As an illustrator, your resume needs to be as visually compelling as your portfolio, highlighting your creative skills and professional experience.
Crafting an engaging Illustrator resume can be a real art form, but with the right approach, your application can shine as brightly as your artwork.
Check out our friendly guide and Illustrator resume example below for inspiration and practical tips to enhance your job-hunting canvas.
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Illustrator Resume Example
The above Illustrator resume is a great example of how your resume should be formatted, along with the type of content it should include.
It looks professional and creates a seamless reading experience for busy recruiters and hiring managers.
Now we will take an in-depth look at how you can write your own interview-winning Illustrator resume.
Illustrator resume structure & format
Resume structure
A strategically structured resume is crucial for showcasing your strengths and securing interviews.
Ensure your resume includes these sections:
- Contact details: Your name and contact information.
- Resume summary: A concise overview of your qualifications and skills.
- Core skills: A list of key skills relevant to Illustrator jobs.
- Work experience: Detailed in reverse chronological order, showcasing your career progression.
- Education: Your academic achievements and credentials.
- Additional info (optional): Extra details that might influence the hiring decision, like volunteer work or special interests.
How to format your Illustrator resume
To make a strong impression, your resume format must be both professionally stylish and easy for recruiters to read quickly.
Here are our vital formatting tips to make your resume both appealing and reader-friendly.
- Resume length: Keep your resume short and sweet, ideally around 1 to 2 pages, as recruiters have loads to get through daily and not much time to read each one.
- Font & colour scheme: Choose a clear and easy-to-read font, steering clear of overly decorative ones that could hinder readability. Stick with a classic black-text-on-white-background for the body of the resume, but don’t shy away from adding a hint of colour elsewhere to make your resume stand out.
- Page layout: Divide the page into clearly visible sections using bold headings or borders, so that readers can quickly pinpoint the information they want.
- Break text up: Break up text with concise bullet points and brief paragraphs, ensuring busy recruiters can easily absorb the info.
- Photos: In Australia, photos aren’t compulsory, but you can include a small headshot at the top if you want.
Quick tip: Achieving a professional look for your resume can be difficult and time-consuming. If you want to create an attractive resume quickly, try our Resume Builder and use one of our eye-catching professional resume templates.
Contact Details
Seeing who you are and how you can be contacted is essential for potential employers, so it’s critical that your contact details section is both clear and accurate.
Include these four crucial elements at the top of your resume, but ensure they don’t take up excessive space:
- Your name and professional title: Choose a title that aligns with your career objectives, such as IT Support Specialist or Video Editor.
- Email address: Use a professional email address (e.g. aaron.davis.work@gmail.com). Avoid using old or informal emails like big.boy.aaron@gmail.com.
- Phone number: Provide your mobile number for easy accessibility. Make sure to double-check that the number is correct.
- Location: Specify the broader area where you are seeking employment, such as Cairns, Perth etc.
Optionally, you may consider adding the following details:
- Webpage links: Include links to professional sites like LinkedIn or your personal portfolio, ensuring they are current and professionally relevant.
- Photograph: While not typically required, a professional photograph may be advantageous in creative fields. If you decide to use one, ensure it is compact on the page, and professional in appearance.
Refrain from adding personal data such as your date of birth, full address, or gender. These are not necessary for recruitment decisions and simply clutter your resume.
Illustrator Resume Summary
Your resume summary is a vital, brief paragraph at the beginning of your resume that serves as a quick introduction to your capabilities and alignment with the job. This section is essential for making a strong first impression.
Engage recruiters right off the bat and prompt them to continue reading your resume by implementing these effective strategies:
- Keep it short: Keep your resume summary succinct with 3 to 5 sentences. This allows hiring managers to grasp your key points rapidly, reserving more in-depth information for the work experience section.
- Tailor to target jobs: For maximum impact, try to reflect as many matching skills from your target job adverts as you can. This will make recruiters more likely to pay attention.
- Avoid using cliches: Resist the temptation to describe yourself as a “self-starter” or a “results-driven professional” – these clichés offer little insight into your actual capabilities.
Illustrator resume summary example
What to include in your Illustrator resume summary
- Summary of your experience: Give an overview of the types of jobs that you’ve done, companies you’ve worked for, and how much experience you have.
- Relevant skills: Showcase your key skills, emphasising those tailored for Illustrator roles.
- Qualifications: Remember to mention any qualifications applicable to Illustrator jobs, showcasing your suitability for the role.
- Benefits of hiring you: Highlight the benefits you can bring to the employer, whether it’s in terms of cost reduction, efficiency improvements, or revenue generation for the company.
Quick tip: Choose from hundreds of pre-written summaries across all industries, and add one to your resume with one-click in our Resume Builder. All written by recruitment experts and easily tailored to suit your unique skillset and style.
Core skills section
Enhance the impact of your resume by adding a section for core skills.
List your key skills that are highly valued in Illustrator jobs in bullet points and keep each item concise – no more than four words – to quickly draw the attention of busy hiring managers.
Skills for your Illustrator resume
Vector Graphic Creation – Crafting detailed and scalable vector images using software like Adobe Illustrator for various applications such as print, web, and multimedia.
Digital Illustration – Producing digital artwork and illustrations with a strong sense of composition, colour theory, and design principles.
Technical Drawing Ability – Executing precise technical drawings and plans for use in manufacturing, architecture, or engineering contexts.
Typography Design – Designing font styles and utilising typographic principles to enhance visual communication and message clarity in illustrations.
Storyboarding – Developing storyboards for advertising, film, or animation to outline visual storytelling and sequence of events.
3D Modelling – Creating three-dimensional representations of characters, objects, and environments for use in animation and gaming.
Animation Fundamentals – Understanding the principles of animation to create smooth and lifelike movement in animated illustrations.
Print Production Knowledge – Preparing artwork for print, including understanding of colour separation, printing processes, and finishing techniques.
Digital Painting Techniques – Utilising digital tools and software to simulate traditional painting styles for creating rich, textured artwork.
User Interface Design – Designing graphical elements for software and mobile applications, ensuring functionality and aesthetic appeal align with user experience principles.
Quick tip: Our Resume Builder contains thousands of in-demand skills for every profession that can be added to your resume in seconds – saving you time and greatly improving your chances of landing job interviews and getting hired.
Work experience section
Your work experience section gives you the opportunity to showcase the contributions you can make to potential employers.
List your past jobs starting with the most recent and focus on detailing your last 3-5 years of work.
Structuring your jobs
To clearly convey what you accomplished in each role, format your experiences as follows.
Outline
Introduce each job with a concise 1 to 2 line outline that covers the employer’s business, your role within the structure, and the key goals of your position.
Key responsibilities
Add 5-8 bullet points to show what your main responsibilities are, emphasising key skills, knowledge and tools used.
Keep each point concise and demonstrate how your work feeds into the wider running of the company.
Key achievements
Conclude each job description by detailing 1-3 major achievements that significantly benefited the employer, such as cost reductions or early project completions.
Aim to quantify these achievements with specific data to demonstrate their impact.
Example job for Illustrator resume
Outline
Produce interactive entrainment design elements for a prominent organisation that is known for developing Uncharted, The Last of Us, God of War, Spiderman, Ratchet & Clank, Ghost of Tsushima, Gran Turismo, and Bloodborne among many others.
Key Responsibilities
- Understand the limitations of consoles, PCs, mobile devices, and VR headsets.
- Collaborate cross-functionally to generate assets such as environments, objects, and UIs that conform to narrative goals.
- Develop characters’ appearance, costumes, and accessories, as well as ensure these align with different worlds.
- Construct storyboards which envision important moments, cutscenes, and animations.
Quick tip: Create impressive job descriptions easily in our Resume Builder by adding pre-written job phrases for every industry and career stage.
Education section
Include your education near the bottom of your resume.
List your academic qualifications in bullet points, focusing on those most applicable to Illustrator positions.
If you possess considerable experience, you can keep this brief, however if you have less experience you should provide detailed insights into how your education has prepared you for the position.
This section can include:
- University degrees
- Industry specific qualifications for Illustrator jobs
- Vocational education and training (VET) diplomas
- Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE)
Additional information (optional)
At the very bottom of your resume you can add an additional info section, for anything else that might help you to look more appealing to employers.
This is often used for hobbies and interests, but can also include awards, publications or a list of technical skills.
If you are considering adding anything here, remember to only include things that are related to your work, or things which are very impressive.
Don’t add common pastime hobbies such as watching TV or socialising with friends, as they won’t make any impact.
Constructing a compelling Illustrator resume requires effort, but by following the steps provided, you can assemble a resume that prompts replies from recruiters and generates multiple interviews.
Be sure to revise your resume carefully upon completion and tailor it for each application to confirm your alignment with the job requirements.
Good luck with your job search!