# Special Effects Artists and Animators

> Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials.

- **SOC code:** 27-1014.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1014-00
- **Also known as:** 3D Artist (Three-Dimensional Artist), Animator, Artist, Graphic Artist, 3D Animator (Three-Dimensional Animator), Digital Artist, Motion Graphics Artist, Multimedia Producer
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment.
- Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.
- Participate in design and production of multimedia campaigns, handling budgeting and scheduling, and assisting with such responsibilities as production coordination, background design, and progress tracking.
- Implement and maintain configuration control systems.
- Script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques.
- Create two-dimensional and three-dimensional images depicting objects in motion or illustrating a process, using computer animation or modeling programs.
- Develop briefings, brochures, multimedia presentations, web pages, promotional products, technical illustrations, and computer artwork for use in products, technical manuals, literature, newsletters, and slide shows.
- Make objects or characters appear lifelike by manipulating light, color, texture, shadow, and transparency, or manipulating static images to give the illusion of motion.
- Apply story development, directing, cinematography, and editing to animation to create storyboards that show the flow of the animation and map out key scenes and characters.
- Assemble, typeset, scan, and produce digital camera-ready art or film negatives and printer's proofs.
- Convert real objects to animated objects through modeling, using techniques such as optical scanning.
- Create pen-and-paper images to be scanned, edited, colored, textured, or animated by computer.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Computers and Electronics _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Design _(knowledge)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Communications and Media _(knowledge)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Visualization _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Sales and Marketing _(knowledge)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Adobe Photoshop _(Specialized Skill)_
- Adobe InDesign _(Specialized Skill)_
- Adobe Illustrator _(Specialized Skill)_
- Adobe After Effects _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Adobe After Effects _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Creative Cloud software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Illustrator _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe InDesign _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Photoshop _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Canva _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Cascading style sheets CSS _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Figma _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Hypertext markup language HTML _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 68th percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 65th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 95th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 43rd percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 11th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 1.6% growth (About average); 5k annual openings; 57.1k → 58k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $99,800; 21,280 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 46% automation, 52% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** task iteration.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Develop briefings, brochures, multimedia presentations, web pages, promotional products, technical illustrations, and computer artwork for use in products, technical manuals, literature, newsletters, and slide shows. _(36.2% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Use models to simulate the behavior of animated objects in the finished sequence. _(12.3% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment. _(6.4% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques. _(0.3% of measured AI use; task iteration)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me develop briefings, brochures, multimedia presentations, web pages, promotional products, technical illustrations, and computer artwork for use in products, technical manuals, literature, newsletters, and slide shows.
- Help me use models to simulate the behavior of animated objects in the finished sequence.
- Help me design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment.
- Help me script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-27-1014-00_