We’ve been reading some excellent blog postings, “Why Artists Need To Be Online,” by UK artist and curator Kirsty Hall. She’s written a series of articles on the importance of putting your work online. These articles are a must-read for any artist.
In a previous post on this blog, we wrote:
Note to artists: put your work online, even if it’s a simple webpage, a Flickr account, or a MySpace page. The web is an incredible place to show your work to the world for free. And you never know who may stumble onto your work. We know quite a few artists, designers and other creative people who have had amazing doors open for them just because someone did a simple Google search or followed a link on a blog.
When we see the work of an artist we like, we usually do a Google search to find more information about them, to see more of their work online, and to link to them from this blog. We’re keen to see more of their work, and interested in info about exhibitions, workshops, work for sale. We’re sure other people are also interested; and those other people can include curators, art directors and buyers.
By all means, register a domain name; your name or your studio name, keep it simple. JaneDoeArt.com looks far more professional than mypage.comcast.com/~pirateyartchick, especially if you’re shopping your work around to galleries.
A custom portfolio-style website can be expensive, especially if you’re just starting out and money is tight. But it is money well-spent, a good return-on-investment because you’re exposing and promoting your work to a huge audience.
If you can’t afford a custom-designed website, there are many other options: design & build your own site, or take advantage of free accounts on sites like Flickr, Saatchi Online, Blogger, Wordpress, MySpace, ArtistSites, etc. If you take the free-account route, you can still use your own domain name. Most domain name registrars let you point, or “redirect” your domain name to any online location.
Take advantage of the web and get your work out there!
2 Comments
Thanks for the link, I’m glad you found the articles useful.
Thanks Kirsty. The articles are really good and have such good info. There’s just so much potential on the web for artists to display and market their work.
We love your artwork too – really cool work.