Jobs / Design, media, and writing / 27-1013.00
Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators
Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.
- US jobs
- 11,220
- Median wage
- $55,490 a year
- Job family
- Design, media, and writing
Can agents do the work of fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Design, media, and writing:
- Task levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OSWorld-Verified includes tasks in image, slide, and document apps, and the best agent passes 90.2% of all its computer tasks. No task-level benchmark in our collection scores the quality of design or writing work.
- Project levelNot yetOn the Remote Labor Index, which includes graphic design, video, 3D, audio, and web projects from freelance platforms, the best agent completed 15.8% of projects to a standard a client would accept. GDPval deliverables score higher (84.9% wins or ties against professionals, reported by OpenAI), but those tasks are one-shot and fully specified.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in design, media, and writing, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
- OSWorld-Verifiedby HKU, Salesforce AI Research, Carnegie Mellon University and University of Waterloo90.2%Intelligence-Indeed Agent · 25 Jul 2026Saturated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
- Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.
- Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.
- Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.
- Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.
- Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors.
- Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.
- Photograph objects, places, or scenes for reference material.
- Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.
- Create sculptures, statues, and other three-dimensional artwork by using abrasives and tools to shape, carve, and fabricate materials such as clay, stone, wood, or metal.
- Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.
- Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials.
Other job titles for this occupation (80)
Artist · Automotive Artist · Blacksmith · Fine Artist · Ice Carver · Illustrator · Muralist · Painter · Portrait Artist · Sculptor · 3D Artist (Three Dimensional Artist) · 3D Artist (Three-Dimensional Artist) · Animated Cartoons Painter · Artist in Residence (AIR) · Balloon Artist · Book Illustrator · Card Painter · Caricature Artist · Cartoon Artist · Cartoonist · Character Artist · Color Artist · Comic Artist · Comic Book Artist · Comic Book Designer · Comic Illustrator · Commercial Artist · Commercial Illustrator · Commercial Retoucher · Concept Artist · Concrete Sculptor · Crayon Painter · Custom Motorcycle Painter · Delineator · Editorial Cartoonist · Exhibit Artist · Fashion Artist · Fashion Illustrator · Forensic Artist · Freelance Artist · Fresco Artist · Glass Artist · Graphic Illustrator · Histological Illustrator · Ice Sculptor · Landscape Artist · Landscape Painter · Manga Artist · Medical Artist · Medical Illustrator · Motion Picture Cartoonist · Motion Pictures Cartoonist · Multimedia Illustrator · Mural Painter · Newspaper Illustrator · Non-Representational Metal Sculptor · Oil Painter · Patent Illustrator · Pattern Illustrator · Picture Painter · Police Artist · Political Cartoonist · Portrait Painter · Printmaker · Production Artist · Production Illustrator · Quick Sketch Artist · Reproduction Artist · Resident Artist · Scene Painter · Scenic Artist · Scientific Artist · Scientific Illustrator · Set Illustrator · Silhouette Artist · Sketch Artist · Specialty Artist · Sports Cartoonist · Stained Glass Artist · Stained Glass Painter