What should an artist put on their resume?

“Every artist was once an amateur."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like how making drawings, paintings and collages is an art, so is making a resume. As a painting needs to be perfect in order to sell, so does a resume to get you interviews.

The functions of an artist comprise duties like generating and developing ideas, making sketches and models, developing or creating a piece of work according to a commission or brief, and many more.

An artist needs to cultivate relations with suppliers and source materials to create quality pieces. They must conduct research and interviews, visit locations, and make use of libraries and the internet. They also manage administrators and correspondents while creating publicity.

Artists will see perpetual growth in their profession in the coming years due to their increasing demand by private art collectors, museums, electronic magazines, etc. According to CollegeGrad, the demand for painters, sculptors, and illustrators is expected to rise by 8% in the next 10 years.

Here is what you will know by the end of this definitive guide:

What Is An Artist Resume And Why Do You Need It?


An artist resume illustrates the skillfulness of an artist in their field by showcasing their work experience and tangible talent.

An artist resume will give the recruiter a deeper insight into your proficiency level as an artist. Artist resumes give the recruiter a brief about your educational and professional background.

The starting salary of freshers in this field is approximately $1,100. If you want to get to the hire-paid salary slot, you need to update your artist resume every time you switch a job, so that you showcase your entire career history.

Also read: How can you tailor your resume to a specific job?

How To Write An Artist Resume?


An artist resume will have distinct resume sections that follow a certain format. You would have to begin by writing your professional experience, educational qualifications, installations, and so on.

You can either submit your resume directly to the firm you are applying to or choose to float your artist resume in a network. Make sure you make appropriate choices regarding which resume style to choose for each occasion.

Also read: How to choose an appropriate resume format?

Artist Resume Sections


You have to segregate your information into legible sections to enhance readability and include details that recruiters usually demand. Here are a few sections you can include:

  • Header
  • Personal Information
  • Title
  • Summary
  • Key Skills
  • Professional Experience
  • Education
  • Certifications and Training
  • Awards and Recognition

However, you can customize your art resume to your liking if you have extra information that you think would make a significant impact.

Also read: What extra sections can you add to your resume?

Include an Artist Resume Header


It is the very first section of the artist resume and comprises your name.

So, you must be thinking, what is the point of making a header?

Well, it differentiates your art resume from other artist resumes. It is the biggest text in your art resume. It is written between the font size of 14-16 points. Also, it is very important to have correct spacing between your first and last name.

In addition to this, there is a proper way to write a middle name if you have one. The proper format is Bella K. Hadid. You will only write the first initial of your middle name and then a full stop after it.

If you have decided to make your artist resume on your own, then look at the below-given example to know how you should do it.

Image-1

Also read: How to draft an appropriate header for your resume?

Include Your Personal Information Artist Resume


The second section consists of your personal information like your phone number, professional e-mail ID, and your current location in the city, state or city, country format.

Personal Phone Number


The first thing to be written is the International Subscriber Dialing (ISD) code where you live followed by a plus sign (+). After writing the ISD code, give a single space and add your phone number.

Personal E-mail ID


The second thing to go into the personal information section is your personal e-mail ID. In the case you have multiple e-mail IDs, then choose the one you use the most often.

In addition to this, you can add links to any of your social media sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook if they support or demonstrate your work in any capacity.

Further, you can give hyperlinks to your personal website or portfolios that support your work or if you have any.

Current Location of Residence


The third thing that goes into your personal information section is your current location of residence. It will be written on the right corner of this section, which is right next to the e-mail ID.

Do not write the whole of your address as it consumes unnecessary space and is of no use to the recruiter. Write only the city name and the country code to give the recruiter the idea if you'll be relocating if you joined that company or not.

Take a brief look at the artist resume sample given below to get a better understanding of how to make the personal information section.

Image-2

Also read: How should you add contact information to your resume?

Add a Profile Title to Your Artist Resume


The third section tells the recruiter which profile you have applied, be it Multimedia Artist, Animator, Graphic Designer, etc. It should be written in the font size of 12-14 points.

Take a glance at the example below to have more clarity on how to write the profile title.

Draft an Impeccable Professional Experience Section in Your Artist Resume


The professional experience section is of prime importance in an artist resume. You can include all the work experience you've had in this section.

For people who have extensive work experience, this is of utmost importance.

Make use of the below-given format to write your professional experience section:

Name of the company | Location of the company in city, country format | Dates in mm/yy-mm/yy

Also, group your work functions within your professional experience section and write your points pertaining to the professional experience section in STAR format. STAR format stands for:

  • Situation: what was the environment that you had to work in?
  • Task: what were the tasks that you were assigned?
  • Action: what actions did you take to solve it?
  • Result: how did it affect the team?

Let's see it with an example:

Professional Experience Section without grouping and STAR points:

Working with game designers, developers, artists, and testers
Creating low ploy assets
Deploying Optimization Techniques in unity scene
Exporting and assembling images from art files
Applying textures via UVW mapping
Creating and importing machines

Here is a sample professional experience section with grouping and STAR points:

Designing & Coordination

Working closely with game designers, developers, artists, and testers to reach a common goal
Exporting and assembling images from art files within prescribed technical parameters and protocols
Creating and importing animations and state machines

Import & Optimization

Applying textures via UVW mapping with PBR workflow and rendering realistic environments and artistic product designs
Deploying Optimization Techniques in unity scene such as light optimization, culling, & performance profiling
Creating and importing animation and state machines

You can see from the artist resume examples above how grouping and the STAR format have improved the readability of this art resume.

Take a glimpse of the below-given artist resume sample to get greater clarity on how to encompass the information related to your work experience in this section.

artist-profesional-experience-

Also read: Beginner's guide to drafting a professional experience section

Include Your Educational Details in Your Artist Resume


The education section is the second most important section after the professional experience section. The information in this section includes course name, university/school name, location, dates of enrolling and graduating, along with your CGPA.

The recruiter decides based on this section whether you are qualified for the position or not. So, the information that goes into this section must be true to the best of your knowledge.

The below-given artist resume samples will give you a better idea of how to make this section.

Artist-Education

Also read: Should you include multiple educational details in your resume?

Add any Certifications, Training, or Projects


This section consists of any and every certification or training that adds value to your artistic resume. The following things are written in this section:

  • Name of Certification/Training
  • Name of Affiliating Institute
  • The completion date

You can use the below-given format to write this section:

Certification/Training Name | Affiliating Institution Name | Dates in mm/yy

See the example below to get more clarity on how to write this section.

Artist-Certifications

In this section, you will write all the value-adding awards and recognition that you got in school, university, or in your previous work engagements. Also, make sure that the awards are relevant to your target profile.

Artist Resume: Projects


Another section you can include is the kind of projects, academic, personal, or freelance work. It can be extremely helpful in deciding your worth.

You can do so by answering these vital questions:

  • What were your key roles and responsibilities specific to that project?
  • What were some key project deliverables that you were responsible for?

Mention a list of significant achievements for every project, with performance figures if possible.

In case of no non-disclosure agreements, you should mention the client in the project header and the professional experience section. Consequently, you do not need to repeat the same while drafting your resume points.

Also read: How many projects should you add to your resume?

Add Key Skills to Enhance Your Artist Resume


The skills section is fifth in the order of artic resume sections, but it will be the second last section that you will write. You must scan the rest of your artist resume to look for skills and then pick those skills to include in the key skills section.

This process will give you more skills to write in the art resume key skills section. For example:

  • Research
  • Design Creation
  • Articulating Designs

The skills section should be only three sentences long and not more. Also, when you are done making this section, bold the whole section. By doing so, you will be able to direct the recruiter's attention towards it.

Here is how you can draft you can draft the key skills section of your artist resume:

artist-key-skills

Create a Technical Skills Section


Artistic resume skills like Unity 3D, Blender, and Auto Desk Maya, will be included in a separate section. You can create a Technical Skills section that will comprise all the technical skills/tools you are familiar with.

Doing this will separate it from the key skills section and increase its readability.

To get a clearer idea of how to make this section, look at the artist resume sample given below.

Artist-Technical-Skills

On average, the recruiters scan a resume only for 6 seconds. So, you have to hook the recruiter to your artistic resume in that short span.

Create an Artist Resume Summary


The summary section is the fourth section of your artist resume, but it is more impactful to write it at the end of your resume-making process. You will be able to scan the whole of your artistic resume and pick out the highlights of your career.

Here are a few tips you can follow while crafting this section:

  • Start your sentences with power verbs to create an impactful introduction
  • Maintain a cause-effect relationship to establish a background context for your work functions
  • Quantify your achievements to show the impact of your work
  • Try not to write a lengthy paragraph and keep it anywhere between three to five lines

Look at the artist resume sample given below to see how you can optimize your summary section:

artist-summary

Also read: How can you draft your summary within four lines?

How to Create an Artist Resume With No Experience


Now the question is how to write an art resume with no experience?

A fresher artistic resume is more or less the same as an experienced professional, except for two sections. These sections are the professional experience section and the summary section.

Let us see how.

Artist Resume Internship Section


A fresher will have an Internship section instead of a Professional Experience section.

How are they different?

Internships are when you work for a company for a short period, especially as a college student. However, in a job, you are committed full-time and are contractually obligated.

Creating an internship section and listing the functions you undertook lets the recruiter know that you are not inexperienced in your field. They get to know the broad level of work that you performed.

Here is what a typical internship section would look like:

Assessment & Development

Assisted in designing & development of layouts & graphics for an advertisement project
Played a key role in the assessment of graphic materials to ensure quality of designs

Hiration pro tip:
All the points in your professional experience and internship section should maintain a cause-effect relationship.

Artist Resume Objective Section


The last section that you will write in your fresher artist resume is the objective section.

Freshers and entry-level professionals write an objective section instead of a summary section. For the resume objective, you will not write what you expect from the company, but you will write what you can do for the company.

Make sure you write your summary in paragraph form and not as bullet points!

Also read: How to create a recruiter-friendly resume for your first job?

Artist Resume vs CV


Are you confused about whether you should pick an artist resume or a CV? Here is a little pros list to help you decide:

Artist Resume

  • Artist resumes are either one-page minimum or two pages maximum.
  • They are brief documents of your educational and professional background.
  • You can tailor them according to each job description that you apply to.

Artist CV

  • CVs are longer and are usually more than two pages.
  • They are detailed documents of your educational and professional background.
  • You cannot tailor them according to each job description, but you can customize the cover letter that goes with it.

Artist Resume Sample


Creating an artist resume can be challenging if you are new at it, but here is a sample to show what your resume should look like:

7+ experienced Graphics Artist with a track record of creating beautiful characters, assets, environments (props, buildings, landscapes, lighting and textures), effects, icons, and user interface to be rolled out into the game. Highly skilled in preparing and maintaining clear art documentation while supporting the team in game design.
• Image Designing • Optimization • Animation Development • Image Development • Image Assembling

Technical Skills
• Unity 3D • Blender • Auto Desk Maya • 3DS Max • Substance Painter • VR/AR/MR Concepts • HTC Vive • HoloLens
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
    Designing & Coordination
    • Liaising with Game Designers, Developers, Artists and Testers to reach a common goal
    • Exporting and assembling images from art files within prescribed technical parameters and protocols
    • Designing storyboards & low ploy assets for VR, AR and MR platforms
    • Applying textures via UVW mapping with PBR workflow and rendering realistic environments & artistic product designs
    Optimization & Animation Development
    • Deploying optimization techniques in unity scene such as Light Optimization, Culling, Performance Profiling
    • Creating and importing animations and state machines while conducting weekly meetings with the Supervisor
    • Ensuring production pipeline and production art is created efficiently while effectively integrating the same into products
      • Created computer generated images and animations which provide virtual illustration of complex fictional & real content
      • Developed image concepts and animation settings & conducted weekly meetings to get them approved
      • Supervised conception, design and realization of digitally produced images by deploying skills of modelling, texturing, etc.
      EDUCATION
        • Top 15 percentile of the class
        • Certified Cinema 4D Professional | Adobe | Jan '16
        • Trained in Arnold renderer tool | Sun-dried Brick | Jun '15
        • Certified in Video Animation Professional | 75 Next | Jun '14

        Key Takeaways


        An artist resume will aid your job search, help you understand how you are doing professionally, and judge whether you are in line with your career plans.

        Here is what you can gather from this article on creating an impeccable artist resume:

        • Always include a job title optimized according to the profiles you are targeting. For example, Fine Artist/3D Artist.
        • Do not include bullets in your summary. To best optimize it, start by summarizing your qualifications and key skills and tailoring your sentences according to your target profile.
        • Mention only the most important and relevant points in 3 to 4 lines to showcase what value you can provide to the organization.
        • Highlight major certifications and training as they are highly relevant to your target profile. You do not have to explain them.
        • If you have done any freelance projects as an artist, include them in your artistic resume. Make a separate section for this, which will be named Projects. For each project, mention the techniques and methods you utilized for completing the project.

        Go to the Hiration resume builder and create a professional resume for yourself. Additionally, reach out to us at support@hiration.com or utilize our chat support, where you can get 24/7 professional assistance with all your job & career-related queries.

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