Before you built your artist website, did you spend time researching what’s out there?
Professional web designers spend hours every day looking at other designs, and, let’s be honest, stealing the best things that they see. That’s why design (and Art) evolve.
In the years since I first published this post, the state of artist websites has advanced tremendously. It used to be difficult to find artist websites that were aesthetically appealing and also effective at marketing the artist’s work. Now there are a number of great artist websites. I’ve updated this list and will be adding more as time allows.
So, in no particular order…
9 Great Artist Websites
Amy T. Won, painting, mixed media, and creativity coaching
Amy T Won has built an art business on selling original paintings and helping others express their creativity. Her site is a wonder of mixed media, in situ photographs, and paintings. Built with WordPress.
Amber Jean, sculpture and ecommerce
I admire Amber on many levels, have followed her for years, and love hearing about her continued success. Her website is a great example of simple design focused on dramatic photography and easy-to-use ecommerce. Built with Squarespace.
Zsudayka Nzinga and James Terrell, gallerists and painters
https://www.terrellartsdc.com/
Zsudayka is a powerhouse based in Washington, DC. She and her partner James are building their individual art careers while also growing their community through the gallery that they run, where they provide fine artwork for gallery and museum exhibition, create and curate art exhibitions, special events, provides resources for artists, budding artists, art educators and homeschool families. Built with Wix.
Melissa Smith, commissions
For artists who want to make commissions their primary way of working, Melissa’s website is a great example of clear navigation and complete ordering instructions. If you’re just starting out, you might want to make your options more simple, but as demand grows you can add options. Custom built with WordPress.
Kelly Rae Roberts, mixed media and teaching
Kelly Rae Roberts calls herself a “possibilitarian.” This clinical medical social worker turned artist has done millions in art sales. She is an incredible success and an inspiration to self-taught artists everywhere. Her website is an inspirational place for artists who want to teach, sell products, offer retreats, and maintain a blog. Custom built with WordPress.
Lori Mcnee, paintings, teaching, and business tips
Lori is a wonderful resource for artists everywhere. Her site is well designed, clean, and is another example of being able to sell art directly from the site itself. She also has a great blog where she shares what she learns. Custom built in WordPress.
Donna Downey, paintings, teaching, and retreats
Donna Downey runs a very active Patreon program, leads workshops, recommends art supplies, and sells originals and prints. Built on Shopify.
Matt LeBlanc, painting and ecommerce
As someone with years of experience in advertising, Matt has an advantage in knowing what works in marketing. He does a great job showing his work in situ. He has a large ecommerce business and runs a major annual event. Built on Shopify.
Austin Kleon
Austin came across my radar several months ago in the major press coverage that he has received. In my other life, I spend a lot of time talking about the future of newspapers and media. Austin’s work is fun, with somewhat ominous overtones. Austin uses WordPress.
What do you think? Are there any other artist sites that you think belong on this list? What do you learn from looking at these?
If you’re looking to create your own website for your art, you’ll want to read this first: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Artist Website Builder. Then check out our guide on 5 Ways to Make Your Online Art Store Stand Out.
you seem to be a big fan of BigCartel for direct shopping. I am wondering what you think of Etsy and how it compares.
Susie, that’s a great question. One of the big reasons that I like Big Cartel is that they allow you to embed the shopping experience right on your own site. If Etsy does that, I’m not aware of that feature.
Give https://ezzl.art a try, it’s website for artists with e-commerce built directly in. Quite a bit different than BigCartel.
Looking forward to going through this blog.
It’s easy to forget when working on your artist website that it’s your primary tool for marketing and selling your art online. The purpose is to make it easy for potential customers to connect with you and buy your art. You need to think about what you want people to DO when they visit your website.
I noticed a lack of an obvious mailing list sign up on some of these websites. A regular newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with potential customers, and it’s a call-to-action that a website visitor can take as a first step to connect with you. It’s unlikely a person who’s never seen your work before will buy a piece of art on the first visit! Give website visitors a chance to give you their email address so you can stay in touch.
I was curious and took a quick peek at all of the websites. Matt LeBlanc’s website gave me the best first impression.
Lisa, great point in the newsletter opt-in. I looked at literally hundreds of websites in prepping for this post, and these were among the best that I could find overall. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for compiling this Cory, great selection!
I agree with Lisa that getting visitors to DO something should be a priority for artists, and offering a newsletter opt-in is a little thing that could make a big difference to the bottom line.
The sites all look fabulous – so the artists have done a lot of the hard work. Adding a newsletter opt-in (and writing a good newsletter!) will help them earn a payoff for that work.
Thank you everything! I’m on the verge of opening an art gallery site and was wondering to I need a wix site and WordPress? Best, Robert
I like Ann Rea ´s work and her user friendly website!
Josie Weir
http://josie-weir.artistwebsites.com/index.html
Yeah – I reckon I got a pretty decent one too! http://www.swarez.co.uk
Ed, I think your website is amazing! I practically read through the whole site! I’m looking to revamp mine, and use a decent URL. Was a good example. What did you use to build it?
Heey i really like your site! i spend more time on it reading your backstory than i did ever before! really loving how real you wrote it!
@SwarezArt Indeed, your site is beautiful. Discovered a new WP theme developer too – thanks for stopping by!
Nice list, but I need more some art news or something. Like this website:
Thanks for the great post!
Last week I was researching artist websites before I started my own, and I have to agree that they are by and large badly designed, I couldn’t find many inspirational sites out there… and these are artists we’re talking about – I expected to find creative and beautifully crafted sites.
After reading your post and checking out other artist websites I spent the weekend feverishly coding, scribbling and photographing, trying to create a website that had a custom look and was immediately obvious what I do, and here is the end result: http://www.fieldey.com/ thanks for providing inspiration!
I,m just starting out and the tips were helpful
These websites look a bit outdated to be honest with you.
I personally really like the redesign of Postertext.com. Clean, functional and it’s obvious that effort was made to put the attention on the art prints – rather than on the website itself.
I would appreciate any advice you may have on my website. Also, feel free to critique my work , paintingsbypatrice.com, the opening page has a red heart. I am nor,ally the first website with that exact name.
Cory — Thank you for posting this resource of “Great Artist Websites”. I’ve referred to it several times.
I recently came across a beautiful and rich website that highlights studio visits to West Coast artists – http://inthemake.com -.
Consequently, I was inspired to create on my artist website a “studio visit” page and an “en plein air” page with lots of photos and an interview.
http://BMcElhaney.com/art/artist/studio-visit
http://BMcElhaney.com/art/artist/en-plein-air
Nicely done Brennan! Looks really good!
Hello! Im Olivia Jones, an upcoming and aspiring artist! I really enjoyed reading this insightful article and will definitely be looking to see just whats out there as far as websites and designs for artists. I’d love it if you visited my blog to check out my work. I love pencil and sketch! Here’s a link : http://customartworkdesign3.blogspot.com
Another good artist site http://petergillilandart.com
We have launched a new artist site to showcase all levels of the creative world. Our mission is to inspire everyone from leading art directors to the next generation of tattoo artists. Apartial allows you to easily discover and collect work from some of Ireland’s most innovative artists and designers. Go check out our site for yourself http://www.apartial.com
Thanks for compiling this list. Typically I got drawn to Ann Rea’s website straight away because of the picture on the front page. That’s always what gets me – a picture.
I think my website may possibly be a complete disaster.
I’m not business-savvy at all.
What I really wish I could get was some feedback on my website.
I’m mortified to discover that the contact form I have on my website is probably making me look unfriendly…or at worst untrustworthy.
I thought I’d made it easy and straightforward. 🙁
Its always best to keep it simple, and don’t forget nowadays most people (over 45% and growing) view the internet via mobile devices only. And so make sure your site is mobile friendly. Specialist business orientated sites have this facility as standard. (because they know!)
I have a talent in drawing and I would like to get involved in clubs. How can I reminded? please help me
Thanks for sharing.
I’d be interested in your response to my own website, http://www.toddbaxterdawson.com. Perhaps it would make the next list of recommended sites?
I’d also suggest Walter Matia’s site, http://www.matia.com. In addition to being a fine artist, I also design websites, such as Mr. Matia’s.
Thank you for this resource as I work to startup my own website. :-))
I use Wix ( website address is http://www.ddduvall.com ) and have found they are very helpful. I’m hoping to incorporate an e-Commerce feature soon but have wondered how effective it might be?
Does anyone have a sense for how effective purchasing is in the digital market as opposed to actually meeting the artist in person, etc.?
I have found, so far, that people want to feel a connection to the artist or to the art (but I’m a novice at this so maybe I’m completely wrong).
Thank you again.
All of them are great. Thanks for sharing with us.
I do like her websites and am wondering if she hired someone or by herself?
If i can get some information how to get website like her.. thank you..
http://melissasmithart.com/product/pet-portrait-painting/
Hi Sun,
Melissa’s website is built with WordPress using the theme Replete (available on theme forest). The ecommerce part is a plug-in called woocommerce. Hope that helps.
Hey All! I was just looking at my analytics and I get a ton of hits directed to my site from your website. Thank you for the shout out and for helping other artists build their brands and get noticed! Keep up the good work.
Warmest Regards,
Kelli
I used Square Space to create my site. The e-com tab is hidden but can be active.
It was just published so I welcome your advice and feedback.
-Lois
Another one – a bit later than 2011… : http://www.katrinkadelke.de . Not really marketing on that page ( so no products are sold ) but – see for yourself
could anyone suggest a name for my website….??? I’m a beginner…I didn’t get one…so help me anyone to find out a name….but one thing….I don’t like to put my own name
I found an interesting site of a Kazakh artist Mariya Palchikova. palchikova.art
so trippy
Cant really review a picture, if you like the pictures. then you decide to put them up in your home. I included some real pictures to give ya”ll a better perspective on if they would work in your home. I like them:)
E. Supsekens
Hopefully one day my art website will be like Amber Jeans!
There are a few ways beyond having a compelling website to draw traffic to your work. Sure, Etsy and Cartel will do wonders, but it will help if you make yourself into a recognized quantity first. One way to do this is to self publish a book on Amazon that makes people want to search for you on the Web. Andrew Weindling did this with a book called Twister which is nothing more than tales of his artistic successes and failures. After reading it, I couldn’t help but click to find out who this guy was. Great book, but he doesn’t have a website. But if he did…wow!
The article is fine but I want to know about more artists better then those mentioned above. Thank You
Ann Rea website is not good. Can’t see her paintings and you must send away for her “guide” I guess before you can see anything else. Too bad. Don’t like to be “forced” to sign up for anything before I can see anything else.
I’m an artist through and through so I am clueless about online marketing. The contents of this site have been helpful for my wife and I. Luckily, she is techie and knows a bit of Digital Marketing. This site have been a such an inspiration for her which prompted her to create a simple wordpress website. She first heard of The Abundant Artist via The Podcast: The After Hours Entrepreneur.
My Website is done though WIX, which I find very easy to build and present my art work. Comment are welcome lol.. http://www.stevengeorgeclark.co.uk. However as an artist I can not keep up the annual payments that I have just now, so searching for a cheaper website for artist, that are easy to setup.