Technical Illustrators.org Forum

What is the average salary of a technical illustrator:
1. For those starting out
2. Highest range of pay
3. are there differences in salary from a 3D technical illustrator and 2D vector based illustrators.
4. How much does location matter in regards to salary (for instance if I was able to get a job in the San Francisco Bay Area where cost of living is higher than Midwestern places)

Hi Steven,
as you might guess from the number of views compared to the number of replies - this is a very difficult (if not impossible) question to answer, other that to say "it depends..." : )

I'm in the UK, so I certainly can't offer any info on the US market, but the same general response applies here. You could ask the same question about freelance income: What's the price of an average illustration? Well, I've done some for $100, I've done some for $10,000...

As it happens James has just done a blog post on the GAG Handbook - that's one source of info on prices for freelance illustration, and it has some (limited) guidance on salaries too.

Hope this helps

Mike

On the topic of (in-house) salaries for illustrators, my 2008 edition of the GAG Handbook has this to say:

Illustration: $30,750 to $43,000 for one to three years; $40,500 to $57,250 for 3 or more years. Conceptualizes, paints and draws new images used in a variety of matierals and publications.

Specialized Illustrators: $51,000 to $81,250 requiring 5 or more years. May possess expertise in areas such as technical, medical, architectural, scientific, and cartoon illustrations. Requires artistic talent and knowledge of design programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop; fine arts education preferred.

The book doesn't give annual income ranges for freelancers because that number could easily be $0 to $1,000,000+

Discuss!

Where do I sign up for the one million plus per year? I would like that.

I think James is better off than we thought

The 1-3 year non-specialized illustration is ridiculously low. Not even in the midwest where I grew up could you get by unless having another job. I recently bought the 13th edition of the Graphic Artist Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines and some of that information is helpful.
James mentioned that freelance can vary tremendously. I know that a lot of these questions matter differently from each case, but what has been the experience for some of you already in the field? For those of you in who are or have worked full time in house careers how have you faired? Did you have to take on side projects ever? And for the freelancers, how consistently are you able to get work?
I know all of us love to do what we do and it's even better when we can get paid for it, but when I consider how much I have to pay off in student loans once I get done at AAU this December I need to get a rough idea of the incomes specific and broad so I can do my best to plan ahead and be on the lookout for companies that I can not only do what I love to do, but also make ends meet.
Any info you guys give can be helpful. I'm glad James posted up the 2008 Pricing and Ethical Guidelines quote as I have yet to find that in the 13th edition except for what is on the Technical Illustrators comparitive pricing pages.
Would love to hear some more. Keep the discussion going.

This is my rates page:

http://www.textualcreations.ca/Textual% ... Rates.html

I can't seem to coax anymore than $35/hour out of anyone and all of my existing long term clients are $5/hour less than that.

I know that a couple outfits I work third part for make money on my work. I bill them at my rate, but they bill their clients $80/hours.

I am not getting rich at my work, but I make enough to warrant continued efforts. I find it extremely difficult to find new clients. Usually they find me, because they have purchased the CAD software I use, purchased tutorials from me and decided that it was too much effort to learn the CAD system so have asked me to do the work instead. I have tried bidding at places like Elance but find that impossible to break into as I am not willing to sell myself short like so many of the overseas bidders do. I am simply worth much more that $10/hour.

BTW, my main tools include TurboCAD, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. They compliment each other very nicely.

I may have exaggerated My gross income (before expenses, taxes, etc) has been somewhere in the 'Specialized Illustrators' range for the last two years.

@Don:
Checked out your site. Lots of nice work!

The rule of thumb I've heard for freelancers is that you should be making at least double the hourly rate of someone working the same job in-house in your area (to cover office space, workstation, supplies, taxes, pension, etc). I'd guess the cost of living in Saskatoon is a bit lower than Toronto or Vancouver, so it wouldn't surprise me if salaries overall were lower, precipitating lower rates for independent contractors.

But I think you might be shooting yourself in the foot advertising your hourly rate. For example, if a certain project promises to be very lucrative for your client, they might be more willing to spend more for it. Or if you were to figure out how to do something faster, your customers would benefit, not you.

I like to think of pricing in terms of compensation; My client is getting a certain amount of benefit out of my work, so my compensation should be proportional in some way to that benefit. I have an hourly rate in mind as a minimum, but if they're going to use my image on every billboard, bus and broadcast across the country, I want my compensation to reflect the vast amounts of usage they got out of the image.

@Steven
Check the index under Salaries. (It was pg 115 in my book).

As a freelancer, you'll be lucky to put together 40 hours of work per week during your first couple of years. But you'll want to be working around the clock, building your marketing strategies, your business plan, your portfolio, investigating every avenue. Don't fall prey to Elance or similar sites where it's a race to the bottom in terms of price and quality. I'm even a bit skeptical about the effect of stock art sites like iStockPhoto on our industry.

Stevenwhoward wrote:The 1-3 year non-specialized illustration is ridiculously low. Not even in the midwest where I grew up could you get by unless having another job. I recently bought the 13th edition of the Graphic Artist Guild Pricing and Ethical Guidelines and some of that information is helpful.
James mentioned that freelance can vary tremendously. I know that a lot of these questions matter differently from each case, but what has been the experience for some of you already in the field? For those of you in who are or have worked full time in house careers how have you faired? Did you have to take on side projects ever? And for the freelancers, how consistently are you able to get work?
I know all of us love to do what we do and it's even better when we can get paid for it, but when I consider how much I have to pay off in student loans once I get done at AAU this December I need to get a rough idea of the incomes specific and broad so I can do my best to plan ahead and be on the lookout for companies that I can not only do what I love to do, but also make ends meet.
Any info you guys give can be helpful. I'm glad James posted up the 2008 Pricing and Ethical Guidelines quote as I have yet to find that in the 13th edition except for what is on the Technical Illustrators comparitive pricing pages.
Would love to hear some more. Keep the discussion going.

You know that's really a tough question and depends on tons of variables and I'm pretty sure most people are not comfortable coming out and saying how much money they make, especially on a public forum. It's not where you are, it's who you are and what you are worth. I lived in the midwest and rarely ever had trouble making ends meet, and actually I did quite well.
When I left my last job I pretty much handed down my job to someone else who didn't have near the experience that I did, that person asked how much I made and thought they deserved to make the same without the skills or experience that I had. Seem fair?

I always take on side projects, sometimes for extra money but usually for more experience and to further my career.