Artist Resume
An artist resume is read next to the work. For illustration, design and studio roles the portfolio decides and the resume confirms: commissions, exhibitions, clients, software and grants. That means the portfolio link belongs at the very top, employment history is written in project terms rather than duties, and the exhibitions list is a first-class section rather than an afterthought. This guide covers what to include, a full example, the sections that carry an art practice, and how to keep the document readable when it goes through an application system.
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What an artist resume must include
- The portfolio link at the top, as plain text, with the destination named — website, Behance, ArtStation or Instagram.
- A short practice statement in place of a corporate summary: medium, subject and the kind of work you take on.
- Selected commissions and clients with the deliverable and, where allowed, the reach or run of the work.
- Exhibitions with the venue, city, year and whether the show was solo, group or juried.
- Software and traditional media named precisely, because Procreate and Photoshop are different tools to an art director.
- Grants, residencies and awards with the funder and the year.
Art hiring happens on the strength of the portfolio, so the resume's job is to make the work easy to find and answer the questions the work cannot: who commissioned it, how long it took, whether you can hit a deadline and whether you can work inside someone else's art direction. Write for the person who has already clicked the link.
Artist Resume Example
Example resume
An illustrator resume centered on commissions, licensing and exhibitions, with the portfolio link repeated in the header. Every project line names the client type, the deliverable and the scope.
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Recommended sections for an artist resume
- Portfolio and links — website first, then the profile that best matches the job.
- Selected commissions or client work — the projects an art director will recognize as relevant.
- Exhibitions — solo, group and juried shows in one list, most recent first.
- Grants, residencies and awards — with the funder, year and what the money supported.
- Skills — split into traditional media, digital tools and professional practice.
- Education and teaching — degree, workshops taught, talks and portfolio reviews.
Portfolio links: make them clickable and keep them current
- Write the full URL as text, such as yoursite.com/work, not a hyperlink hidden behind the word portfolio.
- Point at a focused page rather than a home page, and check it on a phone before sending.
- Name what is at the destination when it is not obvious, such as “process work and sketchbooks”.
- Keep the portfolio and resume visually consistent; mismatched typography reads as someone else's work.
- When applying through a portal, add the link to both the resume file and the profile field, because links inside documents are sometimes stripped.
- Never send a link that requires a login or an app to open.
Exhibitions, commissions and grants
These lists are the artist resume's equivalent of employment history, and they follow the same rule: specific, ordered and honest about scale. A group show in a rented hall and a museum survey are not the same credit, and a reader can tell the difference when the venue is named.
- Exhibitions: title of show, venue, city, year — and “solo” or “group” where it is not obvious.
- Commissions: client or client type, deliverable, medium, and where the piece was used or shown.
- Grants and residencies: funder, year, amount when it is public, and the project the award supported.
- Publications and features: publication, piece, issue and year.
- Keep weak credits out. A long list of unjuried shows dilutes the strong ones and invites questions.
- Use one date format throughout; mixing “Spring 2024” and “2024–25” makes a list look assembled at the last minute.
Artist skills keywords
- Traditional media: drawing, oil and acrylic painting, watercolor, gouache, printmaking, linocut, sculpture
- Digital: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Blender, Figma
- Practice: character design, editorial illustration, concept art, storyboarding, typography, color scripting
- Client work: art direction, concept development, iterative revision, licensing, print production
- Business: contracts, invoicing, pricing, copyright, self-promotion, time management
- Community: workshops, portfolio reviews, artist talks, mentoring, collaborative projects
ATS tips for art and design jobs
- Studios, agencies, in-house teams and museums often use the same portals as any other industry. Keep one column and text-based headings.
- A beautifully typeset portfolio page is not a resume. Export a PDF with selectable text so a parser can find your software and clients.
- Spell out abbreviations at first mention: “B.F.A.”, “print-on-demand (POD)”, “intellectual property (IP)”.
- Keep the portfolio link in the header as text, not as an image or an icon.
- List exhibitions as plain lines rather than a table, so the dates and venues extract in order.
- For teaching and museum roles, add a short employment-history version with dates and duties, because those applications are scored like any other job.
Common artist resume mistakes
- Leading with a wall of exhibitions when the posting is for client illustration work.
- A broken or outdated portfolio link, which is worse than no link at all.
- Listing every piece ever made instead of a tight, relevant selection.
- Forgetting the medium and dimensions on exhibition entries.
- Casting personal work and commissioned work as the same thing without labeling which is which.
- Using a decorative template that becomes unordered text in an applicant tracking system.
An art resume is read twice: by a human who has the portfolio open in the next tab, and by software that only sees characters. ShitResume builds every template as one linear column of selectable text, so the commission list, the Procreate and Photoshop lines and the solo show credits arrive intact in both readings. Building and exporting the file is completely free, with no account to set up.
ShitResume charges nothing for any template and nothing for any export, and it asks for no login. Everything happens inside the browser; your client list, your licensing terms and your exhibition history are never uploaded to a server. Send the PDF to a publisher, keep the working file on your own machine, and let the portfolio do the talking.
Skills and keywords for this role
Use the terms that genuinely describe your work — an interviewer will ask about anything you list.
- Studio practice: drawing, painting, printmaking, digital illustration, character design, composition, color theory
- Software: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Blender, Figma
- Client work: art direction, concept development, thumbnails and iterations, licensing, print production, brand guidelines
- Exhibitions: solo and group shows, juried exhibitions, artist talks, residencies, open studios
- Business: contracts, invoicing, copyright and licensing, pricing, project scoping, client communication
- Teaching and community: workshops, portfolio reviews, mentoring, lesson planning, gallery talks
Frequently asked questions
What should an artist resume look like?
One column, clear headings and a portfolio link at the top in plain text. Keep the design simple enough that a PDF parser can read it, and let the images live in the portfolio rather than the resume. A short practice statement, selected commissions, exhibitions, grants and skills are the core sections.
Do I need an artist resume if I have a portfolio?
Yes. The portfolio shows the work but not the client relationships, deadlines, rights or software behind it. Studios, publishers and arts organizations screen applications on both documents, and teaching or museum roles also need a conventional employment history. The resume is what turns an audience into a collaborator.
How do I list commissions on an artist resume?
Name the client or the client type, the deliverable and where the work appeared, with the year. For example: “Cover illustration for a quarterly science magazine, print and digital, 2024” or “12-spread picture book for an independent publisher, 2023”. If a contract limits disclosure, describe the client by sector and scale instead of naming them.
Which software should I list as an illustrator?
List what you use on paid work: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, InDesign for layout, and Blender or Figma only if they are genuinely part of your workflow. Pair each tool with output, such as “Procreate for character sketches and color roughs”. A short list you can defend beats a long one.
Should I include exhibitions if I am applying for commercial work?
Yes, but keep the list short and put client work first. Exhibitions show that the work stands on its own and that you can meet a gallery's deadlines, which matters to publishers and studios as well. One strong juried show or residency is worth more than a long list of informal group shows.
How do I handle gaps or slow periods in an art career?
Account for the time rather than hiding it: a self-directed project, a residency, a teaching term or a body of work all read as activity. If you took unrelated work to pay bills, list it briefly without apology and keep the focus on the practice. A dated exhibition or publication timeline often fills the gap on its own.