Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with art and web

I need a lot of royalty-free pictures of California. Options?

rileyray3000 — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:51:28 -0800

So basically I need to swap out all the art on several websites with photos of California that we have the rights to use in perpetuity (as well as for print). I realize there's the "buy one at a time from Getty" avenue but I have neither the time or resources for that. What I need is a boatload of pics that I can use for commercial use that are all OF California (as well as some general use pics, graphics and art). A very big collection that I can hand to an intern so they can get swapping. I think in the old days you used to just be able to buy a CD-rom of images. Can you still do that? Are there full collections with hundreds of pics? Or are there any free collections that anyone knows about that are just public use for this purpose? My budget for this is not high (no more than a couple hundred bucks) so I'm open to any options possible.

Ohhhh, Dreaaaamweaaaverr

jorlyfish — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:47:25 -0800

Easy-to-use templates (or something?) for a visual arts portfolio site? I already have a domain name and hosting, so I'm not looking for DeviantArt/Tumblr/CargoCollective, etc. I'm an illustration student. I have a portfolio website (purchased from and hosted on A Small Orange) that I made in a web design class, and am a little nervous about breaking it by updating/fiddling with it too much. I need to update the work in there, and I'm also not crazy about the design aspects of it so much anymore, so I want to just do an overhaul. As I said, I took a class, so I have some experience with HTML/CSS -- enough to make a fairly simple yet fully functional website, but I had help with troubleshooting with my professor, and felt like this a lot. I feel like I know enough to not want to hire someone else to do it, but not quite enough to feel OK starting from scratch without the backing of an experienced professor in case everything goes horribly wrong.

So! I'm looking for some sort of template that makes it really easy for me to upload images, add/edit text, link to downloads (of my resume and CV or higher-res images), such that I will not be overwhelmed by the prospect of changing things. Does such a thing exist that I can use with my existing domain name and hosting, or am I better off just trying to recode the damn thing? I can link to my website if it ends up being relevant in terms of what features I need.

What is the Folk Web?

0bvious — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:41:30 -0800

I'm looking for 'Folk' Web Cultures. I am thinking of the recent take-down of Geocities, which seemed to refresh people's love of the naff, kitsch aesthetic it was famous for, as a prime example. What are some other folk cultures still lingering in the dark corners of the web? I use the term 'Folk' in the sense it is used to denote 'common people' cultures, including art, music, dance, songs and stories. The artists Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane collated a Folk Archive for the British Council a few years ago, it really gets to the heart of my use of the term.

The web is old enough now to have passed through several stages of infrastructural and aesthetic upheaval. What is quaint, outdated and kitsch for some still drives the passions of others (previously).

- What is, and where can I find, the Folk Web?

- What websites and archives have devoted themselves to highlighting and saving these cultures?

- Do you know any examples of writers, artists, designers who have been influenced, or abused a Folk Web culture in their contemporary work?

Website Where You Donate Art Concepts

Mobilisinmobili — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:51:53 -0800

What's the name of the website where artists can have an idea that they don't have time to do themselves? I forgot to bookmark it. Ie. I have a really good band name idea, but don't have time to do the work so I donate the right for someone to use the idea for a year.

A series of tubes for my arts.

overeducated_alligator — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:41:32 -0800

How do I keep all my artwork organized on my web site? I make a lot of different types of art. For example:

- traditional media sketches & paintings
- commissioned graphics/logo/illustration work
- panel comics
- silly doodles & cartoons
- figure drawings
- animation (video & GIFs)
- also, I make art tutorials (video and static)

I have a static web portfolio which has a "gallery" section, I put a sampling of work on there which essentially doesn't change. I also have a blog section, which is a Tumblr, where I post day-to-day sketches, etc.

I'd kind of like to get something which is more organized than the Tumblr, but simpler than FTPing new files to my web space and then updating the php/html of each static page. I like the Tumblr interface (I used to use Movable Type), but it doesn't seem that robust.

Ideally, I want there to be a central stream of new stuff, but every time I upload something new, I want it to go live permanently in a gallery section I assign it to. That way each section maintains its own chronology.

I'm OK with PHP/HTML/CSS/MySQL so I'm not afraid of writing a custom CMS if that's the best idea. If I go with an out-of-the-box system like Wordpress, how simple will it be for me to customize it?

Innovative websites as template/model for MFA research community

0bvious — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 06:26:18 -0800

I'm looking for examples of websites that have successfully enhanced a research community (academic or artistic) with a dynamic online/social/mutual-portfolio presence. Blog and social media based hubs, perhaps, that showcase the possibilities of web portfolio/research integration for academic and creative purposes. I've been asked to help implement a website/blogging platform for a community of 20 MFA students.

Basically I'd like to gather up some examples of dynamic websites attached to academia (or similar i.e. the arts). These examples will be then passed on to my superiors with an eye to developing our own platform that takes the best approaches we discover and adds/mutates them to our needs. The cream of the crop in terms of design, content and implementation.

The perfect fit would (perhaps) give each student their own (blog) space from day one, and have the content they choose to share dynamically interface with the other students as the course unfolds. We might use it as a portfolio format (the students are studying art and writing) or we might integrate it with the theoretical components of the course, use it to share tutorial feedback, or even open the reading we do to the wider world.

Ideally we will do this cheaply, with open-source software.

Send me some impressive and inspiring examples!

Cheers in advance

GIF Archaeology

0bvious — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:17:15 -0800

I'm writing a paper on (animated) GIFs and am trying to track down some of the most (in)famous. I suppose I am talking memes, but I'm more interested in the GIF as an archaeological reference point. I frequent sites like dump.fm, tumblr etc. so am quite tuned in to the glitchy/kitschy side of GIF culture. How theoretical have people got on these wonders of the web? How does one trace the history of an animated GIF? I have a personal take on this (my paper is only short), but would love to find some well recognised, well lauded or completely briliant, unknown theoretical essays on the subject.

When I ask for (in)famous GIFs I am really trying to track down GIFs that spawned a long running meme. There are LOTS of memes out there, and many of them have been turned into GIFs, but which memes specifically came from the GIF culture? Has anyone traced these lineages? How would one go about examining a GIF archaeologically (if that is at all possible)?

Cheers

Logging complete browser activity

victory_laser — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:09:02 -0800

I'm digital arts student who wants to visualize internet addiction. How do I log browser activity: not just history...but back, forward, scrolling, and the seconds between each action? I have a little coding experience but know nothing about how browsers/operating systems work and where I would get started trying to get this to happen. I'm in school and can get people to help me, and I want to learn about this stuff. I am more concerned with "how?" than "how difficult?" .

I would first like to get this working on my machine, but am interested in what roadblocks there would be to wrapping this up in an app/plugin that people can use to visualize their own use as well.

(The most accessible thing would be if one could just open a webpage, press a record button, and as long as that is open your activity will be recorded. Then when you're done, whatever processing functions I've created spit out the visualization. Common sense tells me that browsers have security measures against that type of thing, if it's even possible to code.)

Where on the Web might I find the thoughts and/or creations of amateur album art creato

Joe Beese — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:05:22 -0800

Where on the Web might I find the thoughts and/or creations of amateur album art creators?

How to host and display other's art on my website

nomadicink — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:37:18 -0800

I would like to post pictures on my blog and prevent Google from indexing and linking to the them and people from downloading them. How should I go about doing this? Note, these photos are not strictly my own, though some will be.

Sometimes I might see an interesting photographer or artist and make a post about it on my blog (hosted on my own server with Laughing Squid, using ExpressionEngine). When doing this, I'd like to put up a photo of the art (with proper credit and link back to the original artist of course) but do so in a way that my own website isn't impacted by doing this.

For instance, most of my referrers come from hosting some of these images on my own server and people finding them via Google searches. That's swell and all, but I don't see any reason for my website to be getting hits about other artists work, you know?

So, 1) Is there particular code I should use to prevent Google from indexing the images, but still indexing the text and posts? or 2) should I host the pictures on some free or cheap service, and then link to the on my blog?

A modular new media portfolio.

monocultured — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:46:38 -0800

I've decided to finally get create a portfolio modular enough so that I'll be able to reuse parts of it for at least a year or so. But how ought I go about this so as not to waste time. I'm an artist who works with web, sound, photography, video and text. 2010 is the year where I'm getting my stuff together and I'm applying for shows, grants, stipends and AIR programs. And for each program, I'm finding myself throwing a new portfolio together, and it's getting to the point where I realise that 50 hours spent on coming up with a sustainable, long-term solution to the portfolio would save me a ton of work and aggravation, so I'm casting about the best way of doing this.

I'd like the end product to be a system whereby I'd be able to specify (for example) to use the short-text English version of three selected art pieces, and have a pdf output, ready for either print or email, with a table of content and an introductory cover letter. (which would be specific to that particular output)

I guess I could bite the bullet and do this in LaTex; Being able to markup different versions of the project descriptions (I'd need them in Swedish as well as in English) would be useful, but I wonder if there isn't a neater DB solution for this, which isn't as thick with the ugly.

The brute force way of doing this would be do do finished, separate designs of each project description in InDesign or somesuch, and then just join whatever PDFs I need into a finished document. Doing global changes to the layout would be impossible though, as would proper page numbering and a TOC which takes the cover letter into account.

So maybe FileMaker or another such app would do? An added bonus would be if I could export for web, either into straight html or integrated with MySql or a CMS front end. (I'm using Wordpress)

Perfection is indeed the enemy of good, so as things stand I just want to get this done. Please advise.

What would I do without you guys, really?

Bageena — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:31:30 -0800

My friends and I are starting an artist collective in Phoenix, Arizona and we desperately need help thinking of a name. Can you help? Short explanation; I myself am an artist with, you know, the paper and the pencil and occasionally, some ink or acrylic or something. I have three friends that are photographers, another friend who's a painter, two friends who are musicians, and a few others who might also join. What we've decided we'd like to do is start a community blog where we all write individually what we're doing to try and break into the mainstream or just get our work seen. The main site will show all of our posts, broken down by individual members, along with a sort of swarm cloud that shows how often each artist works with the others.
Anyways, we've got a ton of great ideas already and we're excited to get a move on it, but we're stuck at what seems to be the first effing step! We need a name for our little community. We don't have a lot in common except that we all work normal 9-5 jobs outside of our passions for our individual work, we are all artists of one sort or another, and we all live in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm trying to think of names that are reminiscent of the desert or of Phoenix. I sort of like the idea of something ancient and awesome sounding. Really though, we're open to anything. I'd list the links to our websites so you could actually see our styles and who we 'are', so to speak, but I think that'd be a little too self-linky for me. So yeah - if your really that curious, you can look in my bio and I think there's a link there to my personal work.
So yes, I leave it once again to the most clever people I know to help me hop a hurdle in my life. Thanks Mefites!

... but I know what I like, and I like it shipped to me over the Internets

Admiral Haddock — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:40:22 -0800

Starting to collect (somewhat cheap) art. Can anyone recommend online galleries capable of doing sales so I can see what else is out there? I'm in Boston and I've purchased a few small pieces from some of the local artists (prints and paintings, mostly). At some point, I'd love to have big bucks to spend on art, but given that I generally like quirky/interesting pieces by younger artists, I've been able to find things I like in my price range. I'd like to be able to keep my eyes out for more.

I'm looking for sites like Concrete Hermit--quasi-curated, just a few artists and works at a time. Etsy is nice, but I find it way too overwhelming to sift through. (Or are there sites that sort through Etsy for you--best of Esty like?)

Can anyone recommend other sites I might like that actually allow you to purchase works?

BEST web library for art?

CreativeJuices — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:05:17 -0800

WebLibary filter: MeFites, in your opinion what is the BEST web library for art journals and books a la, Questa? WebLibary filter: MeFites, in your opinion what is the BEST web library for art journals and books a la, Questa? I have used Questa in the past and it was ok… but I am looking for better!! Also, any research sites specifically geared towards western art sense the renaissance? Yes, it is easy to Google a list of weblibarys but I want your expert opinion on what the best are!!! Thanks a million!

Small Virtual Transportations

Miko — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:40:32 -0800

Inspired by this thread, I'd like to build a virtual collection of atmospheric web-based art sites like this one. Do you know of any? Even if these things aren't the most brilliant creations of Western art, I love the way they function in daily life. I'd like to gather a list of these that I can send people links to, as an unusual 'hello', or a pleasant distraction from reality on a boring day.

If it helps, some of the things I like about this:

-it's non-commercial
-it's atmospheric
-it incorporates motion, images, and music
-it's interactive
-it takes a few minutes to fully experience
-it's stand-alone; you don't need to make a project of registering, paging through a number of choices or thumbnails or lists, you just direct link to it
-it's beautiful.

If you know of other sites like this, please list them here. Searching hasn't been helpful, because I can't find terms specific enough not to return web design firms, art exhibits, flash games, and commercial sites. Thanks in advance.

Good web-based (tablet-oriented?) art/drawing games/apps?

cortex — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 12:07:48 -0800

I'm looking for fun web-based drawing/art games and toys and apps. I've just gotten a Wacom tablet, and I find myself suddenly thinking of all these wonderful little art toys I've played with on the web (cursing my mouse all the while) over the years. Trouble is, I can't remember what any of 'em were.

Show me what you got. Bonus points for fun+collaborative, with more structure than, say, Drawball.

May I ever use a stock graphic in a logo?

lemuria — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 12:46:53 -0800

Clients want me to use stock graphics in their logos. May I do so, if I warn them that the resulting logo may not be trademarkable? I'm a web designer whose clients have recently begun asking for logos. I'm nervous about posting these questions, because when I've asked advice of graphic designers in the past the answers have gone like "that is terrible practice, leave the designing to professionals, your lousy designing will actually physically kill your client," &etc.

I understand that ideally a logo is an entirely original creation, and I'm not looking for a design lecture. I am looking for some help understanding the basics of the subject. My questions:

1. I have been making logos for small companies, usually one-person home businesses. They often send me stock images that they want to use in their logos. These folks are not Nike or Coca-Cola, and they may not care that the resulting logo can't be trademarked. Can I use the stock image, if I remind the client that anyone can use their graphic?

2. This page makes it sound as though using clip art is a-OK as long as the client doesn't care about trademarking. Aesthetic concerns aside, is there a reason that the "Deer Creek" example on that page couldn't trademark just the text part of the logo? If not, why not?

3. I'm really confused about the basic concept here: the importance of complete uniqueness in a logo. Why is it okay for more than one logo to use the same typeface or the same colors, but not the same graphic? (Or is it not okay for two logos in the world to use Futura...?!) Couldn't five different logos incorporate the same basic shape - say, a shield? Then why couldn't they all use the same stylized flower?

4. What counts as a "logo"? Why is a "logo" subject to special rules - is it just because of the trademark issue? My favorite stock graphics website, for example, has a rule that the graphics cannot be used in a "logo", but you can use the art pretty much everywhere else. Is this to protect the clip art's creator, or the company with the logo? If it's for the creator, why does the artist care if their stylized flower is right next to the name of the company as opposed to 300 pixels away?

Wow, those were more questions than I thought I had. Thanks in advance for your patience with my newbie questions, super-professional graphic designers.

Art Museum Web Redesign

warhol — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:36:46 -0800

Redesigning an art museum website (content / design / strategy / the whole shebang). What would you expect to see? What would you like to see that they're not doing? What would totally blow your mind? What do you know they'll include that you just don't care about? And, on a slight tangent, best web examples for art museums? Not the content that resonates for you, but rather kind of information and how it was executed. Thanks!