artist Definition

1. Someone who produces works of art, especially paintings.

Thesaurus: craftsperson, painter, sculptor.
2. Someone who is skilled at some particular thing.

Thesaurus: expert, master, maestro.
3. An artiste.
4. slang
Someone who takes part in a specified activity such as drinking, fraudulent deals, etc habitually or to excess.
Example: con artist

In sense 3, artist is now common in the meaning for which artiste was formerly more common, but is now often regarded as somewhat old-fashioned or affected.