State of Maryland

An Illustrator II is the full performance level of responsible staff in the field of graphic design and illustration.  Employees in this classification, under guidance, execute assignments dealing with the graphic production and presentation of informational and promotional projects.  Employees in this classification serve as liaisons between public information services and the graphic medium, and may be called upon to provide informational material, in addition to visual contributions.  The work of the classification includes assisting and analyzing program needs, to determine the graphic requirements.  Employees in this classification may provide guidance and training to other personnel in graphic production and may also supervise clerical assistants.

Employees in this classification receive general supervision from a higher-level Illustrator or designated official but much of it is performed independently within the guidelines of established policies and procedures.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Illustrator II is differentiated from the Illustrator I on the basis of the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Illustrator II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.  The Illustrator I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending upon the complexity of the specific duty being performed.  The Illustrator II is differentiated from the Illustrator III in that the Illustrator III has supervisory responsibility for lower-level Illustrators.

Translates thoughts, ideas, and images into pictures and designs;

Makes pencil, ink, and color illustrations, charts, and maps for publications and exhibits;

Creates pictures of landscape and buildings;

Reproduces from available materials, maps, charts, and diagrams;

Creates posters, sign bears, and show cards;

Applies lettering, tracing, and ether art work on charts, reports, and for publications;

Prepares or assists in preparation of models and other three-dimensional displays;

Suggests ideas and creates artwork for promotional informational or educational projects;

Designs formats for magazines, pamphlets, booklets, and other publications;

Prepares sketches of plans, specimens, operative techniques and apparatus;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of working level graphic design and illustrative procedures, with reference to techniques involved in the preparation and production of effective promotional material;

Knowledge of the various processes involved in reproduction techniques (offset lithography, four color and flat color process, silk screen, letterpress, etc.);

Knowledge of mechanical preparation, typography and type specifications;

Knowledge of characteristics of various paper and ink samples;

Knowledge of English usage and grammar;

Knowledge of the principles and practices of promotional and publicity programs;

Knowledge of the methods and techniques applied in making the most effective use of graphic media;

Knowledge of modern office practices and procedures;

Ability to supervise the planning design and construction of exhibits, posters, pamphlets, brochures, books, charts and other promotional and publicity material;

Ability to price and control job price, through variance of materials and techniques used;

Ability to work within specified budgets for each job;

Ability to develop and maintain working relationships with printers, typesetters, photographers, ink and stock suppliers and any other stock suppliers.

Experience:  Six years of experience as a professional Illustrator or Commercial Artist.

Notes:

1. Candidates may substitute the possession of a Bachelor's degree in art, graphic design or illustration from an accredited college or university and two years of experience as a professional Illustrator or Commercial Artist for the required experience.

2. Candidates may substitute the possession of an Associate of Arts degree in art, graphic design or illustration from an accredited college or university and four years of experience as a professional Illustrator or Commercial Artist for the required experience.

3. Candidates may substitute the possession of two years of experience as an intermediate level Illustrator in State government for the required experience.

4. Candidates may substitute education in art at an accredited college, or university at the rate of 30 credit hours for one year of experience for up to two years of the required experience.

5. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a non-commissioned officer in Mass Communications Specialist classifications or Combat Documentation/Production Specialist or Combat Illustrator or Multimedia Illustrator specialty codes in the graphic design field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit B- Administrative, Technical and Clerical classes.  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining. 

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation.   An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime, as provided by the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.