Nowadays, every artist should have a website. WordPress is one of the most popular website builders around. But is WordPress good for artists? In this honest WordPress Review by an artist, you will learn why or why not you should create an artist website using WordPress. Should you decide to make an art portfolio or to sell your art on WordPress, you will find a selection of the best WordPress themes for artists at the bottom of this post!
WordPress is a popular website building system that lets you create almost any kind of website you can think of. It’s extremely versatile and gives you full control over the design of your website.
The numbers speak for themselves: WordPress powers around 40% of all websites on the web, which is more than 80 million websites! This just goes to show how popular it is.
But first of all, a quick note about wordpress.com and wordpress.org:
In this post, we will be talking about the content management system wordpress.org and I will give you may honest opinion whether or not WordPress is good for artists.
But hang on… are you still wondering if an artist should have a website at all?
Should an artist have a website?
The internet holds enormous potential for creatives of all fields. Whether you’re a traditional painter, digital artist, photographer, illustrator, etc., making a website for your art is the most effective way to build a brand, market your products or services, and showcase & sell your art.
With all the social media platforms and art sharing websites around, you might wonder, ‘why should I make a website for my art?’.
Because fact is YOUR website is the only place where YOU have full control over your content.
It might seem that social media is all you need to promote and sell your art. However, these sites should serve as a complement to your own website, and not replace it. They are rather a way to help you create exposure for your art and drive traffic to your artist website.
But making a website for your art has even more advantages. Your artist website is what comes up first when someone searches you online. That means you have way better chances to be found by potential customers and art lovers.
If that hasn’t convinced you quite yet, read on about 10 Reasons Why You Should Make A Website For Your Art.
Is blogging good for artists?
WordPress actually started out as a simple blogging platform at WordPress.com. But then, it quickly developed into the highly flexible CMS as we know it today from WordPress.org.
Nevertheless, WordPress has kept is blogging capabilities, and having your own blog is definitely good for artists, too. Why?
Because your blog is an excellent way of connecting with like-minded artists, art lovers, and potential customers.
A blog lets you tell the story of your art. You know the most about the art you make and you know best how to describe your work. The more your fans understand about your work, the more they are enticed to buy it.
But blogging is not only good for artists to drive traffic and sales. It can also be an extremely satisfying experience on a creative level. You can use your artist blog to inspire others to create art and to recommend the best tools to make art. But you can also help other artists by letting them know how to use Photoshop or how to build their own artist website.
All in all, blogging is good for artists because it’s beneficial in many ways.
Is WordPress best for an artist website?
There’s no general answer to that question. Because whether WordPress is best for your artist website is largely down to personal preference.
How flexible and customizable do you want your artist website to be? How much time are you willing to invest into learning WordPress? How much effort are you ready to put into building a website on your own?
Because WordPress is so scalable and powerful, it has a much higher learning curve than other website builders in the market. You don’t need any coding skills to get to grips with WordPress, but it’s not as easy to use as Squarespace, Wix or Weebly.
Related: Is Squarespace Good For Artists? – A Squarespace Review For Visual Creatives
Those platforms come with drag-and-drop website builders that are straightforward and intuitive to work with. So if you want to put together a website rather quickly, those are the best website builders for your artist website.
WordPress itself doesn’t come with a native visual editor. However, you can install additional plugins that provide you with all the comfort of designing your artist website just by dragging and dropping elements on your selected WordPress template.
One of the best website builders for WordPress is Elementor – which I also used to make my art website. Elementor even comes with a free version that gives you all the tools you need to create a basic WordPress site.
Don’t worry – Elementor is super-easy to use and you don’t need any coding knowledge whatsoever. To learn more about Elementor, check out my Elementor Tutorial for Beginners and my Elementor Review for Photographers and Artists.
If you want website functionality beyond Elementor, you can use free and premium Elementor add-ons, such as Essential Addons for Elementor and Ultimate Addons for Elementor.
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Why is WordPress good for artists?
There are lots of good reasons to use WordPress for your artist website. I have built this art website with WordPress and I am absolutely happy with it! That being said, this WordPress review is somewhat biased (◕‿◕) – but I honestly can recommend WordPress for artists, especially for the following reasons:
Reason #1: It’s free.
WordPress is open source software. That means it doesn’t cost any money. You can download the content management system from WordPress.org and start making your artist website on your local computer. However, once you decide to make your website go live, you will need to buy hosting and a domain name. This doesn’t have to be expensive. You can get both for just a couple of dollars per month…
Reason #2: You have full control.
Because WordPress is so highly customizable, you can make your website look like anything you want – from a simple art portfolio to an ecommerce platform to sell your art. I am going to introduce some of the best website templates for artists later on in this post that will allow you to present your art and yourself as the artist exactly the way you wish.
Reason #3: You are the sole owner.
Your WordPress site belongs to you and only you. When you upload your artwork to social media, art sharing sites or to a website made with one of the standard website builders (like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, …), you are not really the owner. Your website is just part of the platform, and if the platform disappears, your artist website disappears altogether!
WordPress is self-hosted. You can keep your website files on your local computer and pick your own hosting provider that best suits your needs. If you’re not happy with the hosting anymore, you can simply move your WordPress site over to another hosting company.
Reason #4: Highly customizable and functional.
WordPress comes with extremely customizable designs and lots of functionality. Since WordPress is open source, you will get full access to all HTML and CSS files to modify any pre-made theme to your liking. You can customize anything from colors, fonts, navigation menus, post and page layouts, website header and footer. You can place elements pretty much anywhere you want on the web page. There are practically no limits!
Related: Best Hyperlink Colors For Your Artist Website – With Hyperlink Style Guide
Reason #5: Lots of plugins and addons.
There are heaps of third-party tools to extend the design and functionality of your WordPress site. There are more than 50,000 free and premium plugins and addons to help you create whatever website you want. You can add a portfolio gallery, online store, membership area, and much much more. There are specific WordPress artist plugins that enable you to create beautiful art galleries to showcase your work.
Feel free to have a look at my step-by-step tutorials to find out how to make an art gallery in WordPress:
Reason #6: You can find help everywhere.
Since WordPress is open source and has been around for quite some time, there is a lot of free help available. WordPress has an active community of users and developers who share their knowledge on the web.
You can look up just about any kind of WordPress problem and find a how-to article or video tutorial to help you solve it. I have published dozens of WordPress tutorials on this website, too, to help you get your artist website up and running!
Why should an artist not have a WordPress website?
Despite all the good that WordPress offers for artists, there are a few reasons why an artist should not have a WordPress site:
Reason #1: There’s a learning curve.
WordPress is definitely not as fast to learn as other website builders in the market. You don’t need any coding skills to build a website with WordPress, but you will need to acquire some sort of technical knowledge to customize and design your theme.
You also need to get familiar with the plugins you are using. Even though Elementor, for instance, is a so-called visual “What you see is what you get” editor, it takes some time getting used to. Moreover, you will also need some technical knowledge to setup and manage your hosting. Using WordPress means managing your own hosting – and having some patience every time you encounter a problem.
That being said, you shouldn’t build your artist website with WordPress if you don’t have the time to put into learning the skill and if you are not ready to take the challenge of solving technical problems yourself.
If that’s the case, then using one of the website builders is the better option for you!
Reason #2: You are in charge of your website.
As I mentioned above, having full control over your WordPress website can be a good thing. On the other hand, you are also the one that is in charge of everything. That means you are responsible for hosting your artist website, keeping it secure, making regular backups, installing updates, etc.
If you have your site hosted with one of the website building platforms, the company will take care of these things. If there’s a problem, all you need to do is contact the customer support and they will fix it for you. With a self-hosted WordPress site, however, you can automate some of that stuff, but in the end you are at the helm.
How do I make an art portfolio in WordPress?
Because it’s so flexible, you can basically make any kind of artist website using WordPress. As an artist or other creative, you have primarily two options: you can make an art portfolio in WordPress or you can make an ecommerce website to sell art.
There are countless WordPress art gallery themes around you can choose from. Many artists prefer a clean and simple design to put the focus on their artwork. Choosing a minimalist WordPress theme will allow to make a portfolio that puts the focus on your art!
Can you sell art on WordPress?
Of course, you can also sell your art on WordPress. There are numerous ways to build an online store for your artwork.
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress sites. And the best thing is that it’s free and very powerful! You can create an entire store front with products in different variants, shopping cart, discounts and coupons, product management, shipping zone and tax rate calculation, and much more. To learn more, check out my full guide to selling art on WordPress with WooCommerce.
To help you find the best template for your needs, we’ve hand-picked the best WordPress themes for artists that are easy to use, versatile and offer lots of design possibilities to put your art in the limelight.
Here is a selection of the best multi-purpose and minimal WordPress themes that are all suitable for creative portfolios. They are compatible with the top WordPress plugins, and many of them also come with e-commerce capability.
Best WordPress themes for artists to make an art portfolio and sell art
1. OceanWP
If you are still not sure whether WordPress is good for artists, then check out OceanWP. OceanWP is my favorite WordPress theme that I am also using for this website. It offers countless design possibilities and exceptional functionality. You can make it look like anything – from a minimalist WordPress template to a sophisticated e-commerce online platform. OceanWP is fully compatible with WooCommerce and Elementor and most other plugins to add all the features to your WordPress site that you can dream of!
→ Is OceanWP A Good Theme For Artists? – Hands-On Review By An Artist
2. Astra
Astra is another lightweight multipurpose theme with a 5-star rating and more than a million customers. It comes with an array of ready-to-use starter templates that you can customize to look like anything without any coding knowledge necessary. Astra is made for page builders and eCommerce; you can customize everything from pages, posts, archives, sidebars, header and footer. Whether you want to create a minimal portfolio or a large online store – with Astra you have all the design freedom you can wish for!
3. Divi
Divi is another popular WordPress theme with dozens of designs that can be customized to almost anything. It is bundled with the Divi page builder, enabling you to build an artist website in no time. The theme is lightweight and fast-loading; all layouts are SEO-friendly and mobile-responsive. Just like with OceanWP and Astra, you will have access to ecommerce functionality to add your own web shop and drive sales.
4. GeneratePress
GeneratePress is a popular WordPress theme with a 5-star rating and 200,000+ active installations. It is very powerful, yet one of the most lightweight and fastest themes in the market. GeneratePress is easy to use; you can customize it with the native WordPress editor (Gutenberg block editor) or another drag-and-drop builder like Elementor and Beaver Builder. You can create custom portfolios, gallery and blog pages, and your very own online art store thanks to seamless WooCommerce integration.
5. Hestia Pro
Hestia Pro is a slick WordPress theme that is optimized for fast loading speeds. It comes with ready-made designs for all sections of your website that you can install at one click. Hestia Pro works with many page builders, including Gutenberg, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and Divi. The Pro version features enhanced WooCommerce compatibility. There are two different store designs you can choose from that will both allow you to build a high-converting online shop exactly the way you want.
6. Kalium
Kalium is a powerful minimalist WordPress theme for artists that makes your portfolio stand out. Kalium comes with 13 premade demos ready to use and the inbuilt WPBakery Page Builder for easy web design. You will get lots of art-specific features like galleries, slide shows, image sliders, and more. If that sounds like right down your alley, then check out Kalium today!
7. Folie
Folie is a minimal WordPress theme with a responsive layout. It’s easy to customize and also comes with the WPBakery Page Builder. You can use one of the pre-designed templates or create your own website from scratch. There are two more premium plugins in the package: MailChimp for email opt-ins and forms, and Slider Revolution for galleries. If you want to sell your art, you’ll be delighted to hear that Folie also offers WooCommerce integration for your online store.
8. Uniq
Uniq is a multi-purpose theme for creatives. It has a clean and minimalist layout that lets you show your portfolio, add pages, a blog, and an online store. You can choose from several premade demos that you can customize to your liking. There are altogether nine portfolio and fourteen blog templates to get your artist website up and running quickly. Uniq is easy to adapt to your personal needs, so why not give it a try?
9. Arnold
Arnold is a distinctive minimal portfolio theme that is fully responsive and optimized for WooCommerce. The gallery widget has everything to make your art look good and get it out there seen: the Lazy Load feature loads your gallery images gradually to ensure the best possible user experience, and the inbuilt social share buttons allow getting the word out about your art easily. You can choose from eight demos and countless other layouts, so you don’t need to create your art portfolio from scratch.
10. Kleanity
Kleanity is a clean and modern multi-purpose WordPress theme. It’s ideal for artists and other creatives thanks to its image-focused design. The home page features a huge hero image to showcase your best work; different gallery layouts let you showcase your portfolio in the best light. There are several demos to choose from and every demo lets you custom-design your website within minutes. Overall, Kleanity is the perfect minimalist WordPress theme for artists to showcase their portfolio and sell art!
11. Air
Air is a lightweight multi-purpose WordPress theme. It comes with a very versatile design and puts your creativity into the focus. Air is elegant, user-friendly and packed with massive features. You can build your artist business with seamless integration of WooCommerce, create art galleries with different layouts and social sharing buttons, and include contact forms to make it easy for your customers to reach out to you. Air lets you customize hearders, footers, sidebars and blog posts just the way you want. If you want maximum flexibility and functionality for your artist website, don’t forget to check out Air!
12. Simple & Elegant
Simple & Elegant, as its name suggests, is an aesthetic WordPress theme with lots of functionality. The premade layouts are breathtaking and present your artwork in the best possible way. You can add your own online store to make some money selling your art. Simple & Elegant is the perfect WordPress theme for artists who appreciate a clean, minimalist design but don’t want to do without all the features to take your artist website to the next level.
13. Manon
Manon is a stunning WordPress theme that lets you start building your personal artist website right away. It offers a decent selection of ready-made demos with various portfolio layouts for flexible customization. Manon comes coupled with the WPBakery drag-and-drop editor to build your artist website visually without any coding. But you can use any other editor as well and add your favorite plugins for even more functionality. Manon is ideal for all creatives who want to promote their products and services.
14. Opta
Opta is a clean WordPress theme tailored to artists and photographers. It includes custom gallery and portfolio pages, access to 600+ Google web fonts, and is compatible with all common WordPress plugins. Opta has a responsive design that makes your artist website look good on all devices. The theme has been around for quite some time, so it comes with detailed documentation, regular updates and great customer support!
15. Lobo
Lobo is a popular WordPress portfolio theme with thousands of happy users. It offers elegant layouts in the masonry grid style, is fully responsive and retina ready. Lobo is optimal for artists, photographers, and other creatives who want a professional-looking website with an individual touch. With full WooCommerce support, Lobo also allows you to create an online store easily and start selling your art. Parallax image effects and Lobo’s sticky header give extra design effects to your art website!
I hope this review helped you decide whether or not WordPress is good for your artist website. Let me know how you like WP and whether you can recommend it for artists! See you on the next post, Angie ✌️
I’ve read some excellent stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. Thank you for all your efforts you put into this website!
Thank you so much, Quincy, it means a lot to me to hear that from my readers! ♥︎
I enjoy reading through and I conceive this website got some truly useful stuff on it! .
Great to hear that! Thanks for leaving a comment, Geanopulos.
Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
Hi Sibyl!
WordPress itself doesn’t make any SEO plugins. However, you can add a third-party plugin to optimize your posts.
YoastSEO and RankMath, for example, are great plugins for search optimization. They’re both free!
I’m using YoastSEO for my website, too.
This review was a lifesaver! Now that my website is up, how do I optimize it for search engines? Any specific plugins or strategies you recommend to improve visibility and attract more visitors to my artist portfolio?
For search engine optimization I recommend using a plugin like YoastSEO or RankMath. Both are powerful SEO plugins that show you where your content needs optimization to rank well in Google and other search engines. They are both free, so you can try them out to see which one you like better. I’m personally using YoastSEO for my site.
I tried WordPress for my art website, but I found it a bit overwhelming at first. After spending some time learning the ropes, I now appreciate the powerful tools it offers. It’s definitely a solid platform for artists, but be ready to invest some time in getting to know all its features.
I agree. It takes some time getting to grips with WordPress. I think I’ve probably spend altogether three months watching tutorials, learning and setting up everything. First you have to understand the WordPress dashboard, then your theme, then WooCommerce and then maybe your page builder. But I believe in the end, it really pays off. You have your own super-versatile website that just belongs to you!