What does a full-time character designer for video games usually get paid?

My daughter either wants to go into computer animation or game art and we are trying to find what careers this will lead to and what they get paid.What does a full-time character designer for video games usually get paid?
It really varies with experience - more senior positions earn more highly. If you are looking for a direct comparison, someone first starting work in either would probably begin at around the same salary (perhaps about ￡25k/$50k, though it varies a lot with different companies), but there is better scope in moving up to higher earnings and promotion in computer animation, and more demand for computer animators. There are a lot of good artists out there but a video game only needs a few development artists, and many more animators than that (for feature films, the animators might number in the hundreds) so good animators are more in demand.



However, the two skills compliment each other beautifully and she may well find herself in a role where both are required - many smaller games companies have development artists which double as character modellers and animators as well (I'm currently looking for a job in this capacity myself). There's no real urgency in choosing, as there are college courses in which you can study both drawing and computer animation, which would be a good route for her to take.



An advantage is that the skills required for the video game industry overlap with the animation industry and roles in a number of others (television, film and advertising, for example), so it's a great field to go into - the entertainment industry appears to be endlessly expanding!



Good luck!What does a full-time character designer for video games usually get paid?
Keep in mind that within the game industry, “design” is totally separate from art. In games, design is the process of coming up with the gameplay, using writing and math. Most game designers can’t draw above a stick figure level.



For game art, there’s a game industry salary survey from 2006 here: http://gamecareerguide.com/features/266/… that lists Artists on page 3. Average salary across all levels of experience is $66,000. If you live in an expensive state like California you'll get paid a bit more.



Talented 3D artists typically never have trouble finding work, particularly if you live somewhere like Los Angeles that has both the game industry and 3D art for movies. Within games, artists typically move from Junior Artist up through Senior Artist, then to Lead Artist and Art Director.



Game artists are typically on salary, so it can be very steady, comfortable work at any level. I have an artist friend who has been at the same (world famous) game studio for almost 17 years. They’ve offered him Lead positions repeatedly, but he doesn’t want to manage other people, so he’s been comfortably working away on their games his entire career.