Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
3.5/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

37% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 949 votes

43% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 37% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators was $60,560 ($29 per hour).

The median annual wage for Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators was 22.3% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators' job openings is expected to decline 1.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 10,000 people employed as 'Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 15 thousand people are employed as 'Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators'.

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What people are saying (72)

Leave a comment
mofie (Uncertain)
16 Oct 2024 01:04
While the human touch is a fundamental and necessary part of creating art in human societies, it's unclear if powerful people are willing to recognize it. To them, value is not in the art but the dollar.
Coco (Uncertain)
05 May 2025 16:36
Art can be made by robots, but it's meaningless and people who understand art won't like it.
Mike Brown (No chance)
22 Apr 2025 19:14
AI Lacks of originality.
68867 (Moderate)
19 Mar 2025 18:01
i think that artists will be replaced by robots, but then AI art will become so commonplace that real, human art will be highly valued and worth more.
DS (Highly likely)
04 Feb 2025 13:52
Digital only artists are at risk. Less so, fine artists who produce an artifact
An aspiring artist (Low)
19 Jun 2023 12:06
Human emotion is what drives the creation of art. Yes AI can 'create' art, but it will never create it to express. It will only create it for the sake of creating it. Soulless, dull, and meaningless artwork.
A
28 Sep 2024 19:37
I agree. AI is not alive.
Vrushabh (No chance)
08 Sep 2023 13:46
Robots can do a print like painting not at all texture of painting or extra effect such was done only by painters or artists
Yandre (Low)
25 Nov 2025 20:03
Commercial art (like graphic design) will be probably automated, but genuine art, focused on conveying human thought, will not be.

People do not value art created by AI because it lacks the human experience and intent.
antony
21 Nov 2025 18:11
Seeing that 2 years ago, people thought AI would take over art, and that it is actually somewhat happening, scares me. I don't think hand-made art will become obsolete, but I am worried about the implications of people getting scammed by AI "artists".
IQ (Low)
04 Jul 2024 14:27
It's hard to make physical pieces look real as a robot.
Mannara
04 Sep 2024 12:57
saddly it's not, you just need more money and better robot.
Stefano
11 Sep 2024 17:35
I doubt it very much, they have no Love, Soul, Creativity, Human Touch and Empathy, they will NEVER have it
defeated art major
15 Jan 2024 03:47
we are in hell. genuinely. my job is going to become obsolete. nobody is going to care about human artists because companies always have and always will value the quickest, cheapest work. no matter what the correct answer is (that human-made art will always be superior to ai-generated images), all artists are going to be irreversibly ruined by the advance of ai. i have absolutely no hope for my future.
Astro
13 Jul 2024 13:40
I have the same sentiments as you :(. What is even the point of being in this world if it sucks so much and WILL get worse?! The people at the top do not care about us. They just want to line their pockets in order to buy more materialistic s**t.
HG (Moderate)
08 May 2023 17:15
The field has different likelihood of replacement. Sculptors and painters are safer, while graphic artists, illustrators and photographers are at great risk. Any fine art that can be (mass) reproduced, that is not one-of-a-kind can "easily" be replaced by AI.
artist (Highly likely)
11 Feb 2023 00:42
Already extinct because of AI "art"
Stefered
23 Jul 2024 17:40
Yeah, for sure? Artificial Intelligence is not Extinct, we are and will be more and more Artists, Artificial Intelligence does not have Soul, Love, Heart, Creativity (It does not create from Nothing, it does not innovate, It only creates collages of already existing things), empathy, Human Touch (it is Irreplaceable and essential) and Feelings, Artificial Intelligence will never be able to replace Artists, let's give true Beauty. Here is our Artistic Vision: "With the event of Technology as Robots and Artificial Intelligence we will all become Artists!" Think about it
Amit (No chance)
20 Dec 2025 09:32
Because as long as you don’t use your devices and look in real life, that’s where you’ll see the real art. Ai “art” is pure laziness, therefore looks unprofessional and not elegant at all! In the end of the day getting generated AI images and printing them out on a piece of paper is a choice out of convenience or laziness, and the second humans get a chance to grasp art made by humans they fight for it, and I am talking out of experience.
Uknown (Low)
08 Nov 2025 00:48
Art in general is felt and learned; a robot will never be able to experience the feelings of effort, frustration, or having to do something again because you didn't like how it turned out. Furthermore, even though robots/AI can do things perfectly, they will never understand what it means to be human.
Ritunjoy (Low)
14 Aug 2023 12:04
Fine art is more than just making a lovely picture; it is the connection, emotion, and story behind the painting that makes it unique. AI will never be able to replace this.
Jace (No chance)
23 Apr 2026 15:25
Things like Tattoo art and other things in the artist industry or just the art category in general all contain things like originality. And with the work artists put in, robots cannot directly copy/replicate it
Mannara (Highly likely)
04 Sep 2024 12:56
Besides robots and ai will never be able to "create" just imitating some part f it, also besides make art is a long way, a synthesis of a human's life, knowledge, experiments,... , the need for art and the people's bounded view of art makes art cheap and replaceable by pretty pictures. And when people will stop to create it will be a day of the end and humankind will lost itself.
Seb (Moderate)
13 Jan 2024 13:43
Art is seen as a commodity by many with primarily aesthetic value (not with design nor communication value). Many artists are thus likely to be replaced, even when the automated version is of lesser quality: a large percentage of the audience considers this quality difference negligible sadly
Core (No chance)
24 Nov 2023 21:54
Fine art is specifically traditional art. automating it would defeat the purpose.
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Job description

Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.

O*NET-SOC code: 27-1013.00