To make an artist portfolio website, start with a simple structure: a homepage, portfolio, about page, and contact page. Show a small selection of your strongest work, explain clearly what kind of artist you are, and give visitors an obvious next step.
I would rather build a small artist website that is clear and finished than a complicated site with dozens of half-developed pages. The artwork should be the main event. The website’s job is to organize it, give it context, and make it easy for the right person to contact you, buy work, or learn more.
This guide walks through the process from choosing a platform and domain to selecting artwork, building the essential pages, organizing the portfolio, and publishing the finished site.
Artist Portfolio Website Checklist
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Decide the goal | Choose whether the site is mainly for collectors, commissions, freelance work, licensing, sales, or a combination. |
| 2. Choose a platform | Pick a website system you are comfortable maintaining. |
| 3. Get a domain | Use a simple professional domain based on your name or studio name when possible. |
| 4. Select your artwork | Choose a focused group of your strongest work rather than everything you have made. |
| 5. Build the core pages | Start with Home, Portfolio, About, and Contact. |
| 6. Organize the portfolio | Group work only when the categories genuinely help visitors understand what you do. |
| 7. Add a next step | Make it clear whether visitors can contact you, commission work, buy art, or view another collection. |
| 8. Test and publish | Check the site on desktop and mobile, proofread it, and publish before endlessly redesigning it. |
1. Decide What Your Artist Website Is Supposed to Do
Before choosing fonts, colors, templates, or website software, decide what you want the site to accomplish.
A painter who wants to sell originals needs a somewhat different site from an illustrator looking for editorial assignments. A wildlife artist seeking collectors may organize work differently from a character designer sending recruiters to a portfolio.
I would write down one primary goal:
- sell original artwork
- sell prints
- get commissions
- find illustration or design work
- show work to galleries or collectors
- license artwork
- simply establish a professional home for your work
That goal should influence which artwork you feature, what appears in the navigation, and which action you ask visitors to take.
2. Choose a Platform for Your Artist Portfolio
You do not need a particular website platform to have a strong portfolio. I would choose based on how much control you want and what you eventually expect the site to do.
| Type of platform | Best suited to |
|---|---|
| Simple hosted builder | Artists who primarily want an attractive portfolio without managing much technical setup. |
| Ecommerce-focused platform | Artists whose primary goal is selling physical products, prints, or originals online. |
| Self-hosted website | Artists who want maximum control, publishing flexibility, content growth, and ownership over the site structure. |
Squarespace and Wix are examples of hosted builders commonly used for visual portfolios. Shopify is centered more heavily on ecommerce. WordPress gives you considerably more control over content and site structure but also requires more setup and maintenance.
I would not choose based solely on which platform has the most features. Choose the one you can realistically maintain.
If search traffic will be an important part of the site, I have a separate guide to SEO for artist websites.
3. Choose a Domain Name
For an individual artist, the simplest domain is usually some version of your professional name or studio name.
I would favor a domain that is:
- short enough to remember
- easy to spell
- consistent with the name you use professionally
- flexible enough that you are not trapped in one medium forever
I would generally avoid stuffing keywords into an artist domain. The artwork and your name are the brand.
4. Choose the Artwork for Your Portfolio
The portfolio is the most important part of the website.
I would rather see a focused selection of strong work than a complete archive. The goal is not to prove how many pieces you have made. It is to communicate what kind of work you make now and what kind of opportunities you want next.
Start by selecting work that is:
- among your strongest
- reasonably recent
- relevant to the work you want more of
- presented consistently
- photographed or scanned well
For many artists, something like 10 to 20 strong pieces gives a visitor enough information without turning the portfolio into an archive. The right number depends on the type of work, but quality and relevance matter more than reaching a specific count.
5. Build the Essential Artist Website Pages
You can start with four core pages:
- Home
- Portfolio
- About
- Contact
Add a shop, commissions page, services page, journal, or other section only when it supports the actual purpose of the site.
Homepage
The homepage should quickly tell a first-time visitor what kind of artist you are.
I would include:
- a short statement describing the work
- one or two strong images
- a clear route into the portfolio
- one primary next step
A sentence such as “Wildlife artist creating detailed drawings of animals and natural subjects” tells a visitor considerably more than “Welcome to my website.”
Portfolio
This page should make the artwork easy to view without unnecessary distractions.
If all of the work belongs together, one portfolio may be enough. If you have genuinely different professional directions, divide them into useful categories.
For example, someone who does both fine art and commercial illustration may benefit from keeping those bodies of work separate. Somebody who only paints landscapes probably does not need six categories just to create more menu items.
About Page
The about page gives visitors context about the person behind the work.
I would cover:
- what you make
- what subjects or ideas interest you
- relevant background or experience
- where you are based if location matters
- the opportunities you are open to
If you need help writing that section, see my artist bio examples.
Contact Page
Do not make people search for a way to reach you.
A simple contact page can include an email address or form plus a short explanation of what kinds of inquiries you welcome.
If relevant, ask the person to include useful information such as project type, deadline, intended use, approximate size, or budget range.
6. Organize the Portfolio Around the Work You Want
Your portfolio should not be neutral. It should make it easier for the right visitor to imagine working with you, collecting your work, or following what you make.
If you want editorial illustration work, feature conceptual illustrations that feel appropriate for publication. If you want wildlife collectors, feature a coherent body of wildlife work. If you want portrait commissions, show the type of portraits you actually want to be commissioned to create.
I would remove work that:
- no longer represents your current ability
- belongs to a direction you no longer want to pursue
- has noticeably poor photography
- creates confusion about the kind of artist you are
If you want to study how other artists solve these problems, see my examples of artist websites.
7. Prepare Your Artwork Images for the Website
A portfolio can only present artwork as well as the images you give it.
I would check every image for:
- accurate color
- clean cropping
- straight alignment
- useful detail
- consistent overall presentation
- reasonable file size so pages do not become unnecessarily slow
For individual pieces, titles, medium, dimensions, year, and availability can be useful when those details matter to the audience.
8. Keep the Navigation Simple
A portfolio website should be easy to understand without instructions.
I prefer short navigation such as:
- Portfolio
- About
- Journal or News, if you actually use it
- Shop or Commissions, if relevant
- Contact
I would avoid creating a separate navigation item for every medium, project, award, exhibition, social account, or minor category.
9. Give Visitors a Clear Next Step
After somebody looks at the work, what should they do?
Possible next steps include:
- contact you about a commission
- view available originals
- shop prints
- ask about licensing
- join an email list
- view another portfolio category
You do not need six calls to action on every page. Choose the one that makes the most sense for that visitor and that page.
10. Check the Website on a Phone
Do not judge the site only from the computer where you built it.
Open it on a phone and check:
- whether artwork is large enough to appreciate
- whether text is comfortable to read
- whether the menu is obvious
- whether buttons are easy to tap
- whether image cropping changes unexpectedly
- whether contact information is easy to find
I would also test the contact form and every important link before considering the site finished.
11. Add Basic SEO Without Turning the Site Into an SEO Project
An artist portfolio can benefit from search visibility, but I would keep the basics simple at first.
- give every important page a descriptive title
- write useful page headings
- use descriptive image alt text when it helps explain the image
- compress oversized images
- link related pages together naturally
- make sure search engines can crawl and index the site
That is enough for the portfolio-building stage. If you want to deliberately grow organic traffic afterward, continue with my full guide to SEO for artist websites.
Common Artist Portfolio Website Mistakes
Showing Too Much Work
A large portfolio is not automatically a strong portfolio. Old or inconsistent pieces can make it harder to understand what you currently do.
Hiding the Portfolio Behind a Long Introduction
People visiting an artist website usually want to see the artwork quickly. I would not make them read several screens of biography before seeing it.
Using Too Many Portfolio Categories
Separate work when the distinction is useful to the viewer, not simply because you can create another category.
Using Inconsistent Artwork Images
Strong artwork can look weaker when some images are dark, crooked, poorly cropped, or noticeably different in quality from the rest.
Making Contact Difficult
If you want opportunities from the website, make your contact information obvious.
Waiting for the Site to Feel Perfect
A simple working portfolio is more useful than an elaborate website that never gets published. You can replace artwork and improve the design as your work develops.
Artist Portfolio Website Questions
What pages should an artist portfolio website have?
Start with a homepage, portfolio, about page, and contact page. Add a shop, commissions page, services page, or journal only when it serves a clear purpose.
How many pieces should an artist portfolio website have?
There is no universal number, but a focused selection of roughly 10 to 20 strong pieces is often more useful than dozens of inconsistent ones. Show enough work to establish your direction without turning the portfolio into an archive.
Should an artist have their own website?
A website gives an artist a stable place to present work, explain what is available, provide contact information, and control the way the portfolio is organized. It can complement social platforms rather than replace them.
What should the first page of an art portfolio website show?
Show strong artwork immediately, identify what kind of artist you are, and provide an obvious route into the portfolio. Avoid making a visitor work through a long introduction before seeing the art.
Do I need a shop on my artist website?
No. Add a shop only if selling directly through the website is part of your plan. A portfolio built primarily for galleries, employers, art directors, or commission inquiries may not need one.
Build the Smallest Useful Version First
If I were making an artist portfolio website from scratch, I would start with one domain, four core pages, a carefully edited group of artwork, and one obvious next step for the visitor.
Publish that version, use it, and improve it as you discover what visitors actually need. The site does not need to be complicated to make the artwork feel professional.
For visual inspiration, see my examples of artist websites. If your next goal is attracting search traffic, continue with SEO for artist websites.