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Memescal, Nickolas. (2021,January 21). 7 AR Artists Who Are Raising The Bar For Augmented Reality Art.

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With augmented reality art and AR marketing trends on the rise, it's safe to say that the demand for AR artists will soon increase drastically. Augmented reality technology is an enormous, powerful, and revolutionizing storytelling tool that is changing the way artists and companies brand themselves. In this article we'll present a few AR artists who have already dared to experiment with this technology, bringing you examples of how AR and art can interact and exemplifying the strong impact augmented reality can have in advertising.

Most of these AR artists disclose their artistic processes and share the tools they use to craft their works, so we most definitely encourage you to check them out - and dare you to create works as engaging as these.

Maurício Nocêra releases his art under the pseudonym Lito. He's a muralist and independent AR street artist based in São Paulo, Brazil, who's creating a name for himself internationally because of the way he fuses augmented reality and street art. He takes iconic works like The Birth of Venus, Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Creation of Adam, and many others, and integrates graffiti tags and street art elements like vibrant, bright colors and a spray can effect.

But Nocêra's fantastic AR work isn't the only reason he's on this list - he also has an incredible ability to connect his art with the audience through social media filters. He's developed an intriguing and entertaining Instagram filter that allows users to use a virtual spray can to create their own AR graffiti tags. The result feels like a tool you could spend hours playing with, and it gives street artists a taste of the magic that creating AR graffiti generates.

Read more on AR graffiti murals here.

Susi Vetter is a Berlin-based AR artist and former Adobe creative resident who also gives us brilliant social media filters. She's created impressive psychedelic and surrealist masks that make you wish you could wear them outside the virtual realm.

Despite doing an amazing job at creating these virtual masks, that's not where her focus lies. Vetter describes herself as an illustrator, multimedia artist, and digital product designer; she focuses on telling immersive stories while blurring the lines between physical and digital realities. Her pieces feel incredibly relatable and seem to blend gloomy motifs in a soft and delicate way. Her AR works vary from simple doodles to intricate and elaborate collage-style drawings. She has a wonderful way of combining shapes, colors and lines to create a world that makes us see nature in a new light.

On social media, Vetter often mentions the programs she uses to craft her digital work, and she sometimes exposes parts of her workflow and creative process, which are always inspiring to see. She's keen to pass on her knowledge and offers in-person or remote AR and illustration workshops. While viewing her work, you may come across some great collaborative pieces made by Susi and other digital artists; it would be wonderful to see what she and our next AR artist on this list could design together!

H.C. Dunaway Smith has so many incredible mixed reality pieces, it's hard to choose only one that showcases her interdisciplinary genius and wide range of skills. She's found clever ways to incorporate three of some of the most important and effective uses of AR into her jaw-dropping art: she entertains the audience with emotionally magnetic moving imagery in all of her mixed reality work; she promotes her musical project through interactive and informative AR album cover art; and she even educates the viewer on political matters with her brilliant Ruth Bader Ginsburg AR Memorial.

Some of Dunaway's more commercial pieces involve festivities like Halloween or Valentine's day, and she has developed an out-of-this-world AR Holiday Card that's impossible not to mention. Her impressive list of clients includes classic brands such Harley Davidson and Mini.

This AR artist has a compelling way of exploring how small human existence feels when seen in a broader universal context, and a clear understanding of the importance of allowing the audience to interact with art. And not only does she encourage the viewer to really engage with her work, she also invites them to try making it themselves with simple tutorials on her social media and website.

Art plays a central role in Dunaway's life and it's exciting to see her finding ways to bring technology to the game. Dunaway is an innate storyteller; we can sense it from the way she describes aspects of her artistic process while still leaving some mystery for the viewer to uncover by themselves.

Andrew is a lettering AR artist who takes playing with light, shadow and depth to another level. His work is extremely polished and - dare we say - impeccable. Because depth is already such an impactful characteristic of his 2D works, his use of augmented reality enhances this element in his art, making his work feel even more realistic and detailed. His ability to recreate texture in his lettering adds to the realism, from vintage-looking wood to shiny or rusty metal.

Those starting to experiment with AR can read about his creative process and be inspired by the short time-lapses showing how he makes his hand-drawn pieces, viewable on his Instagram account. If you look beyond the mesmerizing skills and technique, you'll notice that his pieces are also casually political and reveal a lot of Andrew's ideals. You'll find yourself reading words and expressions like "Equality", "Let's Be Allies", "Vote" and "Oh No She Better Don't",to mention just a few. It's brilliant to see artists using their skill to boost important campaigns, and we're excited to see what Wilson does next.

When most of us think of how augmented reality and tattoos interact, we think of how we can use this technology to preview the drawings on our skin. But it wasn't until we came across Caledonia Tattoos's Skull project that we realised augmented reality could bring drawings on our skin to life in the same way that it does drawings on other surfaces - making tattoos even more unique.

Glenn Segard, the artist behind Caledonia Tattoo, had an interesting upbringing and has a special relationship with art. Today he's based in Vancouver, Canada, and plans to deliver more AR tattoo projects in the future. As Caledonia Tattoo's branding explains, AR tattoos mean that the artform is "no longer confined to a static image ... This artistic project pushes boundaries, and challenges the very conception of body art... The evolution of tattoo has just begun."

The idea of having a tattoo that transcends your skin and becomes an interactive 3D artwork is already incredible. But if we think beyond aesthetics, imagine the possibilities: we could carry vital information about ourselves that is only accessed when a camera is pointed at our AR tattoo. This could be used to inform doctors of allergies in emergency cases, or to identify unconscious people if necessary. Thank you, Caledonia, for blowing our minds and introducing us to yet another wonder of augmented reality!

Yunuen is a contemporary oil painter and AR artist from Mexico City, known for integrating augmented reality into her radiant deconstructivist art. She considers herself a control freak when it comes to her paintings, giving a unique color to each piece of the intricate geometric pattern that is her compelling signature style. The longer you look at this pattern, the more compelling it becomes - fittingly, considering Yunuen expresses interest in both "celebrating the strength in individuality" and the desire to "make sense of nature's random origins".

Besides geometric patterns and the use of AR, another one of Yunuen's signature moves is blending human bodies with different animal heads, which gives her pieces a sort of folkloric spirit that can be interpreted by the audience in many different ways. The cultural references in some of her artworks are quite clear and bold, with symbols reminiscent of Mexican traditions such as the Dia de Los Muertos and lucha libre fighters, as well as iconic political figures like Frida Kahlo. Yunuen has put together an engaging book compiling her most recognized AR pieces, available both in English and German.

Marc O Matic has everything it takes to become a solid pop culture icon. He has managed to create a whole world so unique and true to his aesthetic that anyone who's familiar with his work can immediately recognize it. By mixing pen drawings with innovative technology, in tones of copper and metal, his style feels like a fresh reinvention of steampunk, one fitting for this day and age. All these elements are heightened with supporting sound design that helps shape the storytelling elements of his AR work.

There's also a recurring sense of anonymity when it comes to how Marc presents his persona online, which can be seen with other pop culture artists like Daft Punk, and more recently Corpse Husband, who use art to disguise their true identity and let the audience truly dive into the fantasy of their world. You can find explanations on Marc's socials of how he creates his works, and he's currently developing a new generation of NFT crypto AR art that we're looking forward to seeing.

At the end of the day, no matter how you decide to brand and advertise your company, there will be a way to incorporate AR into the work. Like these AR artists mentioned above, we encourage you to get creative and try it - not only because of the promising rewards of AR marketing campaigns, but also because it will allow you to think of art, storytelling and branding in new ways and the outcomes could be revolutionary.

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7 AR artists who are raising the bar for augmented reality art | Basa Studio

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With augmented reality art and AR marketing trends on the rise, it's safe to say that the demand for AR artists will soon increase drasti...

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Lewis, Carrie. (2019,May 31). How Much Money do Artists Make in a Year?

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When most people consider a career, one of the first things they want to know is how much they can expect to earn. If you're considering an art career, you're probably wondering the same thing.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has income statistics for every profession, including artists, so that's where I went for answers. But. . . there are many different ways to make money as an artist.

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For example, fine artists who show in galleries are just the tip of the iceberg as far as the kinds of work that artists do. So in order to REALLY answer this question, I'm focusing on five common art careers. The following categories are arranged alphabetically to keep things simple.
NOTE: Most of the statistics that follow are gleaned from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). I've included the dates when available. Current numbers will vary.
Commercial artists

Commercial artists are artists who work for other people in a business setting or as freelance artists. I was a commercial artist for a year for a small mid-Michigan business back in the early 1990s. My duties included drawing illustrations for products, as well as catalog layout, newsletter writing, and a handful of other incidental jobs not necessarily considered "artistic."

The duties of a commercial artist vary from employer to employer and on the size of the employer. Larger companies may have dedicated commercial artists who do nothing but create art. Smaller businesses may have artists doing other tasks as well as creating art.

Commercial artists can also be freelancers. This means they own their own company and work for a number of clients rather than a single employer. Freelance artists often have more latitude in accepting or declining assignments, but less security in income. They only earn when they have clients.

As with most careers, the higher on the corporate ladder an artist is, the better their wages. In 2017, art directors (the highest level of commercial artist) earned an average of $92,500 annually. A more typical annual wage for a commercial artists in 2017 was $48,700.

Visual artists & commission artists

Commission artists are artists who work for hire to create unique artwork for clients. That includes painting portraits of people and pets, landscapes, and any other type of "portrait" style art. Visual artists are doing the same kind of work, but they work for themselves with the hope of selling their work after it's finished.

Both types of work can be sold through galleries, art shows, and from artist websites. In most cases, the artists are not working as employees. The income they generate depends on the work they produce and the amount of money they can expect to receive for each artwork.

Although the most successful visual artists made more than $90,050 per year in 2011 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) the average income for visual artists in 2011 was closer to $53,400, or about $25.67 per hour. The bottom 10% of visual artists took home around $19,150 per year.

Graphic design artists

Graphic design artists use typography, photography and illustration to create produce for clients and/or solve client problems. Logo creation is one common form of graphic design. So is magazine and publication design, as well as web design.

Graphic design artists can work for someone else or operate their own business. As of 2016, the median graphic design salary was $47,640. The bottom 10 percent of graphic designers made under $27,950 a year, while the top 10 percent earned over $82,020.

Illustrators & cover artists

Illustrators and cover artists are responsible for creating book covers and other types of covers and/or the illustrations inside books. Many manufacturing companies employ illustrators to create product art for operator manuals, assembly instructions, and similar publications for customer use.

Illustrators and cover artists also often work freelance, and charge a lump sum for each job. For example, a local book cover artist charges $300 per cover for his services, and a little bit more for interior book design as well.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2017, illustrators and other fine artists made a median wage of $49,520 a year. So half of all illustrators made less than that, and half earned more.

Teaching artists

Artists can teach at public schools and universities, art institutes, through websites such as Patreon, and by giving private art lessons in their homes, studios, or even online.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, K-12 teachers earn between $46,999 to $56,630 per year, depending on where they teach (wages vary from state to state).

Artists teaching private lessons can charge between $20 and $50 per hour. Location factors largely into what they can reasonably expect to be paid as well, since an artist living in a small town may not be able to charge as much as an artist living in a larger market. That's not a hard-and-fast rule, however, since many successful teaching artists live in small communities that have a high interest in the arts.

Online courses level the playing field somewhat by making it possible for anyone with computer access anywhere in the world to take a class or course from any artist anywhere in the world. Artists who do the best have well-planned and executed courses that solve problems for other artists. A well-designed course website that's easy to navigate and courses that leave students wowed can generate a seven-figure incomes.

Patreon has provided an especially lucrative platform for artists who use video as their method of teaching. The highest ranking visual artist on Patreon as of May 23, 2017 was Lisa Clough of Lachri Fine Art, who was earning over $6,000/month on that date (her earnings are currently $7,762 per month.) She teaches a range of mediums from graphite to oil painting, and does realistic portrait work, surrealism, wildlife art, marine art, and still life work, so her work appeals to broad audience.

Colored pencil artist Bonny Snowdon launched her Patreon page earlier this year (2019) and has already surpassed the $2,000/month level.

Of course, there are a lot more artists earning $0 to $2,000 per month, but much depends on your following, and your content.

Ultimately, how much you'll earn as an artist depends on two major factors: employment vs freelance, and popular appeal.

Employed versus freelance

Employment comes with significant benefits such as job security, benefits, and being able to go home and leave the job at work. However, wages are determined more by what the employer can pay than by the work you do.

Freelance and self-employed artists have the opportunity to earn as much as they can, and many do far better than their employed fellows. But self-employment comes with significant risks. There's no job security, and no employee benefits. Plus, you won't earn anything if you can't produce quality work.

Which brings me to the second factor:

Popular appeal

Artists who produce something that people and businesses regularly want or need (like book covers, teaching videos, logo design services, etc) tend to earn more than artists who do not.

The bottom line is this:

Self-employed artists can make a lot of money at art, but if you want to be one of them, you MUST be prepared to build an audience and spend time and effort developing your business. For many artists (and in my own opinion) this means the best plan is to work for someone else for a while. . . all while building your art business on the side.
NOTE: You may also be interested in EE's step-by-step drawing guide for artists. Click below to learn more!
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How Much Money do Visual Artists Make in a Year?

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By Carrie Lewis in Art Business Advice > General Art Advice When most people consider a career, one of the first things they want to know is how much they can expect to earn. If you're considering an art career, you're probably wondering the same thing.

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How to Become an Artist: Advice from Actual Artists.

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Arford, Kaitlyn. (2021,March 15). How to Become an Artist: Advice from Actual Artists.