How to Become an Illustrator in Fort Collins, Colorado

The city of Fort Collins, Colorado has an exceptionally strong local arts culture and many resident visual artists landing positions as illustrators for books, magazines, product packaging, brand logos, technical charts and many other commercial and industrial visual creations.  Fort Collins businesses maintain an ongoing demand for local talent in this highly specialized field.

Fort Collins Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

A fistful of Fort Collins colleges and innumerable independent art studios offer a classes, workshops and certificates for aspiring professional illustrators.  Popularly attended art colleges in Fort Collins include Colorado State University, Flying Colors Art School and Leroy Johns Legacy.

Some Fort Collins artists acquire technical illustration skills and earn academic degrees online.  Accredited online art schools with degree programs include National University, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes, DeVry, ITT Tech and numerous others.  Quite a few internet-based art schools also provide convenient supplemental local resource facilities.  University of Phoenix has a campus in Fort Collins.

Working as an Illustrator in Fort Collins, Colorado

Commercial companies in Fort Collins that hire local illustrators include IT corporations, animation studios, legal service providers, educational facilities and website developers.  Some local illustrators sign up with famed Fort Collins engineering firms like CBG-Engineering, ESC-Engineering, Kelly-Engineering, Mussetter-Engineering and The-Engineering-Company, for instance.  Other Fort Collins artists render commercial illustrations for local graphic design firms like Anne-Vetter, Archetype-Graphics, Rockolita, Stamp-Graphic-Designs and Voice-Graphics, among others.

Full time professional illustrators employed in the city of Fort Collins, Colorado earn, on average, about $47,700 per year, with a reported mean hourly rate of around $22.95.  Corporations in Fort Collins support about 230 full time illustrators, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  These figures do not reflect the unreported incomes of part time illustrators, freelance professionals or Fort Collins artists employed by offshore companies. 

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Drawing and coloring recognizable forms at a professional level require nothing less than extraordinary talent combined with many hours of dedicated practice.  Illustrators are adept with a pencil, not to mention a pen, a crayon or a piece of chalk.  Professional illustrators consistently create innovative artwork in various styles and media.  Typically, a professional illustrator is also on very user-friendly terms with at least a few digital illustration design programs.  Popular illustration software includes Compact Draw, Intaglio, Draw It, Quark Xpress and Adobe InDesign, among many more.  Other technical skills illustrators may find helpful are photography and website design.