.
Having an online portfolio might be something you’ve thought of recently but the idea of actually making one seemed out of reach. It’s actually very easy, with many sites that either help you build your own portfolio (for free!) or can be tweaked to work as a portfolio space without much computer knowledge (just a little creative perspective, which you already have).
.
CarbonMade
.
.
This website is built specifically to host artist portfolios. It’s free and easy to set up! They can host your pictures as well, so you don’t need to worry about having your own website. It’s broken down into step-by-step instructions… it’s about as hard as signing up for an email account.
One of the more popular styles of portfolios on this website is a black background with large images, like Clay Garden Studio’s portfolio:
.
claygarden.carbonmade.com
.
.
BehanceNetwork
.
behance.net
.
Behance Network is an online portfolio community that is also free to join, however you have to apply for a portfolio on this site. Their portfolios are clean, simple, and seem to be very high quality. The community aspect of this site encourages portfolio holders to look at others’ work and comment, to create an online community of artists. You are also encouraged to list categories your work falls under so that when people search their site they will find you.
I found this artist just by typing “ceramics” into the search field:
.
behance.net/beccyridsdel
.
I haven’t personally tried this site but it looks like it will be easy to set up. Having to submit your work to be reviewed before putting it on the site means you really need to have good quality photos of your work (bad photos will make your work look bad, no matter how amazing the actual piece is).
.
.
WordPress
.
wordpress.com
.
This is the website that hosts this blog. It is actually a blogging site, but many artists have been able to use this site as an easily-updated portfolio. You can upload pictures of your artwork directly into a wordpress blog post. If each post is dedicated to one work, it creates an easily-to-navigate, organized portfolio.
WordPress comes with a lot of templates, so you have a lot of freedom to customize the look of your portfolio. This artist used the theme “monotone” to give her portfolio a simple, clean look.
.
papachilalala.wordpress.com
.
On a traditional portfolio site, you might have the option of uploading pictures of artwork into different categories (cups, sculptures, or whatever categories you want). On a blogging site like wordpress, you can “tag” your pictures with these categories.
.
.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a powerful blogging site with a lot of different free templates.
.
tumblr.com
.
My only concern with tumblr is that, though it has a lot of templates, the templates aren’t very flexible. This might not be an issue for you, if you find the template that is exactly what you want. If you’re like me, though, you will want to be able to customize. But, like I said, there are so many templates and many of them are very creative and beautiful, so it might not be an issue for you!
.
tumblr.com
.
Tumblr also has the option to pay for templates, which may be more customizable, but I haven’t checked. Some of their paid themes are made specifically for portfolios, which suggests to me that there are other, free templates that are also made for portfolios (it just requires a little more research and poking around).
.
.
Blogger
Blogger is the blogging site that links up with your google account. If you have a gmail account, you have a blogger account, so you can test this out right away!
.
blogger.com
.
Making a portfolio on blogger is more complicated than some of the other sites, as I don’t see a lot of free templates set up specifically for portfolios. However, some of the more simple templates can make very nice showcases for your work (I use blogger for my personal art blog). Here is an example of one artist using blogger for her work:
.
julieevans.blogspot.com
.
If you are computer savvy you might be able to play around with blogger to make a very nice portfolio. Blogger is extremely customizable, even in the free version, so if you want to dabble in html and javascript, you can make pretty much whatever you want. Blogger also has an easy way to have your own domain (so instead of julieevans.blogspot.com she could be julieevans.com), which would make your portfolio sound even more professional. However, like I said, this is more complicated, but very doable.
.
.
Making your portfolio on a blogging website
Making a portfolio on a blogging site requires a little more computer know-how and some time set aside to experiment. The benefits to using a blogging software are that it is easy to update and can include text-based posts (like updated information about shows, craft fairs, etc). The challenges with using a blogging site are that they are often not set up specifically to host portfolios, so in order to make a good portfolio you will need to invest some time and energy.
.
.
You can do it!
Making an online portfolio is not as insurmountable as it might sound! And once you have it, you will be able to show anyone in the world your work. You will be searchable on search engines like google, bing, and yahoo, which means anyone can land on your page and discover you, even by accident. And, best of all, it provides you with a place to send potential buyers of your work.
.
Look for upcoming posts on taking pictures of your work, setting up an online shop, and more!
.
.
More articles about building an online portfolio (including interesting tips):
