To become a commercial artist, a good dose of creativity and artistic talent are needed. An understanding of how to communicate ideas and messages visually will help you on the road to become a commercial artist. Recognizing and being OK with the fact that your creations often will be guided by the design vision of an art director, corporation or someone other than yourself is important. Training through a college, university or art school will help you learn specific techniques and the latest technology in the field. Also, a four-year degree often is required to gain employment as an entry-level commercial artist.
Commercial artists work in a wide variety of industries and fields. They do multimedia design for corporations and advertising agencies. They help develop music videos. They provide graphics for anime and video games.
Title artists create lettering and drawings for film and television credits. Commercial artists also provide illustrations for medical and scientific texts. These are just a handful of the artistic jobs under the commercial artist umbrella. Deciding what your interests are and where you fit in is important in your journey to become a commercial artist.
Colleges, universities and art and design schools often provide targeted classes and educational opportunities in specific areas of commercial art. Do some research about different schools and their programs to figure out which one fits your interests and is right for you. Speak with school administrators, professors and students at the schools you are considering, if possible. Find out what kind of internship opportunities and job placement assistance are available.
Make personal connections in the commercial art field that interests you. If you want to work in graphic design, for example, look to join professional industry organizations for graphic designers. Many professional organizations have student chapters that offer reduced rates to join. If you want to be a graphic designer in book or magazine publishing, join industry organizations and attend events in those fields.
A very important element in finding employment as a commercial artist is a portfolio. The portfolio includes samples of your work to show to potential employers. It can be online, an actual book that you carry with you to interviews or both. Quality tops quantity when it comes to putting together a portfolio, so include only your best pieces. Targeting the pieces you include in your portfolio to the specific job for which you are applying can help you to become a commercial artist by showing the potential employer that you understand their needs.