Info on Working as an Illustrator in Maryland

The state of Maryland is an ideal home for creative visual artists pursuing careers in graphic design, particularly as commercial illustrators.  Professional illustrators are often called upon by local businesses to perform graphic commercial tasks such as packaging design, comic book art, text-based images, scientific charts and other things.

Maryland Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

Scattered throughout Maryland are many local colleges and countless private training facilities that offer workshops and degree programs in illustration arts.  Aspiring illustrators in Maryland study visual arts, computer science, mass media and other other important topics.  Maryland colleges with fine arts divisions include University of Maryland in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Columbia, Bowie State University in Bowie, Frostburg State University in Frostburg and the American Career Institute in Baltimore, Columbia and Silver Spring.

In any case, multitudes of modern-day Maryland visual artists acquire technical skills and graphic arts degrees online.  Widespread accredited online art colleges include Post University, DeVry, National University, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes and ITT Tech.  In many cases, online schools also provide convenient campus locations.  University of Phoenix has campuses in Greenbelt, Aberdeen, Columbia, Rockville and Timonium.  ITT Tech maintains locations in Owings Mills and Hanover.  DeVry runs a facility in Bethesda.
 
Working as an Illustrator in Maryland

Corporations in Maryland in need of professional illustrators include fashion houses, advertising agencies, newspapers, website consultants and app developers.  Many Maryland illustrators draw commercial artwork for local graphic design firms such as Aaron-Logo-Designs in Baltimore, Evergreen-Graphics in Frederick, Whale-Works-Design in Arnold, Knight-Design in Columbia and Chroma-Design in Silver Spring, for example. 

Other local illustration professionals work for major Maryland engineering companies like Alpha-Corporation in Baltimore, Constellation-Design in Timonium, Daniel-Consultants in Columbia, George-Miles-Buhr in Salisbury and Greenman-Pedersen in Laurel, among others.  Some illustrators create realistic anatomical drawings for medical illustration firms like Litwak-Illustration-Studio in Rockville, Illustrated-Stitches in Ellicott City or Medical-Logistics in Jessup. 

The average reported annual income for an illustrator professionally employed full time in the state of Maryland is about $35,400, with an average hourly rate of roughly $17.00.  Maryland corporations employ approximately seventy full time illustration professionals, not including local freelancers.

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Professional illustrators are, above all, exceedingly good at drawing.  Illustrators consistently create innovative, detailed, hand-crafted images using a diverse selection of visual media techniques.  Other essential skills for today's illustrators include animation, character design, story boarding, internet marketing and social network communication, not to mention complete proficiency with related software applications.  Among the most currently popular illustration design software programs are Adobe Illustrator Adobe Premier, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Corel Draw.