While this may sound like just a hobby for nerds and may have been in the past, web design today is easier and less expensive than at any other time in the past and accessible to those without extensive knowledge of computer or web programming languages.
Curate your own gallery
Whether you are just starting out, or are already an established artist looking for clients, selling a painting or sculpture or building a niche for yourself can be made easier with a web portfolio. Sure, you could give someone your card and set aside time to show them first hard your work and pictures, but some potential clients have busy lives and want to see your work without having to set aside the time in their busy life to shake your hand first. Having a website that can be accessed through search engines or that the address to can be sent to others via email may be what it takes to get your foot in the door or to get someone to take notice in what you are doing. Having a web portfolio can be more important than any phone interview for fashion designers, graphic artists, mural artists and many other ”for hire” artists. A website can also list prices for original pieces or prints and allow requests from admirers and potential clients. It can also be a great way to share new pieces with friends and family.
Customize to your heart’s content
Photographers, painters, paper artists and other artists all use the elements and principles of design to create eye catching, thought provoking and beautiful art and web design involves the same. Look around the web for a high end, well laid out website and you’ll see that it uses line, shape, direction, size, value, balance, repetition, contrast and harmony the same way many artists use these elements and principles in their pieces. Most people, including artists, use the internet everyday themselves and can appreciate a wonderfully designed website. Why not take a shot at using your talent to stretch your brain a little and delve into a new form you get your hands dirty in everyday? It’s true that you can pay a web designer to build a website for you, but would it come out exactly as you would like it? You have the knowledge of art already to ensure that your own space on the World Wide Web matches your style and vision.
Build your own website with ease
You may be thinking that there are languages and codes that you’d have to spend years learning in order to get the results you’d want out of a website for your art portfolio. This is just one way to create a website, and one that sometime in the future you may want to explore, but when you are just starting out it is completely unnecessary. There are many website builder platforms out there that help you make a visually-appealing, clean and easy to use site with web pages. They may even exceed your expectations for a website by allowing the use of interactive slideshows, streaming videos to show the process of your art and the ability to customize every aspect of the website. As you get used to the basic elements of a website, using your creative edge will make the process fun and engaging and will result in a gorgeous project.
Share your art with the world
Why not think outside the box, canvas or photo studio? Technology has provided us with another opportunity to learn another method for expressing your creativity and showing off the creative expression you have already used to create your art. Taking a minute to learn something new can prove rewarding and satisfying. Also, why would you pay someone to do something that you have the skill and tools to do yourself? New websites now offer the artists the ability to achieve their desired look with little effort, time, or knowledge of web design. While these websites sound as though they may cost as much to get access to as it would cost to hire someone, they don’t. In fact they often have little to no cost associated with them. Who knows, maybe web design will open doors for you that you had never imagined!
