Money · 1 of 5
What illustrators make
Typical
$65,000
Starting out
$42,000
Senior or lead artist
$110,000
Job Bank's national median is $31.25 an hour, about $65,000 a year full time. Read that with care: the page counts illustrators together with graphic designers, and most staff jobs in that pool are design jobs. Illustration alone, done freelance, pays less until your client list is steady.