These words refer to people who produce works of art. Artist , in one of its uses, is the most general and all-inclusive of these, indicating a practitioner of any one of the fine or applied arts: artists who paint, compose music, or write novels. Its main usefulness lies in the fact that it can refer equally well as a group word to workers in diverse fields: a section of the city where all kinds of artists lived. By extension, the word is often used of someone who shows unusual taste or discrimination in other tasks: a real artist when it came to planning and giving interesting parties. When the word is not clearly a group word, however, it can often be taken to apply more strictly to the visual arts, especially to painting: a gathering place for artists and writers. Painter thus specifically emphasizes one of the possible meanings of artist , to the exclusion of all others. In general, artist can be replaced to advantage by the more specific term whenever appropriate: gatherings of painters, sculptors, novelists, poets and composers.

The remaining words all relate to artist , rather than painter, in grouping a variety of specific roles under one general heading. Creator emphasizes the origination of artistic ideas by single person; it may or may not imply that others being the idea to its realization: the creator of huge canvasses teeming with scenes of Venetian life; a man credited as the creator of a film on which many had collaborated. The word also has a use to refer to an artist who works in a number of media: the creator of frescoes, architectural designs and sonnets. The word is also used in the applied arts, sometimes to lend aesthetic appeal to business: the creator of a new line of autumn fashions.

Craftsman , stylist and virtuoso are general words that emphasize technical skill or flair when substituted for artist . In this context, craftsman suggests any artist who lavishes painstaking care on the construction of his work and is consciously concerned with fine details: a real craftsman in his ability to shape dialogue towards natural and inevitable climaxes. Stylist suggests an artist unusually gifted with a flair for working in one of the short story. The word can also be used of lesser or applied arts to suggest singularity or professionality: hair stylist ; a unique song stylist . Virtuoso originally applied to a musical performer who was able to execute difficult passages with apparent ease and bravura. Now it may refer to any artist, as well, who shows unique mastery of technical difficulties or is especially given to display of technical facility: a virtuoso in the sonnet form; a virtuoso who, for all his technique, remains a shallow and superficial artist .