Website Research

Next semester, once our dissertations are finished, our critical studies days will be replaced by lessons learning how to build websites and create animations.

I'm very excited to make my own website! If all goes to plan, I will be able to sell my work on it in the future, and I'm hoping it will get me noticed and bring me a lot more opportunities.

As I'm quite ignorant in the ways of technology, at the moment I haven't got any idea what is achievable or not in terms of the layout of my future website. Judging by the best illustrators' websites I have looked it, it is best to keep things simple and accessible. But I also like a little sense of mystery! e.g. I like the sites that start off with a page with nothing but an image/animation that you have to click on to 'enter' the site, like opening the page to a book. A good example of this is Lord Whitney's page:

From the sites I've seen, it is more usual that the site opens onto a page displaying several pieces of work, with links of categories to navigate through it.

Lizzy Stewart's site uses this layout:

As you scroll down the page the images move up and down but the title links on the left remain stationary. The small images of her work are also quite mysterious, and being able to access them very quickly for a better look is convenient for clients that might be in a hurry to get an impression of what the art is like. It seems like this might be the wisest layout for illustrators who are just starting out, so that the work is right there for impatient potential clients.
Andre da Loba also uses a similar layout on his site:

Recently I was introduced to Abigail Brown, who creates 'textile art'. Her site is an interesting mix of the two different layouts I've looked at above. When it opens; the navigation links for the site are at the top of the page but only a simple set of four adjacent photos is shown underneath. To get a better look at the work or find out anything about it, you have to click on the links to find out.

I noticed that Lizzy Stewart's site has been created on the site Cargo, and Lord Whitney also have a site on there. They look very professional and not at all 'templated'. The opening page describes the site:

For the last few years Cargo’s main goal has been to create accessible tools and a networked context to enhance the exposure of talented individuals on the Internet. 

To achieve this, we offer our users free-standing websites; a wide variety of customizable templates; simple but sophisticated tools to control the way their content is displayed, and a unique user interface built entirely around the work shared by our members who are connected through the Cargo network. 

Today, thanks to the consistent quality of the work presented here, we like to think of Cargo as a creative community participating in a constantly evolving visual culture, defined by the exceptional content that finds its way here.  

It sounds like a good way to get started! Maybe it's something I will be looking into.