Basically is you want to work in the world of art such as graphic design and Illustration is it all just freelance work or should I say the majority freelance work? Thanks
All of it? Of course not. Every corporate office everywhere sells something, which means they have to market it, which means they need people to design their marketing. It’s far more common to have an internal marketing department than to hire an agency.
On that note, you can also work as an employee for an agency.
I do think the job market in general is heading more towards freelance, in pretty much every area it makes sense (hospital staff, no; business analysts, yes). This is largely because of our slow economic recovery and the increasing desire of corps to get what they need while spending as little as possible, so they’ll hire a bunch of contractors or part timers to avoid having to pay for benefits.
Now if you want to work as an artist, as opposed to corporate graphic design, then yes, I’d say the vast majority run their own businesses. Most likely while having a day job, whether that’s as a cube jockey or a freelance illustrator with corporate clients.
That’s cool I can appreciate that
IN NYC or some other large city you may be able to get a full time brick and mortar job. Keep doing research. It is better than trying to make a living as a painter painting art but as to actually how hard or easy it is to make a living in graphic design, I don’t know.
That’s interesting you wrote that about being a painter. I guess it’s hit or miss for painters.
I think much more miss than hit. If you want to paint portraits and murals in restaurants and give art lessons, you might make a living. If you want to be famous “for your art” I think you are 20 years too late…
There are still people who “hit it big” in the art world, but it’s basically like Hollywood – the A-listers everyone has heard of represent a tiny fraction of the total number of working actors, even working SAG-AFTRA actors.
Every artist I know has a “day job” (or often, several of them). Some are lucky enough to pull a living from a day job related to their art, such as teaching it. But being a working artist is no more glamorous than being a working accountant. Most artists are the work-a-day kind. Very few ever achieve celebrity status. Often celebrity status isn’t even a career goal of theirs. We’re more of a “boots on the ground” cohort, creating art and making it accessible for our local communities.
You’d need to be creative to make a living at it, and it’s possible as long as you open yourself to ALL possibilities of how to make money from your art. If a painter expects to get their stuff in high-end galleries in short order and make a living from sales to wealthy art collectors… well, good luck with that. If they also consider teaching, creating prints that can be sold online, selling at local art fairs, creating a web comic, merchandising, etc. as all facets of doing their art for a living, they will stand a much better chance.
Gotchya
Just curious what’s a SAG-AFTRA actor?
SAG-AFTRA is a labor union for actors. Most major Hollywood productions are governed by contracts collectively bargained with SAG-AFTRA.
Yes, and most SAG-AFTRA union members are working actors you’ve never heard of. 
So are these people extras I guess?
Some are, and some are day players. There are, of course, specific union rules about what qualifies you for one or the other role, and what the pay rate is for each. Extras don’t speak, for one, and if the director gives you a line or asks you to ad lib you get an upgrade and a pay bump. Here’s a funny story of how an extra in Being John Malkovich got drunk, did some unscripted improv, and because they kept it in the final cut got his SAG card and a substantial bump in pay… (Please don’t throw things at people in the hopes of getting more money though!)
There’s also actors on TV commercials, industrials (basically internal corporate training videos), voice over (like TV ads and radio ads), voice acting (like animated movies and audio dramas), audio book narration, and other stuff. And working actors who create and perform in their own movies and web series which may only see a film festival run and maybe limited release.