Graphic Artist For An Artwork Consulting Firm
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: AA, University of Houston
My Prior Experience: I worked in a small Advertising Specialty and Promotional Products office designing, typesetting and reproducing artwork for the print process.
My Job Profile
My Company: I work for an artwork consulting firm that provides art consultation for healing environments.
Job/Career Overview: I work in an artistic and creative industry that requires both a creative and analytical thought process. Our clients expect us to provide them with peaceful, serene, and aesthetic art and sculpture for their hospitals.
A typical day would involve reviewing artist proposals and creating our vision of a collection of art and sculpture through art renderings and presentations. One specific duty could require a computer-aided rendering and/or scaled re-draw of what a hanging sculpture would look like within an architectural rendering of the space.
Another specific duty would be to piece together several pieces of art in order to physically show an artist the commission we would like to see and/or create for the client. Computer programs typically used include Auto-CAD, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat, as well as web page design software, such as Front Page.
Love It? Hate It?
I rate this career 6 out of 10.
What I Love or Hate
The best parts of my career are all influenced by the creative side of the industry. I have the ability to think outside the box and use my creativity to aid in the concept of the art and sculpture we would like to provide to our clients. I also have the ability to work with various creative minds, such as the artists we contract for such jobs, which opens me up to an alternative set of creative thinking.
The downside of the career would be some of the strict and stringent deadlines involved. Often, with the creative process, timelines can almost be a hinderance to the creative process.
My Career Tips
Time management is essential, as this job has many hard deadlines followed by down time.
It is also vital to continue to educate yourself on the latest graphic software even after you get your degree. Most degrees are not all-encompassing, and can only teach you tips and techniques on what is already out there, and not what may be to come.
Also, gain a wide variety of experience, as your goal might one day be to run your own creative firm.
