Number of employed concept artists?

[Zantillia]

I'm being asked to do a report on my desired job for a class. But I need to state the number of employed concept artists in the United States. Can anyone help me track down this information?

[JeffX99]

Boy - that is the million dollar question....I doubt you'll get any reliable estimate, but...I would start with organizations and schools related to concept art - Art Center in Pasadena, Academy of Art, Society of Illustrators, etc. Are you limiting it to concept artists in entertainment media or including industrial design, vehicle, product concept art as well? Might also check ID magazine for resources. I'm sure others will have good resources as well.

Curious to see what you dig up...

[Elwell]

"Mister Owl, how many employed concept artists are there in the United States?"
"One, two, three, CRUNCH... three."

[Farvus]

There can be only one ;)

[JeffX99]

See what I mean?!

[Deadlyhazard]

That owl was a total asshole. He always ruined these kid's days by eating their treats they so rarely got. I always figured they'd be some poor orphan kids looking for a place to stay, having found a single rotten lollipop off the ground in their journey, and they ask the owl how long it will last (to stave off the hunger) and the ASSHOLE takes their only source of food and eats it. And taunts them to boot.

WHAT AN ASSHOLE.

[Elwell]

I always figured they'd be some poor orphan kids looking for a place to stay, having found a single rotten lollipop off the ground in their journey

Look again, the kid is so poor that HE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANY CLOTHES!

[Elwell]

To seriously answer your question, try digging around here (http://www.bls.gov/oes/). You won't find "concept artist," but you may be able to make some extrapolations.

[Deadlyhazard]

look again, the kid is so poor that he doesn't even have any clothes!

That owl is SUCH A JERK! Been sayin' it for years.

http://media.80stees.com/images/products/Tootsie-Roll-Owl.jpg

[JeffX99]

Wow - great resource Elwell - thanks! You're so damn smart! Here's a link to a page I found in there that may help: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes271014.htm

[Zantillia]

Thanks a lot for the links. Yeah, I knew I'd have problems finding it, unfortunately a high school teacher doesn't accept, "WELL WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO FIND IT THEN?!" as an excuse...
So Elwell, that CRUNCH would be… what, the owl eating every concept artist in the world passed the number three? .... Dear Lord does that mean he and that naked boy are GIANTS?!

[Izi]

There are 117 Artists here in Washington, including Illustrators, that's according to worksource.gov (the unemployment office people)

The US Government doesn't recognize the term concept artist it appears, so you'll only get official statistics based on guesstimates.

Even a web graphic designer is a kind of concept artist.

ps i always liked that owl

[Deadlyhazard]

There are 117 Artists here in Washington, including Illustrators, that's according to worksource.gov (the unemployment office people)

The US Government doesn't recognize the term concept artist it appears, so you'll only get official statistics based on guesstimates.

Even a web graphic designer is a kind of concept artist.

ps i always liked that owl
Really? Only 117 on record in an entire state? Is becoming a professional artist that hard?

[JeffX99]

There are 117 Artists here in Washington, including Illustrators, that's according to worksource.gov (the unemployment office people)


Could you provide a link to that information? I checked and couldn't find that number anywhere. That is an absolutely absurd number of course.

[Deadlyhazard]

I mean, at Arena Net and Valve alone (just two studios) they have probably 60+ artists....there's no way that would compromise half the state. That's not even considering all the fine artists.

[Meloncov]

I imagine it comes down to how you define concept artists, as you have many people at smaller studios who do concepts as well as model/textures, and many freelance illustrators who do concept art amongst other things.

[JeffX99]

Well, we'll see if Naomi can dig up that link. I'm thinking it needs at least two zeroes after it.

[manlybrian]

lol yeah I'm preeeetty sure we have more than that in Washington. My brother works at Sucker Punch Productions down in Bellevue and I believe they have close to that number of artists in one building. ^_^

[Elwell]

There are 117 Artists here in Washington, including Illustrators, that's according to worksource.gov (the unemployment office people)


Since the majority of illustrators, fine artists, and designers are self-employed, they don't qualify for unemployment, and so would be invisible to them.

[HAJiME]

What, exactly, is the point of knowing the answer to this question? Other than "out of interest"?

[Elwell]

What, exactly, is the point of knowing the answer to this question? Other than "out of interest"?

I expect the point is being able to get a decent grade on a one-size-fits-all, cookie cutter high school assignment.

[JeffX99]

Since the majority of illustrators, fine artists, and designers are self-employed, they don't qualify for unemployment, and so would be invisible to them.

Yeah - I would never consider unemployment records as a valid estimate. State tax records should provide a relatively accurate number, if correlated to job/career data.

But c'mon...you've got Boeing, Microsoft, Wizards of the Coast, Bungee, EA plus legions of other smaller studios and independent artists and illustrators. So yeah, maybe 11,700, and that still may be low by one level of magnitude.

Back to the OP - I wouldn't make any excuses but I would definitely ask him/her for help doing the research on that question - or a career/guidance counselor at your school.

[PeteJ]

Really? Only 117 on record in an entire state? Is becoming a professional artist that hard?

geez, if that is true, alot of artists really must be starving.

[HAJiME]

I expect the point is being able to get a decent grade on a one-size-fits-all, cookie cutter high school assignment.
Heh, indeed! But what is the benefit of the assignment? Even if applied to a more conventional career?? Maybe it's to encourage research into difficult subejcts?

We have a "professional practise" module at uni, and it's got this kind of one-size-fits-all mentality, and when I ask for help thinking of ways around it, I get told to just "do the work". Love my lecturers.

[carpal]

This reminds me of this giant jar of gumballs in my elementary school whoever guessed closest won and no-one even got close.


I am going to guess 512 concept artists employed in the U.S. right now. I have no statistics just going on gut instinct.

[Zantillia]

Heh, indeed! But what is the benefit of the assignment? Even if applied to a more conventional career?? Maybe it's to encourage research into difficult subejcts?

We have a "professional practise" module at uni, and it's got this kind of one-size-fits-all mentality, and when I ask for help thinking of ways around it, I get told to just "do the work". Love my lecturers.

Hmhmm, that's basically it. Could they find that information? Probably not, yet they expect us to do it... Of course because I don't want to be a vet tech or a nurse like EVERY SINGLE GIRL in my class, the website she directed us too is useless.

[JeffX99]

This reminds me of this giant jar of gumballs in my elementary school whoever guessed closest won and no-one even got close.


I am going to guess 512 concept artists employed in the U.S. right now. I have no statistics just going on gut instinct.

Are you including industrial design concept artists or just entertainment media?

[QueenGwenevere]

And what about people who do concept work but technically have a different job title? For instance, at my last job my job title was "art director", but a lot of what I did was technically concept art. Likewise, a lot of people who bill themselves as freelance illustrators also do concept art...

[Zantillia]

And what about people who do concept work but technically have a different job title? For instance, at my last job my job title was "art director", but a lot of what I did was technically concept art. Likewise, a lot of people who bill themselves as freelance illustrators also do concept art...

And there lies the problem yes? Of course that makes for a lot of information to track down. I've managed to sort of round off some numbers that are completely wrong but as I'm sure my teacher will only give it a glance I guess it doesn't really matter...

[Xeon_OND]

I hope more people would quit art and go into banking / IT / finance jobs so that we would all have less competition and easier lives! :D

[HAJiME]

I hope more people would quit art and go into banking / IT / finance jobs so that we would all have less competition and easier lives! :D
You start, I'll follow. Promis.