i need some advice

[sares]

hey everyone!

as part of art school we have to develop web sites to do a little self promotion, and display our work, so I wanted to know:

what is it you want in a website about an artist?

gallery, bio, ... ? do you want to be able to purchase work online? (esp. if you're from overseas -- like most of you, seeing as i'm australian!)

I'd really appreciate any advice as I'd really like to get this right, you know? blow the rest of the students out of the water!!!!

thanks xox

[♥Mary♥]

well, you definitely need to show off your work! so, yes, a "Gallery" would be good. (what kind of art, sares?)
Personally, I like the Galleries that show large images (so that the image of the artwork fills my whole screen)

I also look for the following things:
*Biography
*Reviews, if any (especially from peers)
*Inspiration (what/who inspires your work...although this can be included in bio)
*where to find the artist's work (whether that be for sale or just display....), and perhaps this should be listed under an "Updates" section, if it will change periodically.
*Shop (how to buy...overseas, etc, as you mentioned)

ok, that's my input. I'm a very visual person, so I like to "see" the artist and the artwork clearly.

Good luck to you!

[sares]

thanks honeybee! ps. what do you prefer to be called? sorry, I just want to make sure i don't make a gaff!


Well, my artwork is basically photographs, digital and very soon mixed media once I get back into the printmaking studio!

and i'll defintely take on board your advice. it's really helpful. I mean sometimes it's hard to know what works, and first impressions always count especially as an emerging artist!

[♥Mary♥]

I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHS!!! I seriously could just look over & admire photographs all day....all types; particularly b&w.

I hope others give you some input here, too! Btw, you can call me any version of my name (honeybee is fine!) or bee, or Mary...or whatever! I'm not picky.

Good luck to you! Let us know when the site is up, I'd love to check it out!!

♥ bee

[sares]

thanks bee! I'll call that cos it's cute lol!!!!

ok, well thanks a lot for your comments it really helps. and i too hope someone else has things to suggest.

at the mo' I'm designing the site, and then I'll need to find a host. I dont want it on the college's dodgy site, and certainly don't want it to be hosted somewhere like tripod...

I will certainly let you know when it's up xox

[♥Mary♥]

ok, sounds good!

[angielina74]

I would also check out other professional artists' sites to get an idea of what's already out there (like this site below)

www.mairekennedy.net/index.html

...and then add your own personal touch to it as well.

also keep in mind of page loading time for viewers with slower connections. if it takes more than 10 secs for a page to load, chances are people will get really impatient with your site and may not visit it as much. so try to avoid graphic heavy pages. you may have to choose between whether to use thumbnails or hyperlinked text to view the full sized works.

for sales, be sure to include shipping & handling charges and a guest-imated shipping time (ex. 6-8 weeks) for both local and overseas orders. do some research on the shipping & handling of art works as well; customs regulations, etc. Copyright laws is another thing you'll need to look up to protect the publishing rights of your work. alot of artists put the standard "don't take without permission" statement on the header/footer of each page; while some, even corporations, have program editors to block the "save picture as..." feature onto each image file they have on their site. (personally i would love to get my hands on this type of program editor, once I get the cash for it)

good luck with art site. hope this helps

[sam]

An artist whose site I always enjoy visiting is Amy Brown.

One of the things at her site that I think is a nice touch is, not only can you buy her work at the site, but there are also things like stickers, stationery and bookmarks available to buy, displaying her work. It's always nice to own something that's a little different than just a picture.

(And angielina, although it's not quite the same, this javascript blocks people from right-clicking on sites:

<script language="JavaScript1.2">
if (window.Event)
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEUP);

function nocontextmenu() {
event.cancelBubble = true, event.returnValue = false;

return false;
}

function norightclick(e) {
if (window.Event) {
if (e.which == 2 || e.which == 3) return false;
}
else if (event.button == 2 || event.button == 3) {
event.cancelBubble = true, event.returnValue = false;
return false;
}
}

if (document.layers)
document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);

document.oncontextmenu = nocontextmenu;
document.onmousedown = norightclick;
document.onmouseup = norightclick;
//--></script>

Just add it to your <head> tag.)

[sares]

wow! thanks that's some really great advice. i'll check those sites now. yeah the shipping and handling will be an intriguing thing to tackle. I think maybe i'll handle it on a case by case basis. otherwise i was thinking something like cafepress would be good for overseas especially if my work suits those kinds of products.

anyway let's see what i can do and thanks again for your advice angelina and sam.