A website can do a straightforward job for an artist: show the work, introduce the person behind it and help an interested visitor take the next step. Yet getting there can involve a surprising number of decisions. Which layout? Which settings? How do you add the next painting? Who looks after the technical updates?
We’re building artists.digital around a simple idea: the website should support your work without becoming another project to manage. That has shaped both the features we’ve chosen and the complexity we’ve tried to remove.
Updates that fit around your work
Finishing a piece of work is a natural moment to photograph it and record its details. It makes sense to do that while the work is in front of you, using the phone you already have to hand.
That’s why the mobile app is central to artists.digital. It is designed to let you add and edit artwork, upload photographs and keep information up to date without setting aside a session at a computer. The aim is to make small, regular updates easier, so the website can stay close to what is happening in your studio.
Design choices with a useful starting point
Your website should feel like yours. But expressing your personality shouldn’t require building every page from an empty screen.
Our website designs start with the artwork: how it is presented, how visitors move through a collection and how the surrounding type and colour support it. You can choose a direction that suits your practice, then personalise it.
We want to offer flexibility where it makes a visible difference, while giving you a clear starting point for the everyday decisions. The work should hold someone’s attention; the website should make it easy to look. It’s also important to have the flexibility to move from a portfolio to an online shop, and to change from one design to another. We’ve built that flexibility in from day one.
A home for the whole picture
A single image can start a conversation, a website gives that conversation somewhere to go.
Your portfolio, artist statement, biography and exhibition information can sit together at your own domain name. Someone who discovers one painting can explore related work, learn about your practice and find a clear way to contact you. That is important whether the visitor is a potential buyer, a curator, another artist or someone who simply wants to spend more time with the work.
Selling when it suits your practice
Some artists want visitors to buy directly. Others prefer an enquiry, or need a portfolio that supports their relationships with galleries. An online shop should be a choice. Our plans reflect that, with portfolio and shop options. Where you choose to sell online, artists.digital does not take a sales commission. Payment providers may charge processing fees, which are separate from your artists.digital plan.
The website can make a purchase or enquiry easier, but it cannot promise an audience or a sale. Building those relationships remains part of your practice.
Support for the work behind the website
Hosting and technical maintenance are part of the service we’re building. You should be able to spend your website time choosing images and sharing useful information, with support for the technical work behind it. There will still be choices only you can make: which pieces to show, how to describe them and what you want visitors to do next. Our job is to make those choices easier to put into practice.
See the direction we’re taking
artists.digital is currently at the waitlist stage. You can explore the website designs, see the app demonstration or review the plans and join the waitlist. Joining does not require payment or a commitment to subscribe.