rebeccafrenchfineart

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Blog Post- Analysis of Artists Websites

The role of an artists website is to showcase an artist's work and skills to potential clients, employers, galleries, and collaborators. The website acts as a portfolio for the artist, and with a website being so easy to share and visit, it helps establish your professional identity and can attract opportunities, advancing the artists career.

Most artists website have a clean and minimalistic look to them, simulating that of the white walls in a gallery. This makes the website easy to navigate and visually friendly as to not devalue the work by over saturation of elements. The landing page typically has a large image or a collection of images of their work to draw attention to it and make a strong first impression allowing someone viewing the website to get a good idea of what kind of work the artist makes. The other need for a good home page with the best work first is that it will interest a viewer enough to stay on the website and look at other works, exhibitions, or writings the artist has done. 

Here are some examples of artists websites:

As you can see all three websites are incredibly similar in design and layout despite the fact they are all very different artists. They all focus on the visual element which clearly works as it very quickly allows the person visiting the website to see what work they make. The tabs at the top are also clearly laid out allowing quick navigation around the website, making the process of either researching the artist or contacting them super simple and quick. 

An artist’s website also serves as digital record of an artist's body of work over time. It can be a valuable resource for retrospective exhibitions, publications, and collaborations with curators interested in researching an artist's career. For example Anna Ridler’s website has a full CV listing her education in the arts and all group and solo shows.

In conclusion, there are many reasons as to why it is beneficial to have a website as an artist, and a well made, easy to navigate website is a crucial asset for any artist looking to establish themselves as an artist.

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Blog Post- Searching for an MA

Over the Christmas break I had a realisation for my career, as much as I love art and want to continue my practice, what I would want to do as a 9 - 5 to fund my practice is work in cyber security. I have always been interested in technology and how it is possible to manipulate hardware and software to do things outside of its intended purpose. The issue i faced is that I have no qualifications or official training that would allow me to even apply for an apprenticeship in the field. So in February I decided to email a lecturer on the cyber security BSc course to see if he had any advice for someone who has an interest in this career path but lacks the qualifications. 

I got a this response followed by one from Chris 

I emailed back and we arranged to meet at Paddy and Scott’s cafe for a chat. He was really helpful in answering all questions I had about the course and any concerns. The chat was like an unofficial interview as he said if I applied he would be happy to have me on the course! 

I started the application process through the universities website and, of course, had to write my personal statement. 

I had completed the application at the end of February and didn’t hear back from the admissions team until May so I started to get worried but on the 16th I got an email saying I had been offered a place on the course! So September I get to start a masters in a completely different subject area which I am both nervous and super excited for!

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Blog Post- Using TikTok and Building an Audience

TikTok has exploded recently with millions of users worldwide and that is due to not only the engaging UI of the platform but also due to the availability to every user to generate views without having a following beforehand. This is the distinct feature that makes TikTok stand out to other social media platforms and why I think it is most beneficial when trying to build a social media presence. 

The TikTok algorithm is fairly simple to understand, once a user has created an account, made a video using the built in video recorder and editor, and posted it, that video will be shown on the For You page of about 100 people. If that video is liked by the majority of those 100 people then the video will appear on the For You page of 1000 people. The same process will happen again, if the majority of people like that video it will be shown to 10,000 users and so on and so forth. This method of reaching an audience is different to that of other platforms as to get someone to view your posts, say on Instagram for example, they would have to be following you beforehand for your post to appear on their feed. You can utilise hashtags to help your work appear on the feed of people who follow said hashtags, but you are still battling with the thousands of others who have used the same tags, in essence less engagement with your post means a lower chance for it to be featured under the hashtag. With Instagram and most other social media platforms like it, the credibility of you as an artist and your work relies on how well you can build a following, this can take years to cultivate with no guarantee of success. TikTok however, allows you to gain a following with just one post if you produce a video that interests people, all the merit of that following is based on your artwork. TikTok can act as a platform to promote your other social media accounts essentially giving you the following needed to start building a following on other platforms.

How I got followers on TikTok:

I started by searching for artists on tiktok to see what videos they made. Almost all of the videos at the top of the search results were filming close up shots of the process of making their art then doing a reveal of the whole piece at the end. It seems that this style of video is the one that keeps audiences most engaged. 

I then looked at the trending sounds to see what audios were being used the most and getting the most views 

I combined those two elements and made a two videos filming my drawing process then doing a reveal at the end. Those videos combined got 24,000 views, 50 comments, and 195 saves. I went from 0 followers to 2637 followers. 

TikTok also has a built in analytics page so its easy to keep track of the performance of each video and how people are finding the video. 

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Blog Post- Making a Website

Every artist needs a website as it is a central place for all information about your  practice, experience, and contact information. It is also free from the restrictions of social media so someone who is interested in your work doesn’t have to create an Instagram account or TikTok account just to view your work. All they need is a device that can access the internet.

Luckily, it is super easy to make a website now and you don’t need to know  any HTML as websites like Squarespace, Wix, and Wordpress all use UI design tools that do all the HTML for you. 

I decided to use Squarespace as it is what I used to design our first year 2021 exhibition website when in person exhibitions were still a no go. I like the UI and the amount of templates they have available to make website building as easy as possible while still keeping the design interesting. 

I started with the NOVO template as it prioritised images on the homepage.

I then swapped out the placeholder images with photos of my own work, putting what I believe to be my most interesting projects at the top of the page so they are seen first. 

When hovering over the images the title of that section will appear over the top of the images. This is a clickable like that will take the user to a page that has more images of the work along with title, dimensions, materials, and a statement about the piece.

For the contact page I added my email and phone number, plus a built in website contact form just incase someone doesn’t want to use those options. 

As a way to link people back to social media if they wish to follow me for updates or contact me there then they can click the icons and go straight to my other pages. The icons are on the header with the tabs and also added again to the contact page.