How to Create an Art Website With Thumbnails

Whether you are an artist or gallery owner, showcasing your art online is a great way to gain recognition. The biggest problem is that in order to capture the nuances of the artwork you need high resolution images. Those images are large files, which take a long time to download. Instead of making website visitors wait, put thumbnails, or smaller versions of the images, on your main page, then when visitors click on the thumbnail they can view or download the larger image.

Photograph Your Artwork

Step 1

Set up your artwork for photography. Choose a plain background that contrasts with the artwork, and look for an area with light shade. You do not want to photograph in deep shade because the colors will be muted, but you do not want direct sunlight either. Direct sunlight will cause the colors to look faded in the photograph.

Step 2

If the artwork is framed behind glass, remove it from the frame to minimize glare.

Step 3

Use a tripod or set the camera on a stable surface directly in front of the artwork. Set your camera to take the highest resolution images possible, and save them as RAW or TIFF files. Take several shots of the artwork, so you can decide later which is the best image.

Step 4

Download the images from your camera to your computer.

Step 5

Open the images in Photoshop Elements and crop them, fix the contrast, and make any other adjustments necessary to produce an accurate image of the artwork. Save the files as TIFF images, then re-save as JPEG files. TIFF images retain all the data originally captured by the camera. JPEG images are compressed, so some data is lost.

Step 6

Create thumbnails. Use the resize function in your photo manipulation software to shrink the images to approximately 150 pixels by 100 pixels. Be sure to retain image aspect ratio to avoid distorting the image. Save this file as a thumbnail version of the larger image. Be sure to name it something you will recognize later.

Create Your Website

Step 1

Go online and find a template for your website. If you are using blogging software or a content management system, be sure the template you choose is compatible with that software. There are plenty of free and low cost templates available. A good place to start looking is Template Monster (see Resources).

Step 2

Load the template into your blogging software, content management system, or web design software. Create a "Home" page, "About" page, "Gallery" page and "Contact" page. Also, create any other pages that you need or want for your website.

Step 3

Write the content for your website. A short welcome statement belongs on the "Home" page. An artist's statement or description of your gallery should go into the "About" page. Your contact information--an email address, and the address of your gallery if you are a gallery owner is the minimum amount of information you should include on this page. If you have Facebook or Twitter accounts, post that information as well.

Step 4

Use FTP software to upload your images--both the large JPEG image files and the thumbnails--to your web-hosting account.

Step 5

Create the "Gallery" page. Display the thumbnail images, with a brief description or title of the artwork next to each thumbnail. Create a link from each thumbnail to the larger image.

References

• EmptyEasel.com: How to Photograph Artwork

Resources

• Template Monster

About the Author

Tricia Ballad has written professionally since 2004. She has authored three books, as well as numerous articles on parenting and website content involving green living. Her work has appeared in Natural Family Online and Budget Artists. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with a creative writing specialization from Bradley University.