Fine art

As a fine art graduate you'll need a strong portfolio that demonstrates your creative and practical skills and experience in competitions and exhibitions

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

• Advertising art director
• Animator
• Art therapist
• Ceramics designer
• Commercial art gallery manager
• Community arts worker
• Concept artist
• Fine artist
• Glass blower/designer
• Graphic designer
• Illustrator
• Printmaker
• Secondary school teacher

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

• Artworker
• Arts administrator
• Conservator
• Exhibition designer
• Fashion designer
• Game artist
• Interior and spatial designer
• Jewellery designer
• Museum education officer
• Museum/gallery curator
• VFX artist

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Work experience

Your portfolio will be crucial for securing work once you graduate so you should start building it up while you're an undergraduate. It should contain examples of your own ideas rather than just coursework. In addition, enter as many competitions and exhibitions as possible and begin to get your work known. Course tutors should be able to help with this.

Some courses offer the opportunity to take a year-long placement or multiple placements before your final year. This provides you with practical work experience and the opportunity to make contacts.

Networking and making contacts is vital, as they may be able to offer (or help you secure) commissions. If friends or family ask you to produce work for them, this can be included in your portfolio and in the list of commissions on your CV.

Visit art galleries and art exhibitions and speak to other artists. You could also speculatively approach local galleries and artists to see if you can offer your help to gain some experience.

Voluntary work with community art initiatives can be valuable. You may also find paid art-related employment while studying, through projects at summer camps and activity centres for young people. You could also offer to help promote artwork and events on social media or plan and coordinate events and exhibitions.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

Finding jobs in this sector is not always straightforward. Short-term opportunities are available on a competitive basis and are a means of becoming established.

Roles include artist in residence, developing art-related activities in schools, hospitals and prisons, or bidding for fixed-term funding to carry out a particular project or commission. Many fine artists produce and market their own work. You can also diversify by taking courses in art-related disciplines, such as graphics or glass blowing.

It's possible to become a 'portfolio' worker, holding down several jobs to support your creative work. This work can be with a range of employers such as:

• advertising agencies
• art galleries, arts centres and museums
• charities and community arts organisations
• design agencies and studios
• exhibition companies
• local authorities
• the publicity departments in large organisations
• schools, adult education colleges and universities.

You can also apply for mainstream graduate jobs and training in a range of industries, such as marketing and sales, banking, insurance, media and public relations.

Find information on employers in creative arts and design and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

As well as developing practical and creative techniques in a range of media, a fine art degree gives you skills in using different types of equipment and processes from hand tools and welding gear to digitisation.

Employers also value the transferable skills you acquire, including:

• the ability to develop individual ideas and collaborate with others as part of a creative team
• strong observational, research and analytical skills
• creative problem solving
• the ability to communicate ideas, visually, orally and in writing
• resilience and the ability to learn from criticism and be objective about your work
• an openness to new influences and concepts
• a focused, goal-oriented and motivated approach to work
• entrepreneurial skills in marketing your work and possibly setting up a business.

Through showing your work at competitions and exhibitions, you also gain experience in working to briefs, project management, organising your work and meeting deadlines, displaying work to advantage, lighting, marketing and event management.

Further study

You may decide to go on to study a Masters degree in fine art or a different creative subject, such as illustration, printmaking or sculpture, if your portfolio demonstrates an aptitude for this.

Other MAs provide a grounding in careers related to fine art, such as arts management, art conservation and art therapy. A teaching qualification is another possibility that would enable you to teach art in a variety of settings.

Shorter-term courses can develop skills that enhance or supplement expertise in particular areas or materials, such as glass blowing or metal working.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in fine art.

What do fine art graduates do?

10% of fine art graduates are working as artists. Sales and retail assistants (8%), secondary education teaching professionals (5%), sports and leisure assistants (3%) and bar staff (3%) are also among the top five jobs held by these graduates.

For a detailed breakdown of what art and design graduates are doing 15 months after graduation, see What do graduates do?

Graduate Outcomes survey data from HESA.