Master the art of writing a show-stopping artist resume with our easy-to-follow guide. Examples and resume writing tips and tricks included!
As an artist, there’s no doubt you’re immensely creative. And yet, you seem to run into creative blocks any time you try to write an artist resume.
The truth is, no matter how creative you are, you’ll struggle to write an outstanding resume until you learn the key principles of resume writing. Once you know them, however, it becomes as easy as ABC.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of writing a stellar artist resume step by step. Let’s get started!
First things first, you should use the reverse-chronological resume format for your artist resume to structure it properly.
As an artist, you certainly know the importance of composition. If you arrange the elements of your artwork the wrong way, it’ll look random at best. At worst, it may look confusing and drive the viewer away. Similarly, the resume format can make or break your job application.
The three standard resume formats are:
While you can use any of them to create an artist resume, the reverse-chronological resume format has many advantages over the other two.
Not only is it ATS-friendly, but it is also a favorite among recruiters. It’s no surprise, given that this resume format is well-organized and places emphasis on your work experience.
After choosing the right format for your artist resume, it’s time to work on its layout. Make sure to get it right before filling in the contents of your resume, as fixing it once you’re all done can be quite a hassle.
So, here’s what you need to do:
Avoid bouncing from one font to another, switching between several font sizes, and so on. Rather than making your resume appear creative, this can make it look messy. Consistency is key to crafting a well-organized, professional artist resume.
Any resume, including that for artists, must include these five sections:
You should also include artistic achievements, such as residencies.
Moreover, depending on your professional background, you can also include your:
Sounds like too much work? Not with our resume builder!
To create a job-winning artist resume with our builder, all you have to do is fill in the suggested sections. You can skip formatting your resume altogether or customize its design to your liking with a click of a button. It’s that simple!
No matter how impressive your artist resume is, you won’t land a job if recruiters can’t get in touch with you. So, make sure to list your up-to-date contact information in the header of your resume as soon as you’re done formatting your resume.
Here’s what you should include:
While this is optional, you should ideally add a link to your professional website or portfolio. After all, these show exactly what you’re capable of to the recruiter. You can also mention your LinkedIn handle and professional title (e.g., “Sculptor”).
Your contact information should look something like this:
Judy Adams Illustrator 012-345-6789 judy.adams@example.com Springfield, IL linkedin.com/in/judyadams123 behance.net/judyadams123
There’s a reason why Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is one of the most influential paintings of all time—it captivates the audience from the get-go. Similarly, your artist resume should grab the recruiter’s attention in the blink of an eye. To do this, you need to place an impactful resume objective or a resume summary at the top of your resume.
While these are both short statements that act as a description of your artist resume and professional background, there’s a subtle difference between the two.
Essentially, you should only write a resume objective if you’re an aspiring artist or an art student with little to no experience.
In this case, you can follow this simple formula to create an eye-catching resume objective:
In all other cases, you should always write a resume summary since it does a better job of highlighting relevant skills, experience, and achievements.
Now that you know which of these statements you should opt for, let’s see some examples.
First off, here’s a poorly written artist resume objective:
Talented animation student seeking a part-time job at Company XYZ. I enjoy crafting visual stories with the help of technology. Hoping to work on exciting projects with like-minded people.
Now, check out this effective resume objective that follows the formula mentioned above:
Enthusiastic and detail-oriented second-year animation student with a passion for visual storytelling seeking a part-time job at Company XYZ. Eager to leverage my solid Adobe Animate skills and contribute to the company’s marketing efforts with high-quality, visually compelling 3D animations.
As you can probably tell, there’s a stark difference between the two. Unlike the first example, the second one is more detailed and focused on the company instead of personal gain.
If you’re planning to write an artist resume summary, here’s what you should not do:
Award-winning animator seeking a job at Company XYZ. Substantial knowledge and experience in pretty much everything related to 3D animation.
Instead, you can follow this example of an attention-grabbing resume summary:
Dedicated and versatile 3D animator with 4+ years of experience. Highly proficient in Blender and Adobe Creative Suite. Created “XYZ,” an animated short film that garnered 4+ million views on YouTube and won the award for Best Narrative Short at Animation Festival X in 2022.
See the difference?
While the first example is very vague, the second one highlights the candidate’s experience and achievements by utilizing numbers, as well as specifying skills and awards.
Now, let’s discuss the most significant part of any resume—the work experience section.
To maintain consistency throughout your artist resume, list each entry in the reverse-chronological order. Start with your latest position and include:
Need an artist resume for a gallery exposition, a grant, or anything else other than a regular job? In this case, feel free to move the work experience section below and emphasize your artistic achievements, such as awards, commissions, exhibitions, and residencies.
Regardless of the type of artist you are, you should make every effort to stand out in a competitive job market.
If you follow the guidelines above, you’ll end up with a relatively good work experience section. However, you can take it to the next level with these tips:
Writing an artist resume with no experience may seem a tad daunting, but it’s much easier than you think.
Chances are, you have some relevant experience that you can leverage to craft a powerful artist resume. It can be virtually anything—volunteering, internships, or maybe a previous job that allowed you to flex your creative muscles.
Here’s an example of how to do it right:
Work Experience Marketing Intern Company XYZ Anchorage, AK 01/2023–06/2023
Here’s a brilliant example of a work experience section on an experienced artist resume:
Work Experience Senior Game Artist Company XYZ Helena, MT 03/2018–08/2023
If you’re a freelance artist, here’s how you can present your work experience to prospective employers:
Work Experience Freelance Artist Self-Employed Los Angeles, CA 08/2020–Present
Next, you should add an education section to your artist resume.
As a general rule, you should keep it brief, especially if you’re a self-taught artist. If you have a college or university diploma, feel free to leave out your high school.
That said, if you graduated from a prestigious art school or have some prominent academic accomplishments, make sure this lands on your artist resume. You can even move this section up to emphasize your academic background.
Again, you should start with your latest degree first and list the following details:
Here’s what your education section should look like:
Education BFA in Experimental Animation California Institute of the Arts 08/2017–07/2021
If you’re looking for a job as an artist, recruiters will pay particularly close attention to two things: your work experience and your skills.
For this reason, you should mention your skills throughout your artist resume, including your resume summary/objective and work experience.
Here’s a good example:
Work Experience Freelance Illustrator Self-Employed San Francisco, CA 02/2019–Present
That said, your artist resume should also have a dedicated skills section. There, you need to separately note down your hard and soft skills.
Ideally, you should list your hard skills along with your proficiency level like this:
Hard Skills Adobe Photoshop—Expert ZBrush—Advanced
Now, the trick is to focus on the skills the employer is looking for, as this will increase your chances of passing the ATS check and landing an interview.
You can do this by scanning the job description and picking out any skills they mention that you possess. Be honest, though, as recruiters can easily find out whether you’re a real artist or a fraud!
Which hard skills your artist resume should include? The answer largely depends on the type of artist you are. Obviously, an animator will need a different skill set than a sculptor.
That said, here’s a list of hard skills you should consider putting on your artist resume:
Here are some soft skills that’ll enhance your artist resume:
Here are some additional sections you should consider adding to your artist resume:
Only list your awards in a separate section if they are truly impressive. Otherwise, you can mention them in your education, work experience, or another appropriate section.
Has your art been featured in exhibitions? Perfect!
Here’s what you should list:
Including personal and collaborative projects on your artist resume is a great way to show your passion for art and stand out from other candidates.
To do it, just list the year and title. If relevant, add the name of the venue and collaborators.
Still have some white space left on your artist resume after completing the must-have sections? Consider filling it up with any conferences, lectures, and workshops you’ve attended (or given!).
Include the title of the lecture/conference, venue, location, and year.
If your artwork has been featured in print or online publications, list the name of the author, the title of your work, as well as the title and date of the publication to correctly add it to your artist resume.
If you speak any other languages besides English and they’re relevant to the position you’re applying for, make sure to list them on your artist resume alongside your proficiency level (e.g., Native or bilingual proficiency, limited working proficiency, etc.)
Last but certainly not least, you should add other artistic achievements—residencies, grants, collections, commissions, etc.—to your resume.
You should list these separately and, depending on the purpose of your artist resume, you can even move them to the top of the page to draw more attention to them. For instance, if you’re applying for a residency program, you might want to highlight your previous residencies.
Here’s an example of how these sections could look on an artist resume:
Solo Exhibitions
Collections
Commissions
You should always write a cover letter when applying for a job as an artist. This can give you a winning edge over your competitors, as most candidates skip this step unless they’re asked to attach a cover letter to their application.
However, by writing a cover letter, you can further expand on your professional background and highlight your greatest achievements. It’s also your chance to mention anything valuable you left out of your artist resume to maximize your chances of landing an interview.
On top of that, you can also impress the recruiter with your attention to detail by using matching cover letter and resume templates!
Here are three useful tips that’ll help you polish up and perfect your artist resume:
If you want to cite a piece of your art on your resume, simply list the title and the medium as such:
Colorful Raindrops, acrylic on canvas
Before you start working on your resume, check out this outstanding artist resume example to get inspired.
By now, you probably see that writing a resume is an art in and of itself. To bring your artist resume from average to show-stopping, you should follow these simple rules:
And remember—when it comes to resume writing, numbers are your friends!
Isabelle Dupont Content Writer & EditorIsabelle Dupont is from Portland, but she now lives and works in sunny San Diego. She is a content writer and editor for Resume.co. She loves casual Fridays and carefree days spent on the beach and has been writing for several years now. Whether it’s creating content or fixing it up, she’s always on point and makes sure no stone is left unturned. In her free time, Isa loves to immerse herself in fantasy novels, go on long hikes, and spend time with her friends and family.
