How to Become an Illustrator in Pennsylvania

The state of Pennsylvania features two large cities, several smaller cities and well over a million corporations and private businesses.  As a result, talented visual artists throughout the state consistently find work in the field of graphic design, especially as commercial illustrators.

Pennsylvania Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

Pennsylvania is home to many Universities, colleges and private art schools with classes and degree programs in commercial illustration.  Pennsylvania colleges with renowned graphic arts departments include Temple University in Philadelphia, La Roche College in Pittsburgh, Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, DeSales University in Center Valley and Neumann College in Aston. 

By the same measure, just as many modern-day Pennsylvania illustrators sharpen their technical skills online.  Accredited online colleges of fine arts include University of Phoenix, ITT Tech, The Art Institutes, DeVry, National University, Full Sail University and Stratford Career Institute, to name just a few.  Many accredited online colleges also feature local facilities.  ITT Tech has campuses in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dunmore, Harrisburg, Levittown, Tarentum and King-of-Prussia.  The Art Institute has training centers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and York.  University of Phoenix is located in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Warrenton, Washington and Wayne.  DeVry maintains facilities in Philadelphia. Pittsburgh, Fort Washington and King of Prussia.

Working as an Illustrator in Pennsylvania

Scads of local illustrators residing in Pennsylvania do commercial artwork for graphic design firms like M3 Printing in Philadelphia, Graphic Cellar in Pittsburgh, Pig Art Graphic Design in Doylestown, Great River Graphics in Gilbertsville and Lehigh Website Design in Center Valley, to name a few.  Illustrators with a wild side often create compelling designs for local tattoo artists like Kadillac Tattoo in Philadelphia, Redtide Tattoo in Pittsburgh, Colorbomb Tattooing in Erie, Hellbound Tattoo in Bethlehem or Underground Tattoo in Hazleton. 

Pennsylvania illustrators with a talent for detail sometimes create technical drawings for local engineering firms such as Burns Engineering in Philadelphia, RGS Associates in Brownstown, Applied Geoscience in Reading, Stone Consulting in Warren and Camp-Dresser-McKee in Lancaster, among others.  Some local illustrators design colorful, realistic images for medical illustration services like David Gothard in Easton, Belfiore Design in Manheim or Alphafox Illustration in Hershey. 

Professional illustrators who are employed full time in the state of Pennsylvania report an average annual salary of about $51,890, with a reported mean hourly wage of around $24.95.  Pennsylvania corporations support roughly 240 full time illustration artists, not including local freelancers.  
 
Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Professional illustrators are not only advanced at mechanical drawing.  They typically also possess other graphic design-related skills such as photography, lighting and page layout.  They are also fully proficient with digital illustration design software programs like Celedy Draw, Adobe Premier, Toon Boom Digital Pro, DrawIt and Silhouette, for instance.