How to become a visual artist

Official title: Visual artists

Also called: Cartoonist, Ceramic artist, Illustrator, Picture restorer, Portrait painter, Sculptor

Visual artists create and execute works of art by sculpting, painting, drawing, creating cartoons, engraving or using other techniques.

Main tasks

• Conceiving and developing ideas, designs and styles for paintings, drawings and sculptures
• Arranging objects, positioning models, and selecting landscapes and other visual forms according to chosen subject matter
• Selecting artistic media, method and materials
• Creating representational or abstract three-dimensional or relief forms by shaping, carving and working and combining materials such as wood, stone, clay, metal, ice or paper
• Creating representational or abstract drawings and paintings using pencils, ink, chalk, oil paints, water colours or through the application of other techniques
• Creating drawings and engraving or etching them on metal, wood or other materials
• Creating cartoons to depict persons and events, often in caricature
• Restoring damaged, soiled and faded paintings and other art objects

Ways in

• University: Creative Arts & Design degrees, Offered by 21 universities in Hong Kong

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$48,000 a month
• About 1,542,900 people in 2025, and about 1,639,100 projected by 2028. (+6.2%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Film, stage and related directors and producers
• Actors
• Creative and performing artists not elsewhere classified
• Announcers on radio, television and other media
• Dancers and choreographers
• Musicians, singers and composers

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Questions people ask

How do I become a visual artist?

Ways in include: Creative Arts & Design degrees.

Do you need a degree to become a visual artist?

Usually. 85% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a visual artist?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026