Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators
SOC Code: 27-1013
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators carries a 29% AI exposure score (Medium automation risk), with a median annual wage of $60,560 and -1.2% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 26,500 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 29% AI exposure, Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators sits 8 points below the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 26% of them. Most of its core tasks still require human judgment.
Career outlook score
50/100
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage C- $60,560
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth F -1.2%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) B 29% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators in the Medium band.
Credential × growth standing
Bachelor's band with mid-pack BLS pace
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators shares the Bachelor's gate with 178 peer occupations and lands in Slow growth (245 of 832). Neither the rarest nor the most crowded growth shelf - use wage and AI desks on this page for the differentiator.
Where Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
29% Lower than most lower than 74% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators's Medium automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score below 40% reflects tasks anchored in physical dexterity, unstructured environments, or high-touch human interaction that current AI cannot reliably replicate.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 27-1013) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Registered Apprenticeship Pathway Available
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is a recognized registered apprenticeship occupation under the DOL RAPIDS system. Earn while you train, apprentices typically start at ~$16/hr and reach $28–$46/hr upon completion, depending on the specific trade and region.
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.
- 2. 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.
- 3. Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.
- 4. 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.
- 5. Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.
- 6. Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials.
- 7. Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.
- 8. Shade and fill in sketch outlines and backgrounds, using a variety of media such as water colors, markers, and transparent washes, labeling designated colors when necessary.
- 9. Frame and mat artwork for display or sale.
- 10. Submit artwork to shows or galleries.
Key Skills Required
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Active Listening
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Writing
- Social Perceptiveness
- Complex Problem Solving
- Time Management
Knowledge Areas
- Design
- Computers and Electronics
- English Language
- Production and Processing
- Fine Arts
- Education and Training
- Communications and Media
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators has an AI exposure score of 29%, indicating a medium level of automation risk. The majority of tasks in this role require human judgment, creativity, or physical presence that AI cannot easily replicate.
What is the job outlook for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is projected to decline by 1.2% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 26,500 workers.
What skills are needed for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
Key skills for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators include Critical Thinking, Active Learning, Active Listening, and others. Typical entry-level education is Bachelor's degree.
How much do Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators earn?
The median annual wage for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is $60,560, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
The typical entry-level education for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators is Bachelor's degree. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves Long-term on-the-job training. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators?
Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
Medium automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. Most tasks require human judgment and are resistant to automation.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (29% here).
- Biochemists and biophysicists · AI exposure 29%
- Construction managers · AI exposure 29%
- Crane and tower operators · AI exposure 29%
- Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay · AI exposure 29%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (-1.2% here).
- Legal support workers, all other · growth -1.2%
- Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers · growth -1.1%
- Nuclear engineers · growth -1.1%
- Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians · growth -1.3%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 26 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).