Info on Working as an Illustrator in Arkansas

With numerous excellent colleges and Universities and as many as 270,000 commercial businesses, the state of Arkansas offers ample opportunities for local visual artists.  Arkansas illustrators regularly find work designing company logos, promo art, product packaging, book covers and limitless other visual commercial creations.  Arkansas is also home to several major global corporations such as AT&T, Acxiom, Community Health Systems and Wal-Mart, not to mention Arkansas' largest employer, the State Government of Arkansas.

Arkansas Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

Arkansas is filled with colleges and fine arts schools that feature training and degree programs in illustration design.  Acclaimed accredited Arkansas art schools include National Park Community College in Hot Springs, University-of-Central-Arkansas in Conway, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and John Brown University in Siloam Springs, among others.  Artists seeking more personalized instruction can contact Jonesboro School of Art in Jonesboro or Matt-McLeod-Fine-Arts in Little Rock.

Other Arkansas artists prefer to acquire professional skills by way of accredited online schools of design.  Popular favorites include The Art Institutes, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, ITT Tech and DeVry.  Some internet-based design schools also provide supplemental campuses and local resource centers.  University of Phoenix and ITT Tech both have campuses in Little Rock.

Working as an Illustrator in Arkansas

Corporations and Arkansas business associations in need of professional illustrators include newspapers, book publishers, interior designers, website consultants and app developers.  Some local illustration artists work for Arkansas engineering firms like Anderson-Engineering or Crafton-Tull-Sparks in Little Rock, Mitchell-Engineering in Harrison, Stewart-Engineering in Conway and Clayton-Engineering in Sherwood, to name a few.  Other Arkansas illustrators are employed by local graphic design firms such as Airetech or Quest-Graphic-Design in Little Rock, Carey-Graphic-Design in Bella Vista, Quad-Graphics in Jonesboro and Arkansaw-Design-Graphics in Benton, among others. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, professional illustrators employed full time in the state of Arkansas claim an average earning of about $40,000 annually, with a reported mean hourly rate of just under $20.00.  Technical illustrators – artists who draft engineering diagrams, architectural blueprints and medical charts – earn higher salaries than illustrators employed as graphic designers. 

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Illustration can be generally be described as any type of man-made visual image, most often used in conjunction with text to embellish its appearance or to clarify its meaning. Aside from genuine artistic talent, skills essential to professional illustrators include versatility of style and medium, as well as proficiency with one or more digital software programs.  Popular illustration design software packages include Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop, Compact-Draw, Real-Draw-Pro and Creature-House, among many dozen more.