The Artist's Web
by Li Gardiner
I recently offered to put a friend’s artwork online. Instead of jumping at the chance, she asked me some tough questions about the benefits and disadvantages of the Internet, with maybe a touch of eye-rolling skepticism at all the hoopla about the ‘information superhighway,’ which admittedly feels more like a pot-holed country lane.
How would an artist use the Internet?
Artists make things, things to be looked at, handled, put on a table, hung on a wall and, hopefully, sold to a happy patron. But art is as much about communication as making a product. And most of what happens on the Internet is about communication.
The Internet is a two-way street whose activity can be grouped into three rough categories - exchanging information, exchanging goods and services, and entertainment. As an artist, you could distribute information about your work, including images, prices, availablity, your resume and statement, and perhaps share your ideas and techniques. You can develop your own website or join an online gallery. Dialogue Gallery in Seattle has had 100,000 visitors since 1994, and garnered a number of web reviews and awards. It is difficult and expensive for an individual artist to get that kind of exposure with traditional promotion.
The kind of information you’ll seek on the Internet will include gallery and contact information, competition listings, grants, classes, studio space, other artists’ work, ideas and techniques. Art Library lists three million artists and images. You can tour a museum from your studio, or go to an artists’ forum for answers about pigments, media and tools. In the same week I’ve looked up lost-wax casting techniques, the work of Frida Kahlo, matched a typeface for a wedding invitation, and found jokes about art. (That comes under the entertainment heading.)
The goods and services you might offer on the Internet include sales of your work, consultation, art criticism, and transmission of digital artwork or illustration via your modem. Through the Internet you might obtain supplies, gallery services, art registry and copyright, software, art publications, and even file your tax return; more will occur to you as you browse the Internet and sample the many links on this site.
How will you promote your work?
If you create your own website, your online portfolio will only be visited
by people who know about it, so it's extremely important to get the word
out. You should list your site with as many galleries, art organizations
and search engines as possible.
When promoting local art events (like your shows) and
services, the fastest way to get the word out is to mail and email everyone
you know. Artists and art organizations, like all small businesses, should
keep a current mailing list. This is the most precise tool for communicating
with patrons, supporters or members, because your mailing list IS your target
audience.
Online, your mailing list is just as important, because
it keeps you in touch with your audience and vice versa. And, of course,
the cost is cheap compared to snail-mailing printed material.
But what about all those people who've never heard of
you? The next-fastest means to promote a local event, like a show or
class, is still via traditional publicity - submit a calendar listing,
or send a press release to the popular calendar sections of publications
like the Chronicle/Examiner, Art Calendar, ArtWeek,
Bay Guardian, East Bay Express.
Media Alliance sells a wonderful
database and mailing list, called People Behind the News, which contains
all the important contact information for media in the Bay Area.
On a national level, when promoting your online portfolio or
website (as opposed to your events and services) the most effective approach
is to list your site with search engines like
Yahoo, Lycos, Webcrawler, HotBot,
Magellan, Infoseek. Unfortunately, many search engines are difficult
to submit to, because they don't offer a category for 'Art.' You might be
forced to choose between 'Entertainment,' 'Education' and 'Lifestyles.' In
which of these categories would you look for an artist or art organization?
Even if they do list artist by media, your work may not match the available
categories. Despite the difficulties, a surprising number of people often
find their way through the maze to your site.
In case your listing gets lost in the big search engines,
you should submit your site to other art-related sites. There are local
art organizations and
galleries online that list their members, and even
set up web pages for artists who are not web-savvy. There are
national galleries and organizations that list
artists for a fee, and a growing number of
art-related search engines.
These are very effective at locating an artist by region, media, or
subject,
You should read Getting Hits from Peachpit Press
for numerous suggestions on getting your site to the top of the list, including
the use of special HTML code and keywords.
Another way to spread the word online is to exchange
links. Other artists, organizations, libraries, schools and retailers are
usually interested in posting your link, if it's relevant to what they do.
In return, they hope that you will post their link as a gesture of mutual
support. Many visitors surfing the web in an idle moment will follow these
links from site to site, bookmarking the interesting pages for later visits.
How will your work look on the Internet?
You can expect that your artwork online will have a more limited palette and less detail than the originals, because images on a computer monitor are small and displayed at a very low resolution. However, your digital images can still be vibrant and complex enough to intrigue potential buyers and gallery owners, and give them a pretty good idea of what the actual piece would look like. Accurate reproduction of your work depends greatly on the quality of the image scanned, and the skill of the scanner operator or web designer who edits the image with software like Adobe Photoshop. Take a tour of the online artist portfolios on this site and see how other artists have handled the problems of image display.
Can you sell your work on the Internet?
Artwork is frequently sold on the Internet. ArtQuest , a website that lists artists and their works, reports over 1000 visitors a day and is generating sales of work, though they admit that it is difficult to determine exactly how much work is sold, since the artists handle the sales themselves. Johnny Davis of ARTwork in San Francisco posted only 23 images by member artists one month, but he sold two pieces to online visitors.
Your first task will be posting your work on your own web pages, or with an online gallery who might also handle sales. You must include current prices and contact information, and you should describe the work, in terms of size and media, since it is difficult to get an accurate idea from a photographic reproduction. If you deside to design your own site, you should take a look at Web and Design Tools / Techniques.
If your work is displayed in an online gallery, you will be able to take advantage of their publicity. Check out the gallery first. Find out how many visitors they have, whether they sell work frequently, and what their commission is.
If you are contacted by a prospective buyer, you should send them a slide or photo of the work, to show more detail. If you clinch the deal, send a two copies of a signed contract or purchase agreement. They must sign one copy and return it to you with payment. If you include shipping charges, notify the buyer beforehand. Above all, do not send the work without receiving the contract and payment.
Can your work be stolen off the Internet?
The purpose of exposing your work to the public is to make it accessible to art-lovers and potential buyers. But you run the same risks on the Internet that you run any time your work appears in the public domain, either printed in a magazine, or reproduced on a post card or poster. If your full-frame images are large and detailed, they can be copied off the Internet, re-sharpened and printed without your knowledge. They will never look as good as the actual work and the difference would be very obvious to anyone who has seen the original, but the general public may unwittingly purchase a ‘bootleg’ copy of your work printed on a placemat.
If you are concerned about intellectual property or copyrights you should consider registering your work with an online registry, like IRAA . There is shareware (free or cheap software) available that allows you to build an invisible watermark into your online images.
How do you get your artwork online?
You must create a digital reproduction of your work by scanning a slide, photograph, or the original. (See Photos, Slides, Scanning.) If your work is three-dimensional, you should shoot more than one view. High-end photo labs and desktop publishing service bureaus offer scanning services. Most scanners can only handle flat art, and have a small, 11”x15” window. If your original is large, it can be scanned in sections and later be 'stitched' back together using image-editing software.
Now you need a web page. If you don’t know how to build your own, have someone create one for you, or put your work in an online gallery. (See Art Hosting Sites and Designers). If you want to have complete control over the design, you can take classes in website design. One design tip: Don’t put a lot of large images on one page. Images are slow to download. Your visitor may get tired of waiting and move on. Instead, by using thumbnails (small images), your web pages will load much faster. Thumbnails can be linked to full-size images, and will give your visitors the option of choosing which piece they want to look at first.
If an online gallery accepts your work, they will design the web pages. They may accept photos, or ask for the images to be supplied digitally. Some art organizations, like Artist Resource or Art.Net will build online portfolios for artists in exchange for volunteer labor or membership dues. Art Listings will post two images at no charge.
Surf’s up!
While the Internet can’t duplicate the feel of marble, the smell of turpentine, or the gloss on an impasto surface, you can still be moved, amused or informed by an artist’s work or words, and can interact to a much greater extent than with traditional media like a printed magazine. By following the many ‘hyperlinks’ on our web pages you can explore an infinite web of relationships and common interests. With the growing inclusion of animation and sound your experience of digital art begins to truly approach virtual reality.
This site contains a huge sampling of interesting, informative, and inspiring websites for artists, patrons, gallery owners, art-lovers, writers, students and teachers. From each of our links you can jump to a multitude of other sites.
Happy surfing!
________________________________
Li Gardiner is a fine artist and webmistress of this site.
Li is a member of California Lawyers for the Arts, San Francisco Women Artists,
ArtSpan, Artists in Print, ProArts, ARTwork and the Graphic Artists Guild.
Contact Li Gardiner
