Creating a website

ok. i have answered this very question for a bunch of friends over the years ( i went to an art school so had a lot of friends who were painter/sculptors/etc ) and i will tell you the same thing i have told them, errr I will ask you the same question i have asked them..

1. Do you have aspirations to become a web developer or do you want to be an artist?
2. Do you want people looking at your website or do you want them looking at your art?

If you want to be a artist then you should take the path of least resistance to get your art displayed and out their to the world. That way you can spend your time creating more art verses learning how to code.

If you want to be a web developer then I can recommend some great first steps/tutorials, programs, and resources for you but its a long twisted path you will go down before you can actually 'make' a website. But totally worth it if it is something that you are going to be doing over and over and over and over again.

It is the nature of the artist to care deeply about how everything that they touch looks.. so i get the whole desire to make your portfolio site 'your own' and not the same as everyone else's but people who are coming to look at your work care about what your works looks like.. and thats it.

ok. so i do not wanna just rant without giving your some directional feedback so here is my advice moving forward.
use an existing service as opposed to creating something from scratch
use an existing service as opposed to creating something from scratch
use an existing service as opposed to creating something from scratch

Wordpress, the blogging software, has wonderful templates for creating portfolios.. they dont even look like blogs after the template has been applied. just google 'Wordpress portfolio' and you should get lots of results
Tumblr, also has some great themes/templates for getting a portfiolio up and running

Use a pay site like Viewbook http://www.viewbook.com pay a small fee to have a great looking portfolio compatible with all platforms.
if not viewbook there are many others.

of if after all that you still wanna code your own site.. use http://www.indexhibit.org/ its a super flexbile framework for you to do whatever you want. here is what my buddy built with it. http://robksawyer.com/portfolio/

good luck

 

Wordpress

Check out wordpress before you pay anyone to do anything.

Google "websites powered by wordpress" and have a look for yourself at what you can do with it.

 

wordpress is the best for me. I am using wordpress for my church site. Easy to setup and a lot of good plugins available for it

 

Unless i read the original post wrong, i don't believe he ever mentioned paying someone to built it for him..

 

+1 for Wordpress, I think for development and longevity you'd be much better choosing a theme then working around it.

These themes aren't too bad if you're looking for one... And they're all free, you just need to learn a little CSS if you want to edit them...

 

if you are simply looking for a portfolio website, take a look at indexhibit. Its a bare-bones system designed for portfolio sites.

http://www.indexhibit.org/

 

In a similar vein as indexhibit, check out Stacey. http://www.staceyapp.com/. Looks like an excellent, customizable cms for online portfolios, and you make changes just by uploading images and text files into folders on your server.

Beautiful art and photography, by the way!

 

do straight html =)!

 

Yes, word press is okay, but you still have to know some hard coding if you want it to look nice. Or pay a pretty penny for a custom theme.

Truly, if you pick up nice on tutorials either google W3 schools or head over to http://CSS-tricks.com

Those are two great sites to learn HTML and CSS.


Basically, to create a nice artist website you're gonna want to keep it simple. Word press is bulky and it's got a lot to it.

Learn HTML and CSS and create a really simple portfolio site.

I'm an artist at an art school too, so I know where you're coming from.

 

Use wordpress, visit themeforest, spend $30 on a theme. Done

Don't mess around with HTML and CSS unless you have to, if your an artist then stick doing art. Concentrate on the art and not building a website.

Coming from a web developer...

$30 is nothing compared to the time you will have to spend to get something your happy with / not ****.

Max

 

Amen, brother.

There are many design neutral themes out there that won't draw attention to themselves and help you show off your work.

I would also have a look at elegant themes.

I even have an affiliate account with them. If you want to use one of their themes be sure to use my link...

http://www.elegantthemes.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=7744

 

Guys, this is a year old thread, I think the OP already found what he wanted.

 

Or spend some hours doing it yourself and learn something in the proccess.

 

Website

This is important that a Website plays a vital role to inform other about selected topics so every institute should make website.