XML FeedsArtists Websites
By admin on Jul 31, 2010 | In Art | Send feedback »
What is the purpose of your website?
Do you have one?
Does an artist need one?
There are as many reasons to have a website as their are types of artists. Websites get your art noticed. It does not need to be a site that sales your art, teaches tutorials or anything more than represent you. Your site can be just you, actually it really should be all about you as much as your art is. Afterall, you are your art and your art is an extention of you. I have talked to many non-artists in the business realm and they all suggest artists create websites to "market" their "brand". Yea well that is all good and fine but it is pretty easy to tell when a website is created to sale an artist vs. when a site is created to represent the artist. Neither type of site is bad, you just need to know what you want to say before you put something out there. A business site for your art is a powerful tool, but I really think that if you want a business site as an artist it must be coupled with the artists personality and style.
In todays world most people dont have time to not only build a website but maintain one. That is where blogs come in, they are easy to set-up (especially if you have a provider who offers blogs geared towards the art community, like Jade Star Communications, shameless plug) and they are easy to maintain. Unlike websites where it is a hassle to pre-plan your content, a blog makes pre-planning content a breeze. Pre-planning content means you can sit down and do several posts and set their publication dates to be scattered through out the next few days, weeks or months. It allows you to have a presence without having to constantly deal with maintaining that presence. This does not limit you from posting things on the fly, just the opposite, it give the site a sense of motion when visitors come by and see you have added something different from the message you normally strive for with pre-posts.
What I mean by this is, with this blog for example, I set down once a month and write/post several articles that carry thru a given theme or thought and set them to be posted over the next little bit. This in no way means that if I see something interesting during my week I cannot also post it. This process helps you carry thru a well conceived plan for your blog while adding things here and there which gives it your mark as an artist.
Check out a cool site by Anton Emdin. I think this is a great example of a site being about his art but having tons of personality. His is a "true" website and not a blog. But his brand of art is very well suited to a website and he is also marketing himself well by posting contact information upfront on his opening graphic.
