Tips on Becoming an Illustrator in Louisville, Kentucky

The city of Louisville, Kentucky is loaded with local graphic artists landing lucrative gigs at the city's many commercial businesses.  Louisville corporations and private enterprises regularly hire talented illustrators to create cartoon characters, company logos, brand designs, reference charts, book covers and more.  Much more.

Louisville Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

Louisville, Kentucky features several fine arts colleges and abundant independent art schools that offer various classes, workshops and degree programs in commercial illustration.  Aspiring Louisville illustrators typically study traditional visual arts, digital design and computer science among other things.  Louisville area colleges with graphic arts divisions include Louisville Technical Institute, Spalding University and Bellamarine University in Louisville, as well as Kentucky State University in Frankfort.  Artist's in search of private lessons, individual classes and other non-degree options are encouraged to contact Swan Fine Art Studio. 

Yet, ever-increasing waves of Louisville artists are acquiring illustration skills and earning professional degrees via virtual design colleges.  Successful accredited online art schools include Brown-Mackie College, Daymar College, Post University, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes, ITT Tech and DeVry.  Online colleges often bolster their educational services with convenient local campuses.  University of Phoenix and ITT Tech both maintain Louisville locations.

Working as an Illustrator in Louisville, Kentucky

Businesses in Louisville, Kentucky that employ professional illustrators include news syndicates, educational media providers, IT corporations, toy companies and book publishers.  Some Louisville illustrators do commercial artwork for local graphic design firms like Absolute-Arts, Baach-Creative-Services, Design-Services, Miller-Creative-Designs and David-Loran-Graphic-Design, for example.

Other local illustration artists do detailed technical drawings for Louisville engineering firms like Black-&-Veatch, Cassidy-Associates, CH2M-Hill, Derrick-Engineering and QK4-Architecture-Engineering, among others.  Technically inclined artists with an eye for realistic detail are sometimes hired by medical illustration corporations like Medical-Transcription, Medical-Solutions or Faith-Medical-Services. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, full time illustrators in the city of Louisville, Kentucky report an average annual salary of about $41,810, with a reported mean hourly take of approximately $20.10.  Roughly 630 full time professional graphic designers (commercial artists, including illustrators) occupy positions at Louisville businesses.  This data does not reflect the unreported incomes of part timers or freelance illustrators.  

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Professional illustrators are best known for their uncanny ability to graphically reproduce just about anything you can name.  Experienced illustration artists work in a variety of styles and media.  Their many skills include motion graphics, character creation, 3D design, media transfer and various digital enhancements.  Professional illustrators are expected to be entirely proficient with whichever digital design software package is relevant to the project.  Popular illustration software varieties include Photo-to-Cartoon, ACD Canvas, Microsoft Expression Design, Dreamweaver and Serif Draw.