The 10 Best Artist Website Templates | Website Builder Expert
Our independent research projects and impartial reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more
Artists, photographers or creatives of any kind will understand the importance of creating a visually impactful website. Your artwork speaks for itself, but you’ll also need a platform that makes a great impression, and showcases your portfolio splendidly.
But as well as being able to display the work that you do in the most striking way, you’ll also want to choose a website template that’s packed with useful functionality. Things like being able to incorporate an ecommerce shop for prints or merchandise, hosting your gallery and archive, allowing space to tell the story behind your art, and incorporating your social media channels are all vital – whether you’re an established artist, or just starting out.
To help provide a source of inspiration for artists, graphic designers, photographers, writers and creatives of all shapes and sizes, we’ve compiled a list of the best artist website templates, based on our expertise and customer reviews.
Here’s our top 10:
1 Charmed
Made with GoDaddy
Our first template is the ‘Charmed’ theme from GoDaddy, which is a gallery-style portfolio website. We like how it allows you to cleanly and effortlessly display multiple galleries simultaneously, which can be themed in the style of art. As default, you’ll find pages for your shop, contact details and ‘About’ section to tell the story behind your pieces, all located within an easy-to-use sidebar navigation. We recommend this template for:
- Clean and striking gallery-style design
- Easy to navigate
- Display multiple galleries at once based on a particular theme or style
2 Creative Portfolio
Made with Duda
Next up is this visually appealing theme for your creative portfolio from Duda, that looks good – and performs well – across multiple different mobile and desktop devices. Often, templates will be laid out in a straight grid format – but we like how this theme is slightly staggered, to add interest and really show off each piece of art.
For any artist whose work also includes animations, this template allows video files or GIFs to display as part of the grid. It also provides a much-needed burst of color, with bright colors utilized alongside the clean, white spaces of the theme’s backdrop. Choose this template for:
- Image and animation focused grid layout
- Well optimized for different devices
- A super easy-to-use platform
3 Photography
Made with GoDaddy
If your main form of art is photography, we strongly recommend choosing a template such as ‘Nate Bayonet‘, this picture-led template from GoDaddy. The pared-back black and white design makes photographs look stunning, both on the simple homepage and the gallery page. Plus, features such as an integrated email subscription button allow visitors to sign up to receive notifications, so they’ll always be able to see your latest pieces.
Here’s why you should choose this template:
- Simple black and white design that heroes your photography
- Social media and subscriber sign up buttons
- Effortless – yet visually stunning – gallery page
4 Poster Store
Made with Wix
The ‘Poster Store’ template from Wix is brilliant if you’re looking to monetize your artwork, and create an ecommerce store. The home page looks visually inviting, with a combination of block color and imagery showcasing your pieces.
The store page allows visitors to filter your portfolio based on criteria such as color, price, or collection name, and there’s even a smart feature which allows you to integrate a social media feed based into your page.
There are a lot of reasons to choose this template, including:
- Smart store features to monetize your artworks
- Well designed homepage, combining function with beauty
- Integrated social media hashtags
5 Gates
Made with Squarespace
The ‘Gates’ template from Squarespace warrants a mention because of its eye-catching design. The template features barely any white space or gaps between its visual elements, which really allows your artwork to shine through.
In the example given below, the medium shown is architecture and photography. However, we think this template will work well for many different types of art and design, including paintings, illustrations, photography and more. Choose this template for:
- A bold and elegant design
- Simple, no frills ‘About’ page
- Striking gallery that displays your pieces beautifully
6 Gallery
Made with Duda
Duda’s gallery template is a great option for artists looking to build their presence online, whilst also highlighting their real life gallery or exhibitions. We love how this template has everything you need within one seamlessly scrolling homepage. The prominently displayed upcoming exhibitions section can be continually updated, whilst the gallery section is beautifully laid out. Choose this template for:
- Everything you need on one seamless and slickly designed page
- Ways to showcase your art digitally, along with upcoming exhibitions
- Muted grey, black, and white palette
7 Minimal
Made with Shopify
Shopify is an expert when it comes to ecommerce and creating digital stores, so its Minimal template is, unsurprisingly, ideal for any artist looking to monetize their creations.
Whether you want to sell limited edition prints, postcards, merchandise or more, this template can help make that process easy for you. We’re a huge fan of the extra ecommerce options it gives you, such as the ability to bundle up your products, run special discounts and a quick and easy payment system. Reasons to choose this template include:
- Great for ecommerce and running your own online store
- Product listings to display and sell your art
- Smart features to maximize business
8 Carmine
Made with Squarespace
The ‘Carmine’ template is a blast of color, ideal for helping your site cut through the noise of the web, and make your website stand out. We’ve chosen this option from Squarespace because of its striking, simple design, which will work particularly well if you’re about to host an exhibition, event, or sale that you want to draw your site’s visitors to.
The design is also sleek and effortless, which is important for anyone with a keen eye for art. Plus, we like the built-in blog pages as part of this template; they help you to tell the story behind your art, and cause it to better resonate with your audience. If you choose this template, you can guarantee:
- A design that really stands out
- Ideal for art exhibitions
- Option to add blog posts to tell your story
9 Art School
Made with Wix
We love how the ‘Art School’ template from Wix features one, striking piece of art as the hero image of the page. If you have a signature style or piece of art which you’re known for, then this template will showcase that brilliantly and draw your visitors in to explore further.
There’s also plenty of stylish design elements, including the elegant use of white space, copy and fonts, as well as nicely laid out gallery sections. We’d recommend choosing this template for the following reasons:
- Great for hero-ing a single, standout piece of art
- Striking typographic design elements
- Built-in gallery to showcase your pieces
10 Hand Drawings
Made with Wix
Last but not least is this template from Wix, ‘Hand Drawings‘, which we think is one of the best choices for showing off intricate, smaller pieces of art. Many templates feature one, large hero image, which can work well for many artists wanting to make an impact. However, if you have multiple designs or artwork that you want to show off all at once, this charming template can help you to achieve that.
We love the artistic touches: like using drawing paper as the background, and the script-style fonts. Choose this template if you need:
- A template that showcases multiple intricate or smaller pieces at once
- A charming, purposefully old-fashioned design
- Gallery that lets you tell the story behind each piece
The 10 Best Artist Website Templates: Summary
We hope this article has helped to inspire you, and acts as a launchpad for you to begin creating your own artist website. As discussed, the best artist website templates are those which really showcase your pieces, and let your beautiful work speak for itself. Whether your medium is painting, illustration, animation, photography, graphic design or more, we hope this list has provided you with some brilliant ideas and options.
Whichever template you decide on, make sure it includes useful features for either selling or showcasing your art. Look for options such as a well laid out gallery and built-in ecommerce functionality for selling your art, as well as blogs and explainers where you can tell the story behind your pieces. You’ll also require the option to add contact forms, social media buttons, and event listings, so people can stay in touch and find out more – so it’s worth making sure your chosen website builder allows this before committing to a template.
Of course, it’s also important that any creative has a website which looks great, so ensure to also choose something that reflects your personal style, and makes a strong first impression.
To take the next step in creating your artist website, check out our guide to the best website builders for artists, to help you choose the most suitable platform. Or, for more advice on the best ways to build your online portfolio, explore our in-depth article.
Leave a comment