**Environment Portfolio Site Ideas**

kimchee519

I'm working on creating a new website to showcase my environments and props. I want it to be very simple to navigate and easy click around and get to the point of the art, basically like some of my favorite artists site here for example:

http://www.meshmodeler.com/index.html

http://ilyanedyal.com/index.html

http://www.mayvin.be/index.php

The problem is I've never created a website before or know what is the best host to use to easily create something like those sites. Any ideas or site hosts you guys have used in the past that have easy to use functions to create a site like what I'm looking for? Thanks for any feedback.

John Ehresmann

If you have Zero experience in web design, there's a few different options for you, all depending on how much time/money you have to invest in building a site/how much you really feel like putting into making the site.

For me, I had a scripting/coding background, before going over to the art side of games, so for me it was a no brainer to try and build my own site from scratch. That being said, there are other options, I'll list a few for you here.

Of the paid/most work to put into it route, you can go with anything from godaddy.com, to fatcow.com (my personal choice.) just head into google and do a search for top web hosts, shop around and see what fits your needs.

You'll also want to either look into buying a template, if you don't feel comfortable learning how to do all the coding yourself, or if you do...well learning how to. I personally use the twitter bootstrap framework, which you can find here

If you're looking for an incredibly effective, straight forward kind of look, Jeff Parrot's portfolio site is pretty awesome.

Jeff Parrot

That being said, some free options that have been presented are Wix sites. They're free, have a decent amount of customization, and I believe you have the option to pay for premium services.

WIX

Another, free service, that I've seen but haven't actually looked at is Dropr. I got some kind of email from them a few weeks back, but haven't really explored it yet. From what I can tell it's a site dedicated to portfolios.

Dropr

And finally, there's always wordpress. Also free, have some decent layouts, and if you really want they offer premium layouts, that are more geared towards the art side of things. If you want to take a look at my portfolio site, and blog

johnehresmann3d site

johnehresmann3d blog

The content in the actual portfolio is still really rough, but that's not what matters, just trying to show you two different ends of the spectrum. Hope this helps, sorry if I rambled a bit. Sometimes I do that .

Jeff Parrott

Thanks for the plug John. Mine is designed around me being lazy and wanting to update it fast. Also get the images in front of people asap is a huge deal. Simplify! Why do you need a 2 inch tall header? If not get rid of it. Make it easy to view images.

Use wix and you're going to get a lot of hate. A good portion from me. Wix is really dated. Use tumblr, http://www.squarespace.com or something easy.

kimchee519

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Jeff Parrot What did you do to make your site? I like the simplicity of it!

John Ehresmann

Listen to Jeff, he's been one of my Yoda's, in beating me over the head to simplify my work and be more focused.

CarlK3D

Dropr looks really cool I also haven't used it so I cant really say anything about how it operates.

I went through lots of different sites & designs for my site before I got it to what I Imagined in my head. I used Wordpress, Carbonmade, Cargo collective & Weebly <- $99 wasted there
Now I use Wix for everything, having only just got into wix this year I dont know that its outdated or anything but compared to everything I've used its the only one that allows my 100% customization with no Template limits.
When I say 100% customization I mean all drop and drag, no diving into CSS or HTML to make design changes

But you can easily get the design you want with squarespace, Dropr (from what I've seen) & wix

.Wiki

CarlK3D wrote: »

When I say 100% customization I mean all drop and drag, no diving into CSS or HTML to make design changes

A problem I noticed was that these sites are really slow in therms of loading times and responsibility. I would´nt recommend to build a portfolio with these sandboxes.
There are some easy portfolio threads here on polycount Like this

Personally i prefer to write my own code, or at least my own template for a cms so i have 100% control of whats coming out in the end and are able to find troublemakers. Thise sites like wix have imho closed code and you can only pull some sliders and elements.

For my site i used a simple cms called "cmsimple". Its easy to set up and requires only a php server running. No database is required because all content is only stored in *.txt files. And finally, my site...

Edit:

Ahh and before i forget it. A mobile friendly layout could be a big plus point

JustGarry

Those portfolios you linked to at the start are the way to go so your on the right track, I used Javier Perez's one for inspiration on mine also. (garrysoutar.com)

I made mine using a HTML template, but really all you need is a couple of pages and a couple of html links between them, you don't have to be a programmer .

Also make sure that your images aren't huge PNG's

Jeff Parrott

Sorry kimchee519 just saw this thread pop up. Not sure how I missed it. I use KompoZer http://kompozer.net to html it up. Truth be told I mocked it up in Word though first. My thought process was make a website simple enough that it can be done in Word then translate it to html. In the end make it easy to update when you add new work and make sure it's easy/fast to view the work.

lamar McHaney

First rule to remember when making an art portfolio, is to keep it simple. I know you probably want to be different, their are plenty of websites out there that have a matte grey background with a simple nav bar. However that's the point, you don't want to take time to make a crazy website because that's not the career you're pursuing.

What makes your website stand out from others is the content you put on it. Second, make sure to pick the best of your work. Do not show everything unless it is of a quality you feel represents your work well. Do not put up WIPs, that's why you have a blog (if you don't you should get one).

I recently finished my website and made it simple as possible lamarmchaney.tumblr.com. Similar to john, I had experience in coding so making a website as simple as this one was not a burden on me.

Here is also a list from a dev with a couple of things industry people are looking for Portfolio Tips

When making your website remember what your main goal is and what you are presenting for industry people.

PyrZern

lamar McHaney wrote: »

First rule to remember when making an art portfolio, is to keep it simple. I know you probably want to be different, their are plenty of websites out there that have a matte grey background with a simple nav bar. However that's the point, you don't want to take time to make a crazy website because that's not the career you're pursuing.

What makes your website stand out from others is the content you put on it. Second, make sure to pick the best of your work. Do not show everything unless it is of a quality you feel represents your work well. Do not put up WIPs, that's why you have a blog (if you don't you should get one).

I recently finished my website and made it simple as possible lamarmchaney.tumblr.com. Similar to john, I had experience in coding so making a website as simple as this one was not a burden on me.

Here is also a list from a dev with a couple of things industry people are looking for Portfolio Tips

When making your website remember what your main goal is and what you are presenting for industry people.

That is done in Tumblr ? impressive.

lamar McHaney

Thank you PyrZern