Ratio of artists to programmers

Programmers get more because they are relatively speaking more important plus there are far less people that can do the job competently. But distinguish yourself enough as an artist and you'll have the scarcity power to receive a higher wage.

Are technical artist seen as programmers or artists?

They're artists. They'll typically be used as team leaders/graphics production assistant managers and get a little more than regular artists, but nothing of the scale of programmers.

With that said, I know programmers that are getting paid less than designers. I'm talking people with the same experience. Hell I even know certain producers that came in with a lesser wage than 3-4 years experienced designers....

Quote from Furyo

They're artists. They'll typically be used as team leaders/graphics production assistant managers and get a little more than regular artists, but nothing of the scale of programmers.With that said, I know programmers that are getting paid less than designers. I'm talking people with the same experience. Hell I even know certain producers that came in with a lesser wage than 3-4 years experienced designers....

it's a grey area. i have seen some technical artist descriptions where task include shader or particle programming. technical artist as in what you do is art, but you do it through math or logic (programming).