Daniel Martin Diaz has a new book out entitled “Mysterium Fidei”. It’s 128 full color pages of prints, drawings and paintings highlighting his career.
There are two versions. The standard cloth hardback book, and the one shown above that comes with a slipcase, cloth clamshell with signed etching all limited to 100.
This looks like it could be a killer addition to an art library.
Here’s the release: Daniel Martin Diaz “Mysterium Fidei”
This article is inspired by an article over at ‘Lines and Colors’ called: “How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web”. It’s a great article, quite sarcastic but there are some great tips there. In the many months that I have been running the Creep Machine, looking for featured artists, images for art of the day & prints and originals for sale, I have seen some amazing web sites and some really bad ones. So I decided to write down some tips, to make sure that your art gets seen. (Last Edited Jan 2012)
Of course this whole article is filled with my opinions, but as someone who spends hours a day looking at art as a fan and webmaster, I have collected some great tips and tricks to make showing and selling your work online an enjoyable process. So let’s get started.
I strongly suggest staying away from using sites like Myspace (people still do), or even Facebook as your portfolio. Social networks are a great way for you to interact with your fans, keep them up to date, and help you sell you work, but you want something solid and clean for your portfolio. You also want your art to be as accessible as possible. The viewer should be able to see your art as well as your information in just a few clicks. Sites like DeviantArt are ok, but once again they are more setup to be a community to share your art with other artists. Even artists like Justin Degarmo, Dan Harding and Josh Taylor have a main homepage along with their DeviantArt account, which also has started a new portfolio service that is minimal and professional. So if you can’t afford to buy your own hosting, you have two other options.
1.You can use a service like Blogger. This is getting more and more popular, as it’s easy to navigate, your work can be seen quickly and people can learn about you if you post thoughts as well. I would say that this type of portfolio is best for ongoing projects, or “daily drawings” type of sites.
2. You can use online portfolios such as: Carbonmade, Behance, Otherpeoplespixels & DAportfolio. Most of these are free, and gets your art seen quickly and efficiently.
If you have your portfolio on blogger, or one of the free portfolios I mentioned, you’ll be stuck with ‘whatever.carbonmade.com’ for example. Not much you can do about that. However, if you decided to pay a small amount, and have your own website you should pick a great name. You want something catchy, easy to spell and easy to remember. If your name is way too long and people need you to spell it out for them, try something different. Use a nickname, or even just name your site something nutty. Greg “Craola” Simkins uses the domain name ‘imscared.com’. Very simple to remember, and unique as well. Domain names are pretty cheap now, so get one even if you use a site like blogger. If you can’t get a .com name, you can also think about using .us or even the new extension .me. A good place to register domain names is Namecheap.com
I think this is the most important tip. Unless your a web designer and are trying to sell that skill, keep your web page simple. I know it’s tempting to make a page that is graphic laden and will just “wow” your viewers, avoid it. Wow them with your art, not your bloated web design. Stay away from animated graphics, obscure link names that you think is clever, or unnamed images for the page links. Clearly show the areas of your page: ‘Bio, artwork, links, contact’. I know this is boring, but it works. Don’t make the viewer have to hunt to see your artwork, trust me they’ll give up. I often do.
Flash is cool for very few things. Once again if your selling web design skills then go nuts. But if your trying to have your art seen, avoid 3 minute flash intros, people just want to see the page.
Flash galleries are also bad, they are a pain to use and don’t allow your viewer to see nice big images of your work as well as share your work. Viewers sharing your work with others is a great way to get exposure. I can’t tell you how many artists I have avoided, simple because I can’t share their work. The amount of people using mobile devices to visit web pages is growing more every day, and flash does not show up for iPhone/iPad users.
More and more people are using their mobile devices to check out websites, and the design standards are beginning to change. You want this rapidly growing portion of traffic to be able to see your site clear and easy. So, while your designing your new site think about how a mobile user will be able to view the site. If your using wordpress there are some amazing “responsive” themes out there, that are able to fit to whatever device they are viewing your site from. You can also create a separate css file that will detect if your users are viewing via a mobile device and change the layout for them.
Like I said above, no flash galleries. Avoid watermarks as well. Flash galleries and watermarks are often used to stop people stealing your work. Trust me, if someone wants your work bad enough they’ll just use a screencapture tool and have it, and you also stop the important people from getting your work. I use the images from artists sites to post here, help sell prints, and share with galleries. Also avoid using odd thumbnail images, or text. Just show the thumbnail. Not showing the thumbnail is either used to integrate the thumbnails into the site, or to make the viewer have to enlarge the images. Don’t make the experience tedious, just make it simple. If you really feel that you should use a watermark, check out how Chet Zar went about this. Elegant, but not obtrusive.
Make sure that your website has a small bio area, contact area and news. People like knowing who the person is behind the art. Your sharing your art anyway, and this can be personal depending on your content. Make yourself known as well, or at least a resume, and make your contact information easy to find. One of the problems I see on blogger hosted sites, is that there is often no contact info available. How can I work with you, and even buy some art?
Add a news area, and even a mailing list. Keep your viewers informed. A news area lets people know what is going on, any upcoming shows, or even works for sale. It also lets people know your still active. I’ve found a few sites were it looked as though the artists hadn’t done anything in years. A mailing list also keeps people informed of whats going on, and you’ll know that they”ll get the info for sure.
One of the latest new additions to websites is social media buttons. Not only have buttons that link to your personal social profiles, but you can also add “like” and “tweet” buttons to your posts, individual pages, or items for sale. This way fans can help spread the word. Pinterest is a new social sharing site that you might also want to think about, and there are buttons for people to “Pin it” and share you work. Keep in mind though, that while many people are happy to share your art via tumblr, pinterest, or other similar sites, they don’t always state who the source is. So maybe a small unobtrusive watermark isn’t such a bad idea.
Aside from having your work sold in galleries, many artists are doing quite well selling their artwork and goods themselves. There are some great ways to empower yourself and offer your goods to your fans, while minimizing fees. Ebay is still used occasionally for artists to sell work, but I often see it used for charity auctions which it is great for. There is also Etsy, which could be considered a “arts and crafts” version of Ebay. You can list all the items your want, pay a small fee, and take advantage of your work being entered into a marketplace that users can search. There is the possibility however that your work can be lost in the immense amount of goods offered for sale.
Aside from created a shop area on your own webpage, or even using ecommerce plugins for the WordPress users out there, there is some standalone sites that give artists the ability to sell their work, accept payments, and take care of all of the little details for you so you can concentrate on making art. Bigcartel is the one I recommend the most. It’s easy to use, clean, and even looks good on mobile devices. You can sign up for a free account to get started, and once things really get rolling you can upgrade your account for more perks. There is also even an app that allows you to embed your shop in your Facebook profile. As opposed to other standalone shops that leave you in the wild, Bigcartel has an artist directory so fans can find you while stumbling around for artwork. They create a top stores list, and a “recently updated” list as well which helps even more with exposure.
So, after these little tips, I think it’s best to show some sites that I think fit the tips very well. Many of these sites are from very popular artists, and look how simple their sites are. Maybe their on to something eh?
Dan May :a good example of a portfolio software in use, Otherpeoplespixels.
Mark Ryden :simple, easy, to the point.
Chet Zar :love that gallery, nice big thumbnails and info.
Chris Ryniak :his gallery is flash based, but its also linked to his Flickr page so people can still see the work easily.
Jeff Soto :I think his site fits many of the tips here, perfect.
ThinkSpace, Shooting Gallery SF & Jonathan Levine :my three favorite art gallery sites to visit. Filled with content, but easy to navigate.
I’ll refrain from showing bad examples. If your site doesn’t get many hits, and it’s been hard to get your art seen, check out these tips and examples and see if you can’t make it better. Many artists take inspiration from successful artists when it comes to the art, it should be no different to take tips in web design from successful artists websites. I know not everyone is sold on social media sites, but they can be a great tool to your work seen by others. You don’t need to create an account on every site available, a good, efficient, and active social profile is better than multiple rarely updated ones.
Thanks for reading, you can also check out the article that inspired this one as well.
How Not to Display Your Artwork on the Web
David Hochbaum, a seriously cool mixed media artist will have a solo show at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City this Saturday, September 15th. This new show will “feature a sculpture installation created from hundreds of ladders and faux birds, completing the theme of nomadic displacement.” Sounds great, I can’t wait to see the new works.
I recently got into this artist and have really been drawn in by his style, two of my favorite forms of art, photography and painting, and he mixes them so well. I would really love to know how he gets the photos to set into the paint and mix in so seamlessly. I’ve seen mixed media before where the photo looks clearly “slapped” in, whereas his looks like it supposed to be there. Yet again, more work I need to see in person.
David Hochbaum
Corey Helford Gallery
There are some really killer art shows opening up this weekend, here is just a little taste of what will be going on. Make sure to check out the pages of the galleries as well, I’m sure most of them will be adding pics of the shows.
“Strange Brew” group show of Canadian artists, such as the amazing Ben Tour. BLVD Gallery in Seattle, WA.
“So Many Selves..” group show, featuring many artists like Josh Taylor and Ken Garduno @ Carmichael Gallery in West Hollywood, CA.
“Global Storming” featuring Dennis Hayes IV, Erik Able and 2h. The show is @ the Thinkspace Gallery, pics are now online.
Shepard Fairey’s show “One Man Army” will have it’s reception on the 14th and the 15th at the Toyroom Gallery in Sacramento.
I’ll be heading over to the second reception on the Shepard Fairey, and this time I’m coming back with photos to open up the gallery area in the site.
If you missed on the first series of Scott Campbell’s “Showdowns” prints, you won’t want to miss Series 2. This next series has scenes from 2001, Predator, The Exorcist, Fistfull of Dollars & the Goonies. Sloth even has a little Baby Ruth, how cool is that?
You can get this print directly from the Crazy4Cult page, they will go on sale September 20th, and I’m sure they won’t last long. Here’s the info:
Each set has 5 prints, the sets are limited to 35. Each print is hand-signed and numbered, 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches each. These are Giclee prints on archival paper, and are only $60 for the whole set. Here’s a close-up of the Sloth print, so you can see how amazing these prints are: Goonies close-up
Remember, they go on sale September 20th at Crazy4cult
Today’s piece is from Jeremy Harker, otherwise known as Melocopter, very cool nickname as well.
The painting is done in oil and is on a 20×16″ panel.
This specific piece is called “Downslide” and is from his “Disorders” series. The whole series has about five paintings in it, and it’s very solid. I love the colors that he uses, and he has a great style of drawing figures.
The piece kind of hit me, not only because it talks about depression, but because I love winter and I seem to get depressed in the summer(backwards of me eh?). But this doesn’t change the power of the imagery, the look on the kids face is one I have seen many times. It’s very effective in letting you know whats going on.
Make sure you check out the rest of Jeremy’s work, and the Disorders series that is right there on the front page. Let him know the Creep sent you.
Jeremy Harker Homepage
J. Harker profile
“Chadam” the insanely popular character created by Alex Pardee, looks like it’s going to made into a 3-d animated episodic movie.
Studio 2.0, a wing of Warner Bros. is going to be doing some new shorts, and one of them will be based on Alex’s character. The animation will run on the Unreal Engine 3. I all Looks very slick, I can’t wait to see this in action.
Check out the full release here: Alex Pardee Blogspot
Jeff Soto’s latest solo show at the Jonathan Levine gallery is now online, for you viewing pleasure.
There is quite a large amount of pieces, acrylic, some ink on paper, and even a wall installation.
The theme of this show, as written on the gallery page, just to sum up “explores his predominant fears and anxieties over his daughter’s future, the civil war in Iraq, and the United States policies on environmental conservation”. I can see this in some of the images, especially the ones that have some murky staining in the background. It kind of pollutes the landscapes that he paints in the, making the scene far more sinister. A great example of this is “Snake Trap” & “Fire”. They look so murky, and polluted, that umber he must be using really makes the whole scene look kind of the skyline where I live.
But there is positivity, such as in the piece “We Can Chang Everything”. We are still given the murky effects at the top, but as you can see hands holding a rainbow and a spade. It’s quite simple to fix all that we have done, we just have to get started.
Wonderful show, and yet another one that I really wish I could see in person. The images on the site are nice and big, but it still would be great to see the pieces close up.
It’s been a while since I showed some photography, so here is a piece from Matthew Xavier.
This image is very striking, I love how it borders on being sinister and elegant at the same time.
It must be the eye area, plus that red plume of color shooting out of the figures mouth. I know that must be a shirt over the face there, but it really make this whole image so surreal, while the color scheme gives it this nice aged, nostalgic look to it.
A very smooth image, there is another like it, without the face covering. You can find that image, plus many other amazing photos in this artists gallery here:
Matthew Xavier profile
Opening tonight at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle, Amy Sol, Stella Im Hultberg & Oksana Badrak are having a very sweet show.
It looks like many of the works have been bought up already, but if your close by you can still see them in person.
I really like the new work coming from Stella Im Hultberg, the new work clearly retains her style but you can see the images getting deeper, contrast and even textures. Much like the piece that she did for the Crazy4Cult show, “The Big Tourist”. I love that piece, I really hope they make this one into a print.
Anyway, the Roq La Rue page has the pics of the event up so that you can see the peices:
Amy Sol, Stella Im Hultberg & Oksana Badrak
Jeff Soto has a solo show called “Storm Clouds” at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. The show opens September 8th and ends October 6th.
I love Jeff Soto’s style, his style is very unique and the colors he uses really pop out at you.
I really like that he adds a bit of nature imagery with each piece, you don’t see much of that right now. I think the thing that I dig the most is how his style is consistent, but in no way repetitive. I still enjoy looking at new works, it’s like he has themes to his work and that make the new pieces more interesting. He is one of the few artists that I would really love to own an original work from, but for now prints will have to do.
Here is Jeff’s site and the gallery:
Jeff Soto homepage
Jonathan Levine gallery
If your in the Bay Area tonight, there will be a lot of killer shows happening.
“Fighting 4 Dreams And Blcktop” will be one night only and will show work from Jeff Soto, Regino Gonzales, OG Abel and others. There will also be live music. At 111 Minna Gallery
Todd Bratrud will have a show opening as well as Maya Hayuk at Fifty24 in SF
And best of all is “Salad Days”, a group show over at Gallery 1988 which will show works from Mark Bodnar, Nathan Stapley & Jesse Ledoux. The work from the show looks amazing, and i’m a big fan of Mark Bodnar. Gallery 1988 SF
You can also head over and catch the last days of Yumiko Kaykawa’s show over at the Shooting Gallery, here.
