Artist Website Design: Websites for Visual Artists, Musicians, Tattoo Artists, Makeup Artists and Performers

Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Progression Agency provides artist website design for visual artists, painters and sculptors, illustrators, musicians and bands, tattoo artists, makeup artists, photographers and performers across the United States and worldwide: work presented at full quality, available pieces, music or bookings sold or booked directly, exhibitions, tour dates and press kept current by you, and a site that is found for your name, your medium and your city.

What artist website design covers

Artist website design is the design and build of a site for a working artist or performer. The word covers many practices, and the site differs by what the artist sells and how: originals and prints, commissions, music and merchandise, tattoo bookings, makeup services, performances and licensing. What they share is a body of work that must be shown well, a name that must be found, and a list of people who want to hear when something new happens. Compare portfolio website design for hire-me sites and photography website design for client galleries.

Artist websites by practice

Showing the work properly

Visual work needs accurate color, correct proportions and room to breathe: large images with captions that give title, medium, dimensions and year; installation or in-situ views where they exist; series grouped so a viewer can follow a body of work. Music needs an embedded player that starts fast and links to every platform. Tattoo and makeup work needs healed or finished results by category. All of it needs compression that preserves detail, because uncompressed images make artist sites slow on the phones most visitors use.

Selling and booking without a platform in the middle

Available works can be sold with checkout (Shopify, Squarespace Commerce, Big Cartel) or by inquiry for higher-value pieces; prints through print-on-demand or your own fulfillment; music through Bandcamp or your own store with streaming links beside it; tattoo and makeup bookings through forms that ask the questions you need (placement, size, reference, date, location) with deposits via Stripe or Square. Your email list belongs on the site too, because it is the one channel no platform can take away.

Platforms for artist websites

Being found for your name, medium and place

Artist search is mostly by name, then by medium and place (“abstract painter Brooklyn”, “fine line tattoo artist Austin”, “bridal makeup artist Chicago”). The site should state the medium and the city in text on the home and about pages, keep a CV and exhibition history as text, and carry Person and VisualArtwork or MusicGroup data from schema.org so that search engines and AI assistants can answer “who is [artist]” and “[medium] artists in [city]” accurately. Consistent facts across the site, Instagram, Bandcamp, gallery pages and press are what make those answers right. See photographer SEO.

Integrations

How we design and build an artist website

1. Practice review: what you make, what you sell or book, who buys, and what should be found first.
2. Selection: the work and series for the site, with details for every piece.
3. Structure: work, shop or booking, shows, about and CV, press, contact and list.
4. Design: typography and layout that defer to the work; color-accurate image handling.
5. Build: Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow or WordPress; commerce or booking; players and embeds; structured data.
6. Content: statements, captions, CV and press edited with you; alt text for every work.
7. Launch: domain, redirects from old platforms, speed and accessibility checks, analytics.
8. After launch: adding work and shows yourself, with a checklist we leave you.

What artist website design costs

Artist website mistakes

• An Instagram grid instead of a website, with no way to buy, book or subscribe.
• Images with no title, medium, size or year, so nothing can be searched or sold.
• Uncompressed photographs that take seconds to load on a phone.
• No mention of medium or city in text, so the site is invisible beyond your name.
• Booking by DM with no form, deposit or availability, so requests are lost.
• Exhibitions and tour dates that are years out of date.
• A domain owned by a friend who built the first site.
• No email list, leaving every relationship on a platform you do not control.

Artist website design by practice

Painters, sculptors and printmakers

Works organized by series with medium, dimensions, year and availability; exhibitions, press and a CV that galleries and curators expect.

Photographers and video artists

Series with sequencing and scale in mind, editions and prints, screenings and installations documented properly.

Illustrators and commercial artists

Client work and personal work separated, licensing and commissions explained, a shop for prints and originals; overlaps with portfolio website design.

Ceramicists, textile and craft artists

Shop-first sites with collections, custom orders and wholesale inquiries, plus the story of materials and process.

Performing and digital artists

Events, recordings, commissions and archives; digital work presented in the format it was made for.

What to gather before an artist website project starts

• Works with images, titles, medium, dimensions, year and availability.
• Series statements and an artist statement.
• CV: education, exhibitions, awards, collections, press.
• Gallery representation and how sales should route.
• Print and original pricing, editions and shipping rules.
• Commission process and pricing approach.
• Studio, exhibition and installation photography.
• Press clippings and interviews with links.
• Newsletter list and social profiles.
• Domain and any existing identity.
• Upcoming exhibitions and open studio dates.
• Collections that hold your work, with permission to name them.
• Shipping, framing and insurance arrangements for sales.

Measuring an artist website after launch

• Sales and commission inquiries per month.
• Print and original orders and average value.
• Gallery, curator and press inquiries.
• Rankings for your name and medium-plus-subject phrases.
• Newsletter growth around exhibitions.
• Views per series and works most inquired about.
• Load time on image-heavy pages.
• Exhibition page traffic before and after openings.

How Progression Agency builds artist websites

We design and build artist websites from New York City for artists, musicians, tattoo and makeup artists and performers across the United States and worldwide, with sales, booking, music and list integrations and the structure that gets you found for your name, medium and city. Related: portfolio website design, photography website design, musician website design, Squarespace design services and website design and development.

Frequently asked questions