Building Your Online Portfolio

Building your online portfolio by Thomas Boldt

Self-promotion is probably one of the most important tasks for any type of artist, but it’s not always as easy as we’d like. It’s an old story: a fantastic artist has an impressive body of work, but somehow manages to remain completely undiscovered simply due to not being temperamentally suited to show off their own work. Some artists are great at it, but for others, it can be extremely difficult. Fortunately, thanks to the internet, there are a number of new ways that you can start getting noticed in the art world!

Probably the best way to begin building your reputation as an artist is with your online artist portfolio. It’s your opportunity to showcase your work in your very own website, where you have complete control over how everything is presented. Even if you’re not comfortable with the idea of doing any programming, there are plenty of sites that offer much easier ways to build an online artist portfolio without need to learn HTML.

There is one thing that can cause problems for online portfolios, though. They absolutely have to be kept up to date, or it can seem to your visitors that you’ve stopped working! Staying contemporary is extremely important, because the art world is always on the lookout for the next big thing.

Many artists are cautious about the idea of using the internet to promote their work, because it can be easy for visitors to steal images of your work from your website without your permission. There are several ways to counteract this, such as preventing people from right clicking on your images or watermarking them, but it’s also worth considering that as long as people are only sharing low-resolution versions of your images, it might actually be beneficial.

One of the best ways to build up a fan-base is to get people to see your work, and as long as they know that it’s your work, they’ll be able to find your online portfolio. Sharing low resolution images would stop them from being able to print or use your work in very many places, but could still help build your popularity. It’s a choice you’ll have to make, depending on how comfortable you are with the idea.

The most important benefit of having a good online portfolio is that it can help you gain the attention of an established gallery without having to worry about where they are physically located. Instead of being limited to the galleries in your own local area, you can begin catching the attention of galleries all across the planet! This should dramatically improve your chances of finding a gallery to represent your work, help promote you and help you make it big in the art world!