One of the most common necessities many artists should have for both beginners and professionals is an artist website. An artist website is a way of exhibiting your work to everyone and anyone. It’s also a way to talk about your philosophies about art, your work process and also a way of displaying your resume. But where do you begin? Here is a simple basic set up of what you should have on your website.
Step 1 “Learning HTML”
If you want to learn HTML we recommend finding a good website. Some offer free tutorials on learning everything about HTML and step by step lessons that you can do right on your computer. Be very patient when learning HTML it may sound frustrating at first but the rewards will be worth it. If you feel that you want to just do it the simple way then continue with the next step.
Step 2 “Gather your Information”
Here are three important things to gather up as content for your website. Put together your resume, artist statement, and most importantly photos of your artwork. Other things like links and contact information will be covered later on.
Step 3 ” Basic Pages of your Website”
All artist websites look different but they all manage to show the basic artist information. Your website should have the following pages:
Home Page – Your main landing page. See it as your intro to your site.
Resume – This page should provide all your details of your experience.
Artist Statement – This page explains your work process, ideas, philosophies, etc.
Gallery – This is where your work is displayed
Contact – You can provide an email, address, or phone number
Links Page – Here is where you can post links to friends sites or events
Step 5 “What should be on Your Pages”?
Homepage
Your Homepage is your front door to your website. Make it simple and stick to a theme. Try not to make your page is not confusing and try not to over whelm it. You want them to see the links and click on them. Your homepage is like an introduction. You can start by maybe greeting the visitor or providing an introduction about the site.
Resume
Here you can provide the viewer with your artistic experience. List your resume as you would when you submit to a gallery.
Statement
Like your resume you want place it on your website just as you do when you submit to a gallery.
Your Gallery
This is what visitors are here to see! Make sure that you take good photos of your artwork. Use Photoshop to crop the images and adjusting the size. Keep your pictures at a resolution of 100. And make sure they a visible and simple to view. Make sure you provide information on the title, dimensions, medium, and year. You can even provide a brief description about the work. Some sites have a slide show of their work. But that can be done when you become familiar with other web programs. Just remember, keep it simple and build it slowly.
Links
Here you can provide links to other artist websites, blogs, forums, galleries, networking sites and more. Linking with other sites helps build traffic!
Contact
You would want people to contact you if they are interested in your art or if they would like to buy your work. This page should provide information on how to reach you. A simple email address is best but if you would like galleries or interested people to send you letters or brochures do not provide your actual address! You can provide your studio address where you work or you can get a PO Box that you can get at your local post office.
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