Tips on Becoming an Illustrator in Wichita, Kansas

The city of Wichita, Kansas features a city-limits population of more than 300,000 and many thousand thriving local businesses.  Wichita corporations and private commercial enterprises support many talented local artists pursuing careers in the field of illustration design.

Wichita Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

An adequate selection of colleges and independent training facilities in Wichita, Kansas offer everything from private lessons to degree programs in illustrative arts.  Aspiring commercial illustrators often study computer science and media communications in addition to basic visual arts.  Wichita schools of visual fine arts include Wichita State University, Vatterott College, Arts Partners, Ed Pointer Fine Art and Wichita City Arts. 

At the same rate, other Wichita artists acquire graphic arts skills and degrees online.  Popular accredited virtual schools of fine arts include National University, Post University, DeVry, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes and ITT Tech.  Many online schools also provide convenient local campuses.  University of Phoenix and ITT Tech both maintain campuses in Wichita.

Working as an Illustrator in Wichita, Kansas

Wichita businesses that hire illustration professionals include product manufacturers, toy companies, printing presses, advertising agencies and software developers.  Some Wichita artists create commercial illustrations for leading local graphic design firms like 3D-Typographic, After-Eight-Design, Dartco-Media, Prairie-Magic-Design and Dove Graphics, for instance. 

Other local illustrators work with winning Wichita engineering firms like Baughman-Company, Certified-Engineering-Design, Poe-&-Associates, Ruggles-&-Bohm and Parsons-Brinkerhoff-Quaid-&-Douglas, among others.  Particularly precise Wichita illustration artists are sometimes employed by medical illustration facilities like Advanced-Medical-Staffing, Home-Medical-Services and Kansas-Medical-Records-Copying. 

Professional illustrators employed full time in the city of Wichita, Kansas report an average annual salary of about $41,400, with a reported mean hourly wage of around $19.90.  Wichita companies employ roughly 400 full time graphic designers, including illustrators and not counting local freelancers.  

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

Professional illustrators are not only handy with a pencil, but also with a pen, a stylus, a piece of chalk or any other marking device you can name.  Professional illustrators are versatile artists, able to easily create innovative, detailed images in many styles and genres such as portraits, cartoons, fashion art and realism.  Other skills useful to professional illustrators include story boarding, photo editing, media transfer and software expertise.  Popular digital illustration software programs include, for instance, eDraw Max, Simply 3D, Real Draw Pro, Adobe Flash and Zoner Draw.  Most professional illustrators are fully familiar with at least one digital illustration design package.