An analysis of artists blogs and how they use them.
Tom Hunter – http://www.tomhunter.org/blog/
This artist uses his own website as a way of blogging. This is effective as it can be easily personalised to how one would want it to be laid out. The site looks very simple and clear but it is repetitive. There is a large block of writing on some of the blog posts which doesn’t make me want to read it.
It has been kept up to date but looks outdated and each page has very similar content. Each blog posts has differing use of both first and third person which does not show continuity, which I think is important. The News page and the blog page both have the same content so I think that one of these tabs could be removed so the site is more concise. I like that each page has a link to their socials, such as Instagram which is important to view images of work. The site works on both the computer and on mobile which is important as many people are viewing things in their phones these days. This blog is used to keep people up to date on the work and exhibitions that the artist is doing.
Dan Durkhoop – https://emptyeasel.com/2007/06/21/firefighting-art-straight-from-the-fire-station-buy-firefighter-posters-prints-and-paintings/
This was a very frustrating site to use. Initially it is not clear that its his homepage, and it is not clear its his page when you search his name in the search bar on the site as it doesn’t come up when you type his first name only his last. However, i like that it has social media links, even if it is only linked to Pinterest, this is better than nothing. The page has a boring layout but does include images and broken up writing which is better to read than a large chunk. This is written in first person which is like listening to him speak, i like this as a blog is somewhat more informal, where people can get their own ideas and thoughts across. This site would work on mobile or computer but the adverts detract from it on the mobile site as they are quite large. I would not use the Empty Easel site for my own blogs as it is clunky and the links are often broken. This blog seems to only have one post which is specific to one series of work.
Steve Macleod – https://www.instagram.com/stevemac65/tagged/
This is an example of how an artist uses Instagram as a blog. The posts are interesting and eye catching on both mobile and computer. They have white space between this images which is nice on the eye.
Each posts has one short sentence describing the image, followed by information on who they are collaborating with, and hashtags at the end. I like Instagram for this type of blog as it allows us to grab attention with an image and the short attention-keeping caption allows the viewer to stay interested and move onto the next image without being overloaded with information. I personally think this is an effective platform and that this artist uses it well to showcase those work and personal art-related habits.
