What does a Special Effects Artists and Animator do?

Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials. Day to day that includes work like design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment and Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.

What skills should a Special Effects Artists and Animator put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Active Learning among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Special Effects Artists and Animator list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Ability Photopaint, ACD Systems Canvas, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, and Adobe After Effects. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Special Effects Artists and Animator work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including 3D Artist, Three-Dimensional Artist, Animator, and Artist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Special Effects Artists and Animator need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 53% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Special Effects Artists and Animator role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Special Effects Artists and Animator resume example

A resume for a Special Effects Artists and Animator needs to show the work itself: create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials. Day to day that means work like this: design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment; create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

3D Artist
Three-Dimensional Artist
Animator
Artist
Graphic Artist
3D Animator
Three-Dimensional Animator
Digital Artist
Motion Graphics Artist
Multimedia Producer
3D Designer
3D Modeler
3D Specialist
Civil 3D Designer
FX Artist
Three-dimensional Designer
Three-Dimensional Modeler
Three-Dimensional Specialist

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment.
Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.
Participate in design and production of multimedia campaigns, handling budgeting and scheduling, and assisting with such responsibilities as production coordination, background design, and progress tracking.
Create two-dimensional and three-dimensional images depicting objects in motion or illustrating a process, using computer animation or modeling programs.
Make objects or characters appear lifelike by manipulating light, color, texture, shadow, and transparency, or manipulating static images to give the illusion of motion.
Apply story development, directing, cinematography, and editing to animation to create storyboards that show the flow of the animation and map out key scenes and characters.
Implement and maintain configuration control systems.
Script, plan, and create animated narrative sequences under tight deadlines, using computer software and hand drawing techniques.
Develop briefings, brochures, multimedia presentations, web pages, promotional products, technical illustrations, and computer artwork for use in products, technical manuals, literature, newsletters, and slide shows.
Assemble, typeset, scan, and produce digital camera-ready art or film negatives and printer's proofs.
Convert real objects to animated objects through modeling, using techniques such as optical scanning.
Create pen-and-paper images to be scanned, edited, colored, textured, or animated by computer.

13 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Participate in design and production of multimedia campaigns, handling budgeting and scheduling, and assisting with such responsibilities as production coordination, background design, and progress tracking, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Create two-dimensional and three-dimensional images depicting objects in motion or illustrating a process, using computer animation or modeling programs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Ability Photopaint
ACD Systems Canvas
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe After Effects
Adobe AIR
Adobe Creative Cloud software
Adobe Director
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe Flex
Adobe FreeHand MX
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe ImageReady
Adobe InDesign

129 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Digital paper
Digital pens
Panoramic digital cameras
Personal computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

Adobe After Effects
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Illustrator

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Speaking
05Active Learning
06Judgment and Decision Making
07Writing
08Complex Problem Solving
09Monitoring
10Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Computers and Electronics
English Language
Design
Communications and Media
Customer and Personal Service
Sales and Marketing
Telecommunications
Engineering and Technology

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

53%Bachelor's Degree
40%Some College Courses
5%High School Diploma, or the equivalent

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Special Effects Artists and Animator do?: Create special effects or animations using film, video, computers, or other electronic tools and media for use in products, such as computer games, movies, music videos, and commercials. Day to day that includes work like design complex graphics and animation, using independent judgment, creativity, and computer equipment and Create basic designs, drawings, and illustrations for product labels, cartons, direct mail, or television.
What skills should a Special Effects Artists and Animator put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, and Active Learning among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Special Effects Artists and Animator list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Ability Photopaint, ACD Systems Canvas, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, and Adobe After Effects. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Special Effects Artists and Animator work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including 3D Artist, Three-Dimensional Artist, Animator, and Artist. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Special Effects Artists and Animator need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 53% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Special Effects Artists and Animator role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.