Film Career · Art
Illustrator / Concept Artist
Art · IATSE Local 800
- Union
- IATSE Local 800
- Day rate
- ~$350–$650/day
- Experience
- Entry level
What does an Illustrator / Concept Artist do?
Production illustrators visualize the film before it exists: key frames, environments, vehicles, and creatures that let directors and department heads agree on a target. Their work feeds the production designer's package and often survives into pitches and studio approvals.
What does an Illustrator / Concept Artist make?
- About $1,800-$5,000 a week on union work (ADG scale around $3,000-$3,600; freelance and remote often $350-$650 a day), roughly $75K-$180K a year.
- Film versus games or advertising and seniority drive the range.
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
On the job
- Paint key frames that define mood, light, and staging for major scenes
- Design environments, vehicles, props, and creatures to brief
- Iterate rapidly with the production designer and director
- Deliver artwork that construction, VFX, and costume can actually build from
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can draw and paint fast, digitally or by hand
- You can turn a brief into finished concept images
Soft skills
- You take direction and iterate without ego
- You love visual world-building
Career progression
Illustrators enter from concept art, games, animation, and traditional illustration. Film careers build through art department relationships: a production designer who trusts your speed and taste brings you show to show. Senior illustrators shape entire franchises' visual identities.
A typical path, from entry to the top of the craft. Times are rough and vary by market, luck, and how steadily the work comes.
- Illustrator / Concept Artistyou are here· portfolio in
~$75K–$180K/yr
- Art Director· 4-7 yrs
~$120K–$300K/yr
- Production Designer· peak of the craft
~$130K–$450K+/yr
How do you become an Illustrator / Concept Artist?
The portfolio is everything: cinematic, story-driven images beat polished pinups. Digital speed matters because iteration is daily. Cold portfolios do get noticed, but most first film jobs come through designers and art directors who saw your work somewhere, so put it where they look.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Local 800 contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.