sketch artist earn per hour?
Sketching is a great way to practice drawing, but it’s also a skill that can translate into a career. Many artists start out as hobbyists before they realize they love it enough to pursue it professionally.
If you want to become a professional sketch artist, here are some things you should consider.
You can make anywhere from $15-$25 per hour, depending on where you live and whether you have experience. The average hourly rate for a freelance artist is around $20.
How Do I Become A Sketch Artist?
The first step towards becoming a professional sketcher is to find your niche. You may already know what kind of work you enjoy creating, or you may need to discover that yourself.
The next step is to build up your portfolio. This will help potential employers see how well you handle different types of projects.
Once you’ve built up your portfolio, you’ll need to find clients. There are many ways to go about this. You could create a website or blog, or you could join a community such as DeviantArt or Behance.
Once you’ve found clients, you’ll need to negotiate a price. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to accept whatever someone offers you. A good rule of thumb is to ask for at least three times your hourly rate.
Now that you’ve got a few sketches under your belt, you can show them off to potential clients. Don’t forget to include samples of your other work when you apply for jobs.
As long as you keep practicing, you’ll continue to improve. Once you feel comfortable with your skills, you can begin charging higher prices.
Education Required For Forensic Anthropology
This is just one of the many types of jobs that are available to sketch artists. If you’ve got the skills, why not look into working for forensic crime scene investigations, or criminal sketches?
A crime scene investigator must be creative and have an eye for detail. They also need to be able to draw well and work under pressure.
This job involves dealing with victims who may feel traumatized by what happened to them. This can be a daunting thing and can require a lot of persistence and mental power to get through, depending on the job at hand. So, this is worth taking into consideration when talking about the pay involved.
Forensic artists work as detectives by reconstructing faces of deceased people, and composite artists create images based on multiple eyewitness accounts. Image modification draws attention to changes that may occur over time.
A forensic artist works in one discipline or all 3 disciplines. Forensic colleges say that computer analysis and graphics play an important part in forensic sketching. An artist’s eye is needed to take a victim’s description, and develop the features of the unknown face.
Practicing such art is way more intense than designing a corporate logo.
A forensics artist has to get used to being around cadavers, and spend a lot of time talking to witnesses who may be experiencing a lot of trauma.
It takes empathy and good people skills to be a forensic artist, and ask the right questions to jog someone’s memory.
How Much Does A Sketch Artist Make On Average?
Sketch artists make $27.89 per hour. That’s about $1,115 per week. Or $4,834 per month.
A lot of people make more than that, but most of them are managers and executives who work for big companies.
Most sketch artists work for smaller companies. They usually earn less than $60k a year. Some people make even less than that. But some people make a lot more.
For example, the highest-paid sketch artist in the US makes over $100,000 a year. And the lowest paid sketch artist earns under $10,000 a year.
Sketch artists make an average of $54,822 annually, or about 5% less than the national average salary of $58,000.
In Nevada, sketch artists make an average salary of $56,944 per year, or 3% more than the national average.
What Are The Top Paying Sketch Artist Jobs?
There are 5 different jobs related to the Sketch artist job category that pay more than the average sketch artist salary. These jobs are: Lead Technical Artist, Senior Environment Artist, Retouching Artist, sketch artist, and Art Director. All of these jobs are paid about 41.6% – 55.2% more than the average sketch artist salary.
If you’re qualified for any of these related jobs, you could earn more money than the average sketch artist job.
Job title – Lead technical artist, $89,998 per year.
Salary – $7,500 per month.
Pay – $1,731 per week.
Hourly wage – $43.27 per hour.
Wage – $41.76 per day.
We hope that this example above can give you an insight into exactly what sketch artists can earn throughout the year and how the pay is constructed.
Final Thoughts
The demand for sketch artists is growing rapidly because of the increasing need for visual evidence in criminal investigations.
There are many types of sketch artists out there, including forensic artists, portrait artists, cartoonists, caricaturists, and illustrators.
Many sketch artists have their own websites where they sell their artwork. Others use online marketplaces like Etsy and eBay to sell their sketches.
If you want to become a professional sketch artist, then you should consider getting a degree first. You will learn valuable skills that can help you land a great job as a freelance artist.
You can also start by taking classes online. This way you won’t have to leave home to study.
You can find free courses from reputable universities and schools. Either way, we hope this has given you some insight into what sketch artists earn every year.