It is widely thought that being an artist isn’t very profitable nowadays as people associate them with street painters or contemporary artists that combine all previous art movements into one and many people don’t even consider it art.

On the contrary, many talented artists today are looking for jobs in the branches of graphic design, photography, game development and so on, not because they know how to draw and paint, but because of their creativity and imagination.

Being an artist today means that you can create art in all shapes and forms and you don’t need a canvas to do so, and that’s why it’s no surprise that so many young artists get hired by design, marketing, software, and even clothing companies need an artist to create and design all kinds of projects, images, templates and so on.

Of course, as in any profession sometimes it is hard to find the perfect job, but if you know how to implement your talent and how to use your skills in a way which will not only benefit the company but also create a living by using your creative side then you have nothing to worry about except how your resume will look like.

So if you think you have what it takes to have a career being an animator, illustrator, graphic designer, and even an art teacher and you think you have the creative mind which can benefit any company, then stay tuned to see how to write the best resume for such positions.

Graphic Designer Resume Example

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Technical Illustrator Resume Example

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These were two examples of how your resume should look like when you’re applying for a job in the art industry and what typically employers pay attention to.

Now we are going to go through each of the section, step by step to assure that you write the proper format of the resume and actually have a chance of getting the job.

Feel free to use our resume templates as they will make it easy for you to add or change any section you want and they are pretty convenient for any job application.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE PERSONAL INFO SECTION

Basically, every resume you’re going to write should start the same and that is with your personal information.

Of course, you shouldn’t provide any information you don’t feel comfortable sharing, but things like your full name, phone number and address shouldn’t be something you would want to hide from your future boss.

Information such as a photograph usually isn’t required but if it is then it will be specified by your employer before you send your resume.

Some employers don’t even require you to share your address, but a phone number and e-mail is most certainly a must.

Speaking of E-Mails, you shouldn’t be using an E-Mail address which you’ve created when you were a kid, and we all had those embarrassing E-Mail addresses so don’t act like you don’t know what we are talking about.

Instead, you should create a new E-Mail address just for work and it should sound professional, something in the ball-park of:

Jennifer.sullivan@gmail.com
Right
Jenny_summergirl89@gmail.com
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As far as your full name is concerned, things are pretty straightforward. You should stay clear of nicknames, alias names, and pseudonyms and just use your real name.

Bob Maguire
Right
Bobby Maguire
Wrong

Also, when you’re listing your profession, you shouldn’t put a broad one like for example an artist, instead you should write your actual profession, maybe the subject you’ve graduated on or the topic of your master thesis.

You can even write your previous job title if you’ve changed professions during your career, but surely you should write something which has ties to the job you’re applying for now.

Animation illustrator
Right
Artist
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Last thing, your social media, if you use any, is useful because sites such as LinkedIn can be used as your other resume where employers if they are interested in you, can find out more about you and your skillset, so it is a good idea to list that as well.

But don’t forget to keep it professional and don’t complain about your new job on social media as your employers will surely keep track of you once you get the job.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE SUMMARY SECTION

Moving on we have the Summary section which is basically a mini intro for your work experience, education, and skills.

There are certain things which you need to pay attention in order to write the summary section correctly:

  • Being precise – you shouldn’t write things in your summary which can’t be found in the rest of your resume meaning that your summary should match it exactly.
  • High expectations – for the most part, your summary can sound great, but if you don’t have the work experience and skill set to back it up, then it’s going to turn out being overestimated or even false.
  • Boring – no one wants to read your summary and fall asleep because your employer will think that the rest of the resume is the same, so you need to find a way for the summary to sound exciting but also be honest about yourself.

A great summary generally consists of two or three sentences describing your skillsets, experience and the place you graduated from and typically it should contain at least one reason why you are applying for this job. So a good summary should look something like this:

Summary

A college-educated visual artist proficient in photography, drawing, and painting and I have started from an internship in few galleries to working for movie sets of companies such as Universal Orlando Resort to even Twentieth Century Fox. I am creative, hardworking and enjoy working with other talented individuals.

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Summary

Graduated from Columbus College of Art & Design. Worked for Trigger Global, Inc. Great communication skills and creativity.

Wrong

As you can see, there is nothing worse than having a bland summary, because even if you are qualified for the job, just by reading your summary, no one will expect anything from you, so you have to spice it up a little.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE EXPERIENCE SECTION

Writing the Experience section is maybe the most important thing on your resume mainly because it provides your employer with information valuable to his company.

If you’ve been a good employee in most companies you’ve worked for and if you have the required skill set to contribute to the company you’re applying then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get the job.

Also, you are providing your employer the information of for how long have you’ve been employed and unemployed which is, for some employers, valuable information as they are not so willing to employ someone who doesn’t have at least 2 or 3 years of experience.

Remember, you should always add 3 or 4 bullets about how you’ve contributed to the company and feel free to add some numbers and percentages to convince your employer that you’ve actually made an impact at your previous job position.

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One more thing, you should write just the jobs you’ve previously had which are worth mentioning and not the ones which have no connection to the profession you’re applying for so keep that in mind as no employer wants to know that you’ve worked at McDonald’s for a year before you were an industrial designer.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE EDUCATION SECTION

It is often believed that employers don’t look at the Education section as much as they look at the Experience section but that is not true as every employer would rather hire a smart kid with good grades who is hardworking rather than someone who worked for Sony Pictures but didn’t do anything special and just collected his paycheck.

Don’t get us wrong, ideally, you would have a great education and great work experience but most often that’s not the case.

Anyways, if you have a great education and if you know how to put that education right it can help you balance out your weak work experience and it will most certainly help you find a job if you’ve just started out searching for one.

When writing the Education section you should highlight things such as:

  • The college, academy or online course you’ve graduated from.
  • GPA score if it is very high.
  • Papers you’ve written, projects you’ve taken part in and seminars you’ve visited.
  • Organizations and clubs you’ve joined.

When it comes to being an artist everyone will agree that it takes some talent, but without some education, you won’t be able to express your talent in the best way possible and it will never get noticed.

That is why many talented people, mainly artists, have perfected their artistic soul through college and academies and knowing this, surely your employer will be paying attention to where you’ve gone to art school.

GUIDE ON WRITING THE SKILLS SECTION

For an artist, the Skills section might be one of the more important sections of the resume because here you are welcome to list all the things you find yourself talented for.

And because not all painters paint in the same style and not all designers design the models with the same tools, here you are free to use your creative mind and express your skills in whatever way you please.

When it comes to listing your skill set as an artist who specifies in painting and drawing you can emphasize the style in which you create art whether it is using watercolor, oil paint, graphite, acrylic paint and so on.

The same principle can be applied to professions such as a graphic designer or technical illustrator as they use different programs and software to create models and designs for their companies.

And, because the art industry covers a lot of job positions, you will need to figure out what you should point out being your skillset in your branch of the profession.

As long as you don’t list mediocre skills which everyone who finished art school has, you will do just fine, but if you’re still wondering how it all should turn out, you should write something in the line of:

Skills

  • Excellent at programs such as Photoshop, 3D Studio Max and Zbrush.
  • Great at designing shading, particle and background effects.
  • Specialized in modeling and designing characters for games and commercials.
  • Good at working in a group and also have great leadership skills as well.
  • Great at organizing projects and managing time.

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Skills

  • Great at drawing, painting, and sculpting.
  • Can use MS Office kit.
  • Great at communicating and working with other people.

Wrong

Side note: Definitely don’t write things such as “great at cooking lasagna” or “great swimmer” except in the case of you applying to be a chef or a coast guard and even in that case you shouldn’t point out the obvious.

USEFUL TIPS AND TRICKS

  • Length of your resume – Some people think that they have so many things to list in their resume that they start to wonder if two pages are enough while others don’t even know if they can fill out one page. The truth is that one page is pretty much all you need and that you should try and fit everything on one page, if not then two pages are fine but three are definitely too much.
  • Proofreading – You should send your resume to a proofreader because you never know if you’ve made a grammatical error which can seriously damage your credibility.
  • Reviewing – You should also send your resume to someone who is already receiving countless resumes daily and who knows how an employer thinks because he can give you some tips on how to make your resume look more professional.
  • Articulate – You need to be able to articulate the information you provide on your resume precisely so you don’t end up being interpreted the wrong way which can mean two things. One, don’t seem like you’re begging for the job, let your skills and experience speak for you, and two, don’t write information which doesn’t belong in your resume such as childhood stories and so on.
  • Adapting your resume – Ideally, you should write a different resume every time you apply for a new job mainly because not all job positions require the same skills and the same work experience so you need to adjust those things accordingly.
  • Bulleting – You should use bullet point as often as you can as they are great for skimming the resume and knowing that the employers often spend just 6 seconds on average looking at a resume you need to make sure that key words pop out at him.
  • Highlighting – Highlighting can be used in combination with bullet points to emphasize keywords but try not to over-do it as it can seem like you’re trying to impress your employer too much.
  • Font – Stay clear of handwritten styled fonts such as Segoe Print or MV Boli, and definitely don’t use Comic Sans, instead you should use fonts like Cambria, Calibri, Times New Roman, Helvetica and so on.
  • Formatting – Please have a copy of your resume both in physical and digital form and always use different formats such as PDF and TXT because you never know if your employer will need both of them.
  • E-Mail – Checking your E-Mail is a must when applying for a job because nowadays it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get a phone call directly from your boss asking you if you can come into work tomorrow because you’re hired. So by checking your E-Mail you will be sure not to miss out on their reply.
  • Resume template – By using one of our resume templates you will surely find just the right one for your profession and you’ll surely have an easy time adding the sections you need which will save you a lot of your precious time.

CONCLUSION

That’s pretty much it when it comes to writing your resume as an artist and if you follow these steps you have a high chance of getting the job position you’re applying for.

Remember how to list your skillset properly and what you should point out in that section, what to emphasize in your Education section and how to properly write down your work experience and the contribution you’ve made in the places you’ve worked in.

If you’re still unsure on how to write the perfect resume and are concerned about its layout than don’t waste time and go check out our resume template builder and start writing your resume by implementing all that we’ve talked here about today.

Good luck with finding your dream job!

Artist Resume: Sample and Complete Guide

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