How to Create an About Me page that Makes Your Artist Website Shine

The About Me webpage of an artist web-site manages to compress in 1 diabolical site many of an artist’s minimum most loved duties: producing, boasting and world wide web style and design.

Building the great artist website can really feel like an impossible task. No matter whether you want to create an e-commerce keep or only create an on the internet gallery for your work, you know that a beautiful web-site is important to your specialist accomplishment. And amid the “must have” features for your web-site is a biography or “About Me” section.

Right after all, art lovers really don’t just invest in a canvas or a hunk of clay. They acquire a story — your tale. They want to recognize the that means of your perform, it is drive. When they visualize their upcoming heirloom, they picture telling their grandchildren the story of the charming artist who made it.

Your About Me website page really is that crucial.

Fortuitously, creating a powerful About Me web page for your website does not have to have an army of writers or world wide web designers. You can Do it yourself your way to a one particular-of-a-form About Me page that tells your story, showcase your creative vision and sells your function.

For two decades, Artweb has been supporting artists develop lovely, no worry websites on a funds. In that time, we have formulated 4 simple making blocks to develop the ideal About Me webpage: the portrait, the tagline, the bio and the resume.

Browse on to study the specialist tips on how to create the fantastic internet introduction to you and your perform.

Present off

Creating your about me website page is a possibility to provide on your own.  Commence with the fundamental principles.

Your about me site need to be succinct, and aimed at all ranges of an viewers.  The most effective web sites are inclusive, showing opportunity customers it’s alright to just like the perform, without owning to have an understanding of it.  If words really don’t occur easily, you can use your artist statement as a starting off level.

For inspiration, check out our guide to composing the ideal artist assertion.

The photograph

A photograph of the artist is a likelihood to showcase your identity.  This is not a passport, ID or driver’s license. So don’t just pull out a head and shoulders photograph you have hanging all-around and add it.  It really is really worth paying out some time and possibly some money on a shot that is eye-catching, assumed-provoking and captures you as an artist.  That does not mean glam. You really do not want hair and make-up.  Just like weddings, the greatest pics are frequently the candid kinds.  

Luckily, the graphic you make has lots of life further than the About Me website page of your website. Repurpose it for social media posts, exhibition catalogues or publicity campaigns. Discover out more about how to encourage on your own on How to Publicize Your Art – 7 distinctive tricks.

Below are a handful of concepts from artists who utilised their website shots to genuinely stand out.

A Self Portrait is truly worth a thousand phrases

If you are a portrait artist, look at making use of a painted portrait of your self. Opt for an graphic that conveys your likeness, but also provides psychological complexity and a window into your creative design. Based on your aesthetic sensibility, steer clear of producing a portrait that exaggerates flaws or repels viewers. You are, soon after all, attempting to sell artwork on your internet site.

The Artist at Function

If you are blessed more than enough to have a studio or share a co-op place, get pics of you at perform.  First, curate the area.  Think about what you want prospective customers to see.  If you have ever held an open studio, how did you present your place?  

Stacks of cardboard containers and rolls of bubble wrap may be needed, but they will not notify your viewer just about anything, apart from regardless of whether you are tidy. 

Alternatively, display screen operate in its numerous levels of development. Make confident there is loads to see at distinctive eye amounts. Done operate on shelves or partitions, operate in development on tables and – most importantly – you. 

Facing the camera or posing at do the job, either will do the job nicely.  Make certain there is good lighting and use a higher-excellent digital camera that will capture all the detail in sharp emphasis.  Find out additional about taking terrific photographs for your website listed here.

If you do not have a suitable studio area, have somebody photograph you up coming to your artwork.  

The graphic of the artist at do the job makes instantaneous reliability. Moreover, it exhibits you are passionate about your function. As an included reward, if the do the job pictured is also for sale, you can hyperlink straight to your shop.

Contemplate making use of several shots.  Modern internet site builders like Artweb give carousel settings which make it possible for the viewer to flick by several images, or gallery pictures that generate a photo montage. 

Writing your About Me web page

It is normal to encounter writer’s block when making an attempt to publish copy for your site. Here’s a couple thoughts to get your begun.

• What resources and procedures do you use and why?
• Who and what are your influences? How have these afflicted your get the job done?
• How have you and your get the job done created in excess of time?

Quotations and straplines

Starting with a quotation can get your visitor’s notice. Even a lot more so if you use a pull quote structure that sets it aside from the relaxation of the textual content.  The estimate should really be yours and it need to be definitive.  Don’t be obscure or uncertain. Steer clear of: I consider, I think, my purpose is to,  You must be categorial, my work is, I am, it is. Otherwise, a consumer may possibly wait until eventually you’ve obtained it right in advance of producing a acquire.  You are conveying (not trying to express) the elementary elements of what your do the job is about.

Some of the great artists ended up exceedingly good at summing up their get the job done in a soundbite. The good August Rodin did it in 5 words: “I invent practically nothing, I rediscover.” Now set individuals phrases versus his do the job. Do they give a sense of what he results in?

This time in beneath 10 text: “Coloration is my working day-long obsession, pleasure and torment,” states the terrific landscape colorist Claude Monet. We study that quote and see the perform, and we are not astonished at his torment. They are a excellent match.

Promote you – create a great biography

Your biography really should abide by a transient introduction to your get the job done. Just after all, this net web site is referred to as “about me.” It’s your biography and you can opt for to include things like whatever you want.  Really do not pass up a prospect to boast!

Numerous artists struggle with self-marketing. Understandably, you may possibly experience not comfortable listing achievements and successes.  However, we all know how critical it is to promote you, specifically when attempting to sell your work.  Aim on the pieces of your existence that you are most very pleased of. For illustration, if you feel you have had a wonderful schooling, elaborate on how it contributed to your art.  If you studied below renowned artists, explain what they taught you.  In which you grew up, your influences, and where by you’ve lived can all contribute to a powerful biography.

Your biography is a prospect to chat about YOU and not just your expert achievements. As a manual you can incorporate:

• Education and learning
• Noteworthy exhibitions
• Awards or shortlists  
• Artist’s collectives you could be portion of
• Future exhibits and commissions
• Evaluations (constructive ones, of program)
• Inclusion in collections – private and general public
• Relevant personal history

If you are still having difficulties, use our artist’s problem and response template.

The artist’s resume

Your resume can act as an extension of your biography. It’s an opportunity to listing all of your achievements in detail.  It’s element of your About Me web site but will be much more comprehensive. In all probability, your resume will be most appealing to folks on the lookout to make a fee or a gallery thinking about you for a present.  Feel about what they would want to know and what you need to have to share to persuade them!

If you really feel a resume on major of your assertion and biography would muddle your About Me web page, you can create a independent web site. Alternatively, you can include things like a url to a downloadable PDF. Both way, Artweb features templates especially for artists, as perfectly as a drag-and-drop editor. Jointly, they permit you create the two forms of webpages in minutes without possessing to overthink formatting.

The 4 creating blocks of a excellent artist’s resume

It doesn’t have to acquire days to produce a resume that tells the story of your track record, motivations and achievements. Just involve these 4 primary parts:

#1: Your Simple Info

At the top rated of your resume, involve who you are and wherever people today can come across you:

• Your identify
• Medium (e.g. painter, sculptor, mixed media artist)
• Location of residene (point out, metropolis or city)
• Yr and spot of birth (some artists involve these, but it’s optional)
• Your get hold of information (if you opt for a downloadable resume)

#2: Instruction

Consist of your training in date purchase, most new 1st. If you have pursued even more or larger education, really don’t involve superior faculty except if it is suitable to your operate.

#3: Exhibitions and commissions

Inside your About Me part, the meat of your resume will feature your exhibitions, commissions and awards.  These bona fides signal your good results inside of the artworld. If you are just starting out, the listing may possibly be quick, but which is okay. Even if you’ve only demonstrated your work at an open up exhibition, graduate exhibit or neighborhood artwork centre, you should shout about it!

List exhibitions by calendar year.  Each and every listing ought to give the title of the display, its location (gallery identify and city/state) and irrespective of whether it was a solo or team show.

More, really do not overlook to include things like other vital milestones:

• Particulars of residencies
• Awards won and any you have been nominated or shortlisted for
• Chosen commissioned work
• Collections that hold your get the job done – equally general public and personal
• Listing of any do the job that has been posted in books, or content articles composed about you, together with the similar pictures

#4: What the critics explained

Ultimately, your resume or About Me portion can incorporate comment from critics and posted opinions (the beneficial types, of system). Consider the impact of a five star review on movie posters and Tripadvisor. Particular recommendations can support drive folks into wondering your function is deserving of order or exhibition.  If your operate has but to be reviewed, look at utilizing a thing from your college or college transcript.  If you are applying a quotation, be certain it is fully credited, get permission if you can, and guarantee it has full context. 

Building a Standout About Me Web site Does not Have to be Challenging

If you abide by these basic steps, you can Do-it-yourself your way to a professional About Me web site that captures your inventive eyesight and assists you provide your art.

And, if you’re asking yourself how to develop your extremely very own artist’s internet site without having the stress or expense, look at creating a free web page with Artweb.