An art portfolio website that shows the work large, and how to build it
On this page
- What an artist's website has to do
- The pages that earn their place
- Series and mediums: the Portfolio app
- The work at full size
- The CV, and the exhibitions
- Color that follows the work
- Inquiries, commissions and selling
- What changes with what you make
- Templates made for artists
- The plan that fits
- Build it this afternoon
- Keep it current
An artist's website is the studio visit that happens before the studio visit. A gallery, a curator, a collector or a residency panel opens it to see the work at a size a phone screen allows, in the series you intended, with the CV that says where it has been shown. This is the FolioPage guide for painters, sculptors, printmakers, ceramicists, textile and fiber artists, mixed-media and collage artists, digital artists, muralists and street artists, installation artists, watercolor artists, glass and jewelry artists, tattoo artists, photographic artists and collectives on what such a site has to do, how series and mediums work in the Portfolio app, how the work is shown at full size, the CV and the exhibitions, inquiries and selling, the templates built for it, the plan that fits, and how to have it live this afternoon.
What an artist's website has to do
Whoever opens it is asking: what does the work look like, what is it about, where has it been shown, and how do I get in touch about a piece or a show. Every one of those has a place on the site:
- Show the work at the size it deserves, one piece per screen when it wants it, with the title, the medium, the dimensions and the year.
- Keep the series together. A body of work reads as a body of work only when the pieces sit side by side, in order, with the statement that binds them.
- Carry the record: the CV with exhibitions, education, residencies, awards and collections; a short statement; a portrait.
- Open the conversation: an address or a form for galleries, collectors and commissions, and a link to wherever the work is sold.
A site that does these four things is a working artist's site. It does not need a manifesto in motion type; it needs the pieces, large, in order.
The pages that earn their place
| Page | The visitor's question | What goes on it |
|---|---|---|
| Home | What is this work? | One piece, large, or a short grid; the artist's name and medium in a line; the way in to the series |
| Works | What is the body of work? | The portfolio index: every series or every piece, filterable by series, medium or year |
| A series page | What is this series about? | The pieces in order, each opening full screen, with the statement, the medium and the dates |
| About or Statement | Who made it, and why? | A portrait, the statement in a paragraph or two, where you work |
| CV | Where has it been shown? | Exhibitions, education, residencies, awards, collections, press, as a page and as a PDF |
| Contact | How do I ask about a piece? | An address or a form, gallery representation if you have it, and where the work is sold |
A one-page site holds all of it for most artists, with the series behind it; a large archive or a collective wants several pages. The templates for this category come in both shapes.
Series and mediums: the Portfolio app
In the Portfolio app each item is a series or a single piece, whichever unit your work has: a cover, a gallery, a description that holds the statement, custom fields for the facts (medium, dimensions, year, edition, availability), and a category. Categories are your own vocabulary: by series, by medium (painting, print, ceramic), by year, or by what is available. The index shows everything in one grid and filters by category without leaving the page; each item has its own page with the gallery, the statement, the facts and links to the next and previous.
Thirty index layouts and twenty-four page layouts are available. Some were drawn for this field: a hang that spaces pieces like a wall, a plates layout that numbers them like a catalogue, a wall that lets a grid breathe. The Free plan holds ten items and three categories, Pro a hundred and fifty, Max as many as the archive has.
The work at full size
Artists ask what happens to the image before anything else, so here it is: the original file is kept as uploaded and served whenever a piece is viewed at full size; a WebP thumbnail is made for grids so the index stays fast; everything is delivered from a global edge network. Nothing is recompressed for the full view.
| Free | Pro | Max | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Files | 50 | 1,000 | Unlimited |
| Storage | 100 MB | 2 GB | 10 GB |
| Largest upload | 5 MB | 20 MB | 50 MB |
| Longest image edge | 2,000 px | 4,000 px | 8,000 px |
| Formats | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, SVG | The same | The same, plus PDF, MP4 and WebM |
Photograph the work well and export at 2,500 to 4,000 pixels on the long edge; the 8,000-pixel ceiling on Max is for the piece a collector will zoom into. Gallery sections on any page - more than thirty of them, from a contact sheet to a light table to a scroll strip - open their images in a lightbox as well, so the About page can show the studio and the homepage the best twelve.
The CV, and the exhibitions
An artist's CV is a list of exhibitions, education, residencies, awards, collections and press, and the Resume app is built for lists of dated entries: name a section "Solo exhibitions", another "Group exhibitions", another "Collections", fill in the entries, and the app publishes a CV page on the site and generates a PDF from the same content for the application that asks for a file. The Free plan includes one layout with six sections and three entries each; Pro and Max lift both limits, which an exhibiting artist will reach.
For the site itself, the section library has an exhibitions section for the upcoming and past shows, press and clients strips for coverage and collections, and a palette section for the artists who want to show their colors.
Color that follows the work
The design editor sets the site's palette, from the page background to the accent on buttons, by preset or by hand, and the fonts for body, headings and navigation, all applied site-wide with a live preview. A painter whose work is loud sets a quiet ground; a printmaker in black ink sets black on white. Change it in one session and every page follows, without touching the pieces.
Inquiries, commissions and selling
- Inquiries and commissions arrive by email through a contact form with spam protection on the Pro and Max plans, 1,000 submissions a month on Pro and 5,000 on Max. On the Free plan the contact page carries an email address.
- Selling. FolioPage has no checkout of its own. The site is where the work is seen and the inquiry starts; a button or the Links page points to the shop, the print seller or the gallery that handles sales, and custom fields on each piece carry the edition and the availability.
- Previews for a gallery or a curator. On Pro and Max a page can be password-protected and hidden from search engines: a new series shown to one gallerist before the opening, sent with a link and a password.
- A studio journal. The Blog app on Max, with categories and a rich-text editor, for the artists who write about the work as it is made.
What changes with what you make
| If you are a | Lead with | Sort by | The section that matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Painter | One painting, full width | Series | The series pages |
| Sculptor | One piece, photographed in the round | Material or series | Galleries with several views |
| Printmaker | The edition, with its number | Technique | The plates layout and the edition fields |
| Ceramicist | A group of vessels | Series or function | Galleries and the shop link |
| Textile or fiber artist | A detail, then the whole | Technique | Galleries at full size |
| Mixed-media or collage artist | The densest piece | Series | Galleries and the statement |
| Digital artist | The work on a dark ground | Series | The lightbox and the links page |
| Muralist or street artist | The wall, in place | City or year | Galleries and a map |
| Installation artist | The room | Exhibition | The exhibitions section |
| Watercolor artist | The lightest piece | Subject | Galleries on a white ground |
| Glass or jewelry artist | The object, lit | Collection | Galleries and the shop link |
| Tattoo artist | Healed work | Style | The links page and the booking form |
| Photographic artist | The series | Body of work | The series pages |
| Art collective | The members and the shows | Member or show | The exhibitions section and the journal |
Each of these deserves its own guide, and they will follow in the Guides section, one at a time.
Templates made for artists
Four FolioPage templates were built for this category so far, three one-page sites and one with several pages, each with the Portfolio app switched on and sample works in place:
Preview any of them live on desktop and on a phone; the design editor makes the palette yours in a session. Any template in the catalogue takes the Portfolio app, so the photography templates suit photographic artists too.
Art portfolio templates
The full set is on the Art templates page, with more on the way.
The plan that fits
- Free builds the site and holds the first series: ten items, three categories, fifty files and 100 MB, the CV with one layout, a folio.page address. No card, no time limit.
- Pro, $12 a month or $108 a year, is the exhibiting artist's plan: a hundred items, a thousand files and 2 GB, images to 4,000 pixels, unlimited CV sections and entries, a domain you own, no branding, the inquiry form, and password-protected previews.
- Max, $24 a month or $216 a year, adds 8,000-pixel images, 10 GB, video, unlimited items, and the Blog app for the studio journal.
Most artists start on Free and move to Pro when the CV outgrows three entries per section, which happens fast. The pricing page has the full comparison.
Build it this afternoon
The order that works, assuming the work is photographed.
Decide the unit: series or piece
If the work comes in bodies, an item is a series; if each piece stands alone, an item is a piece. Name the categories: three to five series, mediums or years.
Export the images
2,500 to 4,000 pixels on the long edge, from good photographs of the work. One folder per series.
Pick a template by ground
Light or dark, one piece per screen or a grid, one page or several. Preview on a phone, click Use this template, and the site is built with your account.
Build the items
Cover, gallery in order, the statement, and the facts as custom fields: medium, dimensions, year, edition, availability.
Fill in the CV
Exhibitions, education, residencies, awards, collections, press, as sections in the Resume app. Check the PDF.
Write the About page and the contact page
The statement in a paragraph, a portrait, where you work; then the address or the form, your gallery if you have one, and where the work is sold.
Set the palette, check on a phone, publish
A session in the design editor, three pieces opened on a phone, the SEO titles, then publish and put the address on every profile and every label.
The longer version, with the schedule by the hour, is the guide on how to build a portfolio website in a day.
Keep it current
- Add the series when it is finished, not piece by piece. A body of work arrives whole.
- Update the CV the week a show opens. Curators check the CV first.
- Mark what has sold. An availability field kept current saves a dozen emails a year.
Can visitors view a piece full screen?
Yes. Series pages and gallery sections open images in a lightbox at full size, and the full-size view serves the original file exactly as you uploaded it.
Can I sell work through the site?
Not directly: FolioPage has no checkout. Any button or link can point to your shop or gallery, custom fields carry edition and availability, and the contact form handles inquiries and commissions.
Can I keep an artist CV on the site?
Yes. The Resume app holds any sections you name - solo shows, group shows, residencies, collections, press - and publishes them as a CV page with a matching PDF.
How large can the images be?
Up to 2,000 pixels on the long edge on Free, 4,000 on Pro and 8,000 on Max, with uploads of 5, 20 and 50 MB. Originals are kept and served at full size.
Can I show a new series to one gallerist before it is public?
On Pro and Max, yes: a password-protected page, hidden from search engines, sent with a link and a password.
Hang the work where it can be seen.
Pick an art template, build the first series and publish on a free address this afternoon.
Start freeOther fields have their own page in the Made for section, and every general how-to lives in Guides.