What You Need to Know to Be an Illustrator in North Dakota

The state of North Dakota lately enjoys a thriving, oil-fueled economy stocked with as many as 90,000 local businesses.  Talented visual artists throughout the state find employment in the field of commercial graphics, especially artists with illustrative talent.  Illustrators create innovative, detailed artwork for books, websites, corporate identities and other commercially advantageous purposes.

North Dakota Schools and Training Programs for Illustrators

North Dakota supports a surprising number of colleges, Universities and fine arts facilities that offer training and degree programs in commercial illustration.  Aspiring illustrators at North Dakota colleges study visual arts, communications design, computer science and other useful topics.  Noteworthy North Dakota art colleges include Hughes Fine Arts Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota State University in Fargo, University of North Dakota School of Medicine in Minot, Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt and Rasmussen College in Fargo and Bismarck. 

Nonetheless, numerous North Dakota artists earn degrees or acquire skills online.  Popular accredited online colleges of fine arts include National University, Post University, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, DeVry, The Art Institutes and ITT Tech.  Virtual educational alternatives are rapidly progressing, as many accredited online schools also feature physical locations. 

Working as an Illustrator in North Dakota

Quite a lot of professional illustrators living in North Dakota create commercial art for local graphic design firms such as Simes Graphic Designs in Mandan, Redline Graphics in Bismarck, JM Graphic Design in Fargo, Graphic Traffic Design Studio in Minot and Stanley Graphics in Valley City, to name only a few.  Other local illustrators team up with leading North Dakota engineering firms like Ulteig Engineers in Fargo, Applied Engineering in Bismarck, Interstate Engineering in Jamestown, Reduction Engineering in Beulah and Oakland Engineering in Williston, among others.  Some North Dakota illustrators create realistic anatomical studies for medical illustration companies like Bison Illustrated in Fargo, Crocus Medical in Jamestown or Hiline Medical in Valley City.  Other businesses hiring illustrators include art schools, info tech corporations, printing presses, book publishers and animation studios.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides no current information pertaining to the average salaries of professional illustrators employed full time in the state of North Dakota. 

Skills of a Professional Illustrator

All professional illustrators can color and draw with exceptional ease.  Some are professionally trained fashion illustrators.  Others are whimsical cartoonists, or political satirists, or diagram designers, or text illustrators.  The best illustrators, however, are those who demonstrate creative versatility across a wide range of styles and media.  Today's illustrators are also fully proficient with digital illustration software programs like Adobe PhotoShop, Intaglio, Freeverse-Lineform, Auto Trace and Diagram Designer.