Tips on Becoming an Illustrator in Birmingham, Alabama

The city of Birmingham, Alabama features many dozen local artists pursuing careers as professional illustrators of books, covers, product packaging, cartoons, company logos and many other visually important commercial products.  With well above fifty thousand local commercial enterprises, Birmingham maintains an increasingly strong demand for professional illustrative art.

Birmingham Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

Various adult schools and art colleges in Birmingham, Alabama provide classes and degree programs in illustrative design.  Accredited local colleges for aspiring illustrators include Samford University, Birmingham Southern College, Fortis Institute, Alabama School of Fine Arts and University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

Alternatively, some Birmingham artists prefer private lessons from local masters.  Still, others enroll at virtual art colleges like The Art Institutes, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, DeVry, University of Phoenix and ITT Tech.  Many internet-born art schools also provide supplemental local campuses.  University of Phoenix has a Birmingham facility.  ITT Tech is located in Bessemer, a town not far from Birmingham.

Working as an Illustrator in Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham businesses hiring local professional freelance illustrators include book authors, art schools, info tech corporations, animation studios and website developers.  Some local illustrators are employed by electrical, mechanical and structural engineering firms.  Successful examples include Fluid-Engineering, U.S.-Infrastructure, Walter-Schoel-Engineering, Volkert and Wise-Engineering, among others.  Some Birmingham illustrators join commercial graphic design firms like ABM-Graphics, Alabama-Graphics-and-Engineering, Graphics-Screenprint, Alotta-Graphics and Stevens Graphics, for example.

Full time professional illustrators employed in the city of Birmingham, Alabama might expect to earn about $45,690 per year, with an estimated hourly rate of about $22.00.  Birmingham corporations employ roughly 480 graphic designers.  These include digital artists as well as illustrators.  In any case, these figures do not reflect the incomes of part time illustrators or local freelance professionals. 

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Illustrators are specialized fine artists with advanced expertise in drawing and coloring images of people, places and things.  They rapidly render recognizable images and show great talent in translating verbalized concepts into visual forms.  The best professional illustrators are versatile with drawing and coloring media such as pens, paint and pencils.  They are also proficient with drawing techniques like rendering, shading and cross-hatching.  Some professional illustrators can achieve different styles and methods such as realism, abstract, cartoon art, fashion and technical drafting.  Modern-day illustrators are entirely proficient with one or more digital illustration software programs, as well as with related machines and equipment like copiers, scanners and printers.