Sculptor, painter, illustrator, carpenter, metal-smith, graphic designer, product designer, industrial designer, draftsman, transportation designer, concept artist, architect etc. are all totally acceptable, pertain to actual (some very lucrative) careers, and I did not intend to discredit what I (my major is industrial design) or anyone else does in art. Design plays an incredibly important role in our world, and I do think highly of it.
However "artist" alone, in general, is too arbitrary to not sound absurd or pretentious. It just lacks any context whatsoever, and holds zero weight.