# Semirare > Semirare (https://semirare.com/) is a hosted portfolio website service for artists, photographers, illustrators, designers, architects and makers. You upload your work, pick one of 40 themes, and get a finished, image-first website at yourname.semirare.com or on your own domain. Free for up to 12 works; Pro is €6 a month billed yearly (€8 month to month) for unlimited works. Made by a small independent team in Prague, Czech Republic. ## Why Semirare exists Most website builders are made for businesses: shops, restaurants, agencies, blogs. Artists get a template built around a hero banner and a "services" section, a layout editor with hundreds of settings, and a price that grows every year. Social networks are free, but they show your work in a feed, cropped, between ads, and on terms you don't control. We built Semirare because artists we know kept asking for the same thing: a quiet, good-looking website that shows their work properly and doesn't take a weekend to set up or a large bill to keep. So Semirare is deliberately: - Quiet. No ads, no feed, no likes, no pop-ups, no "sponsored" anything. Visitors see the work, a short About page and a way to get in touch. - Focused. It does one thing: portfolios. No online store, blog engine, booking system or drag-and-drop page editor. Fewer features means nothing to maintain and nothing to learn. - On the artist's side. Your work stays yours, you can export everything at any time, we don't sell data, and we don't license your work to train AI models. Your own domain is included even on the free plan, so your address never depends on us. - Affordable. Two plans, one clear price, no add-ons, no bandwidth bills, no introductory price that doubles later. ## Who it is for - Painters and fine artists who work in series and bodies of work, and need a gallery-like site with statements, captions (medium, size, year) and exhibitions. - Photographers: full-bleed, sharp images in a chosen order, series, contact sheets and one-image-at-a-time views. - Illustrators: commissions, personal work and prints each in their own place. - Graphic designers: project indexes, strong typography and case-study pages with client, year and credits. - Architects and small practices: projects laid out like drawings, one project per screen, data for site, client and year. - Ceramicists, makers and designers of objects: objects with space around them and process notes. - Students and graduates who need a portfolio for applications, residencies, open calls and job interviews. - Anyone who already has Instagram, Behance or ArtStation and wants their own website with their own address alongside it. Landing pages by discipline: - [Photography portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/photographers): Full-bleed images, sharp on every screen, in the order you choose. Series, captions and a contact form, and nothing else. - [Illustration portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/illustrators): Themes built around pictures, not templates built around blog posts. Put commissions, personal work and prints each in their own place. - [Graphic design portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/designers): Typography that respects yours: project indexes, big type and clean case-study pages, each with client, year and credits. - [Architecture portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/architects): Plates on a visible grid, one project per screen, and data sidebars for site, client and year. Built for practices of one to twenty. - [Artist portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/artists): Gallery-style themes with wall labels, generous space and room for series, exhibitions and a proper About page. - [Portfolio website for ceramicists and makers](https://semirare.com/for/makers): Objects centred with space around them, process notes, and a contact form for commissions. - [Interior design portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/interior-designers): One project per screen, finished rooms shown large, and room for the brief, the before and the details. Organised by residential, hospitality or retail, so clients find work like theirs. - [Model portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/models): Tall portrait images at full size, editorials and tests in their own places, and an About page for your agency and measurements. One link to send to every casting. - [Fashion design portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/fashion-designers): Lookbooks, campaigns and sketches as collections, with tall images, press and stockists on the About page, and a contact form for buyers. - [Product design portfolio website builder](https://semirare.com/for/product-designers): Clean product shots with space around them, then sketches, prototypes and the story of each project. Built for industrial, furniture and object designers. ## Use cases - A painter wants a site to send to galleries: they choose the "By series" structure, so the home page shows each series with its statement, and each series page lists every work with title, medium, size and year. - A photographer applying for commissions wants a clean, fast site on their own domain (e.g. janedoe.com) with a contact form, without paying for a general website builder. - An illustrator moving off a social network wants a place that isn't a feed, with commissions, personal work and prints as separate collections in the navigation. - A graduate needs a portfolio link for a job application tomorrow: sign up, upload works, pick a theme, publish, all in one evening. - An artist with a large archive (hundreds of works) needs unlimited works, collections, and a way to hide some categories from the top navigation while keeping them reachable through an index page. - A studio or small practice needs a simple, credible project site that anyone on the team can update, without a developer. - An artist who wants to leave: Settings → Your data exports a ZIP with every original file (organised by collection and work) plus portfolio.json and portfolio.csv. ## How it works 1. Sign up with an email and password (no card needed). 2. Choose a name and address (yourname.semirare.com) and a theme. 3. Upload works. A work has a title, description, year and any number of images, each with an optional caption. Images are resized automatically and served in sharp, responsive sizes for every screen. 4. Optionally group works into collections (series, years or kinds of work). Collections become the site navigation. With many collections you can choose which ones show in the navigation; the rest are listed on an Index page. 5. Choose the site structure: "By works" (the home page shows every work; each work has its own page) or "By series" (the home page shows collections; each collection is one page with its statement and all its works). 6. Add an About page, contact details, social links (Instagram, Behance, Dribbble, X, LinkedIn) and a contact form. Messages arrive in your Semirare inbox and by email. 7. Publish, and optionally connect your own domain; HTTPS certificates are set up automatically. 8. Switch themes at any time. Every theme renders the same content, so nothing needs to be redone. ## Features - 40 professionally designed themes, from classic grids to experimental layouts. - Your own domain on every plan, including Free, with automatic HTTPS. - Responsive, lazy-loaded images with modern sizes for phones, laptops and large screens. - Works, collections, captions, drafts, and drag-and-drop ordering. - Two site structures: by works or by series. - About page, contact page with a rate-limited contact form, and an inbox. - Search-engine basics done for you: clean URLs, page titles, descriptions, canonical links, and an automatic sitemap.xml and robots.txt for every portfolio (e.g. yourname.semirare.com/sitemap.xml). - PDFs to send: pick works, add a cover, letters or a CV, About and contact pages, choose a layout (one work per page, image and text, or a grid for price lists) and download a PDF or share a link. Each work has its own caption lines (medium, size, price…), and each PDF shows only the ones chosen for it. - Full export of originals and data at any time. - Accessible markup: keyboard navigation, alt text from captions, sufficient contrast. - No ads and no tracking cookies on portfolios; just a small "Made with Semirare" link in the footer. ## Themes Live previews: each theme has a demo portfolio at demo-.semirare.com. Gallery: https://semirare.com/themes - Grid: The classic. Even thumbnails, numbered captions, nothing in the way. Good for: Any discipline. Demo: https://demo-grid.semirare.com - Square: A calm, centred grid of square crops. Nothing competes with the work. Good for: Product, still life, design. Demo: https://demo-square.semirare.com - Tiles: Big square tiles in three columns, with room to breathe. Good for: Illustration, pattern, print. Demo: https://demo-tiles.semirare.com - Sidebar: Every project listed on the left, the work scrolling on the right. Good for: Designers, multidisciplinary. Demo: https://demo-sidebar.semirare.com - Board: Works laid out as sheets on a calm grid, with clear sans-serif captions. Good for: Illustration, design, photography. Demo: https://demo-board.semirare.com - Drift: A composed, loosely scattered layout that still reads in order. Good for: Mixed media, illustration, design. Demo: https://demo-drift.semirare.com - Caption: Each piece large, with its title, medium and size set beside it. Good for: Painting, sculpture, fine art. Demo: https://demo-caption.semirare.com - Panels: Half-screen panels you move through sideways, one work in each. Good for: Painters, fine art. Demo: https://demo-panels.semirare.com - Portrait: You on the first screen, your selected work right after. Good for: Makers, textile and fine artists. Demo: https://demo-portrait.semirare.com - Stack: Two columns of work at its natural proportions. Good for: Photography, illustration. Demo: https://demo-stack.semirare.com - Duo: Two wide columns of work at full size, edge to edge. Good for: Illustration, photography. Demo: https://demo-duo.semirare.com - Files: Projects as rows of files, with a column switcher. Good for: Identity designers, studios. Demo: https://demo-files.semirare.com - Archive: A dense catalogue wall that keeps every piece at its relative size. Good for: Collectors, publishers, many small works. Demo: https://demo-archive.semirare.com - Quiet: Your name and a list of titles. Images appear when asked for. Good for: Any discipline. Demo: https://demo-quiet.semirare.com - Folio: An index of projects with a preview that follows the cursor. Good for: Graphic design, editorial. Demo: https://demo-folio.semirare.com - Marquee: Your name edge to edge, then large selected projects. Good for: Brand and graphic designers. Demo: https://demo-marquee.semirare.com - Mosaic: A statement, then colour-block tiles in a big-and-small rhythm. Good for: Graphic designers, illustrators. Demo: https://demo-mosaic.semirare.com - Specimen: Framed like a type specimen, for artists who write. Good for: Writers, type, text-heavy practices. Demo: https://demo-specimen.semirare.com - Margin: Warm graph paper and an editorial rhythm of large and small works. Good for: Illustration, editorial. Demo: https://demo-margin.semirare.com - Corners: Navigation in the four corners, one image in the middle. Good for: Architecture, fine art photography. Demo: https://demo-corners.semirare.com - Headline: A statement set huge, then each project as a row with its images. Good for: Graphic design, studios. Demo: https://demo-headline.semirare.com - Contact: A dense contact sheet of numbered frames. Built for series. Good for: Photography. Demo: https://demo-contact.semirare.com - Aperture: One photograph at a time, full screen, with a frame counter. Good for: Photography. Demo: https://demo-aperture.semirare.com - Runway: A horizontal row of tall images behind an oversized name. Good for: Fashion, portraits. Demo: https://demo-runway.semirare.com - Noir: Black, a full-width name and large saturated images. Good for: Fashion, beauty, photography. Demo: https://demo-noir.semirare.com - Reel: A strip of projects above a statement and an index. Good for: Creative directors. Demo: https://demo-reel.semirare.com - Studio: Work, services and clients. For people who take bookings. Good for: Videographers, commercial photographers. Demo: https://demo-studio.semirare.com - Render: Dark and cinematic, with letterboxed frames and credits. Good for: Motion, 3D, film stills. Demo: https://demo-render.semirare.com - Plan: Projects laid out on a visible drawing grid. Good for: Architecture. Demo: https://demo-plan.semirare.com - Monolith: One project per screen, split between image and text. Good for: Architecture, interiors. Demo: https://demo-monolith.semirare.com - Salon: Works hung together on a coloured gallery wall. Good for: Painting, fine art. Demo: https://demo-salon.semirare.com - Vitrine: One object per screen, with a lot of space around it. Good for: Objects, sculpture. Demo: https://demo-vitrine.semirare.com - Kiln: Soft, warm and tactile. Staggered columns and process notes. Good for: Ceramics, textiles, craft. Demo: https://demo-kiln.semirare.com - Inkwell: Drawings pinned loosely on warm paper, with margin notes. Good for: Illustration. Demo: https://demo-inkwell.semirare.com - Pulp: Bold panels, thick gutters and loud colour. Good for: Illustration, comics. Demo: https://demo-pulp.semirare.com - Poster: Your name edge to edge. Titles set huge. Good for: Graphic design, studios. Demo: https://demo-poster.semirare.com - Voltage: One loud colour of your choice and condensed headlines. Good for: Bold brand designers. Demo: https://demo-voltage.semirare.com - Folders: Each collection as a stacked folder of its work. Good for: Multidisciplinary. Demo: https://demo-folders.semirare.com - Collage: A pile of images visitors can drag around. Good for: Mixed media, experimental. Demo: https://demo-collage.semirare.com - Static: Raw HTML with blue links and nothing else. Good for: Experimental. Demo: https://demo-static.semirare.com ## Pricing - Free, $0: up to 12 works, every theme, yourname.semirare.com address, your own domain with HTTPS, contact form and inbox, PDFs with share links. - Pro, $6 a month billed yearly ($72 a year) or $8 month to month: unlimited works, password-protected pages. - Visitors in the EU, EEA and Switzerland pay the same amounts in euros (€0, €6, €8). - Every portfolio, on both plans, has a small "Made with Semirare" link in the footer. There are no ads, pop-ups or banners. - No card needed to start. Payments are handled by Paddle as merchant of record (VAT included where applicable). Cancel any time. Details: https://semirare.com/pricing ## Semirare compared with other portfolio services Summary: general website builders (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, Framer) can do much more, but they take longer to set up and cost more. Designer tools (Cargo, Readymag, Semplice) are flexible but fiddly for painters and photographers. Photo platforms (SmugMug, Zenfolio, Format) are built around selling photos. Networks (Behance, ArtStation) are profiles, not websites. Semirare is narrower than all of them: a finished portfolio site for artists, free to start and €6 a month for unlimited works, with your own domain on every plan. What Semirare offers that most alternatives don't, all at once: - Free plan you can publish on - Unlimited works for under $10 a month - Your own domain, free on every plan - Your own website, not a profile in a feed - No other subscription or hosting needed - No ads on your site - Ready in minutes, no design skills needed - Made for artists, not businesses Full comparison table: https://semirare.com/compare ### Semirare vs Adobe Portfolio - Adobe Portfolio (https://portfolio.adobe.com): Creative Cloud subscribers - Price: $179.88 a year - Free plan: No. Needs a paid Creative Cloud plan - Custom domain: Included with qualifying Creative Cloud plans - Where Adobe Portfolio is strong: You already pay for Creative Cloud and use Lightroom or Behance every day. You want projects synced straight from Behance and Lightroom albums. - Drawbacks for artists: The site only exists while you keep a Creative Cloud subscription. Few themes, and they haven't changed much in years. - Verdict: Adobe Portfolio is included with Creative Cloud, so it's only “free” while you pay Adobe every month. Semirare is a standalone portfolio for artists: free for up to 12 works with your own domain, $6 a month for unlimited works. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/adobe-portfolio ### Semirare vs Cargo - Cargo (https://cargo.site): Designers and artists who want experimental, design-led sites - Price: about $168 a year - Free plan: You can build for free, but publishing needs a paid plan - Custom domain: Paid plan - Where Cargo is strong: You're a designer who wants a freeform layout editor and custom CSS. You want an unusual, experimental site and enjoy tinkering with it. - Drawbacks for artists: Hard to learn if you just want to put your paintings online. Layouts can break or feel slow on phones. - Verdict: Cargo is loved by designers for its freeform editor, but many painters and illustrators find it fiddly. Semirare gives you a finished, image-first site in minutes, and you can publish for free. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/cargo ### Semirare vs Squarespace - Squarespace (https://www.squarespace.com): Small businesses and creatives, all kinds of websites - Price: about $192 a year - Free plan: No, 14-day trial - Custom domain: All plans, free domain for the first year on yearly billing - Where Squarespace is strong: You need a full online shop, bookings or email marketing. You want one tool for a business website, not only a portfolio. - Drawbacks for artists: Templates are built for businesses and blogs, not artwork. More settings than an artist needs. - Verdict: Squarespace can do almost anything, which is why it takes a weekend to set up a portfolio. Semirare does one thing: show your work beautifully, for less than half the price. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/squarespace ### Semirare vs Wix - Wix (https://www.wix.com): Everyone, all kinds of websites - Price: Light plan; prices vary by country - Free plan: Yes, with Wix ads and a wixsite.com address - Custom domain: All paid plans - Where Wix is strong: You want complete drag-and-drop control over every page. You need apps, bookings or a large shop. - Drawbacks for artists: The free plan shows Wix ads on your site. You can't switch templates after publishing. Pages can be heavy and slow to load. - Verdict: Wix is a general website builder with thousands of templates and settings. Semirare is made only for artists' portfolios: no ads on the free plan, and you can change your theme any time. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/wix ### Semirare vs Format - Format (https://www.format.com): Photographers and visual artists - Price: $120 a year - Free plan: No, 14-day trial - Custom domain: Free domain for the first year on Pro and Pro Plus - Where Format is strong: You're a photographer who needs client proofing galleries. You want to sell prints from the same site. - Drawbacks for artists: Paying monthly costs up to 2.4× the yearly price. Built mainly around photographers. - Verdict: Format is a solid choice for photographers, but monthly plans cost far more than yearly ones. Semirare is free for up to 12 works and $6–8 a month after that. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/format ### Semirare vs Semplice - Semplice (https://www.semplice.com): Designers running WordPress - Price: About $119–148 one-time, plus your own WordPress hosting - Free plan: No - Custom domain: Yes, through your own host - Where Semplice is strong: You're a designer who wants award-style case studies and animation. You're comfortable running and updating WordPress. - Drawbacks for artists: You need self-hosted WordPress and have to keep it updated and secure. Built for design case studies, not paintings or drawings. - Verdict: Semplice makes beautiful design case studies, but you run WordPress yourself. Semirare is hosted for you and built for artwork: no plugins, no updates. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/semplice ### Semirare vs Pixpa - Pixpa (https://www.pixpa.com): Photographers and creatives who want site, store and client galleries together - Price: Varies by region; frequent promotions - Free plan: No, 15-day trial - Custom domain: Yes - Where Pixpa is strong: You want a store, blog and client galleries in one place. - Drawbacks for artists: The Basic plan is limited to 200 images. Prices depend on where you are and change with promotions. - Verdict: Pixpa bundles a lot of tools, with image limits and changing prices. Semirare keeps it simple: two plans, one clear price, unlimited works on Pro. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/pixpa ### Semirare vs Carbonmade - Carbonmade (https://carbonmade.com): Illustrators and designers wanting a quick, simple portfolio - Price: about $120 a year - Free plan: No, free trial only - Custom domain: Paid plans - Where Carbonmade is strong: You like Carbonmade's playful look and only need a few projects. - Drawbacks for artists: The cheapest plan allows only 8 projects. - Verdict: Carbonmade's cheapest plan caps you at 8 projects. Semirare gives you 12 works for free and unlimited works for $6 a month. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/carbonmade ### Semirare vs Readymag - Readymag (https://readymag.com): Designers making editorial and experimental sites - Price: about $168 a year - Free plan: Yes, with Readymag branding and limits - Custom domain: Paid plans - Where Readymag is strong: You want magazine-style layouts with animation and precise typography. - Drawbacks for artists: Takes time to learn. Not made for large archives of images. - Verdict: Readymag is a design tool for editorial pages. Semirare is for artists with a growing body of work who want it online without designing every page. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/readymag ### Semirare vs Webflow - Webflow (https://webflow.com): Designers and developers building custom sites - Price: $180 a year - Free plan: Yes, on a webflow.io address - Custom domain: Paid site plans - Where Webflow is strong: You're a web designer who wants full control over layout and code. - Drawbacks for artists: Steep learning curve. Much more than a simple portfolio needs. - Verdict: Webflow is a professional web design tool. If you'd rather paint than learn about CSS, Semirare gets your work online in minutes. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/webflow ### Semirare vs Framer - Framer (https://www.framer.com): Designers building modern websites - Price: $120 a year - Free plan: Yes, on a Framer address with a badge - Custom domain: Basic and up - Where Framer is strong: You work in Figma and want the same kind of canvas for your site. - Drawbacks for artists: A designer's tool. Hard going for painters and illustrators. Page limits on the cheaper plans. - Verdict: Framer is a Figma-like canvas for designers, with page limits on its cheaper plans. Semirare is made for artists: no canvas, unlimited works on Pro. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/framer ### Semirare vs FASO - FASO (https://www.faso.com): Painters and traditional fine artists - Price: about $228 a year - Free plan: No, 30-day trial - Custom domain: Yes - Where FASO is strong: You want newsletters, event listings and the FASO art directory. - Drawbacks for artists: Templates look dated. Costs more than most portfolio builders. - Verdict: FASO is made for painters, but its templates look dated and it costs about three times as much. Semirare has modern gallery-style themes for $6 a month. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/faso ### Semirare vs Zenfolio - Zenfolio (https://zenfolio.com): Session and event photographers - Price: About $7 / month billed yearly - Free plan: No, trial only - Custom domain: Yes - Where Zenfolio is strong: You shoot weddings or portraits and sell prints through a lab. - Drawbacks for artists: Built around client sessions, not personal or fine-art work. - Verdict: Zenfolio is made for photographers who sell sessions and prints. For showing your own work as an artist, Semirare's themes fit better. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/zenfolio ### Semirare vs SmugMug - SmugMug (https://www.smugmug.com): Photographers storing and selling photos - Price: about $282 a year - Free plan: No, trial only - Custom domain: Yes - Where SmugMug is strong: You want unlimited photo storage and print sales. - Drawbacks for artists: Expensive, and feels more like a photo archive than a curated site. - Verdict: SmugMug is great for storing and selling photos, but it's costly and reads as an archive. Semirare is for showing your best work, for $6 a month. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/smugmug ### Semirare vs Portfoliobox - Portfoliobox (https://www.portfoliobox.com): Artists, photographers and students - Price: About 90 SEK / month - Free plan: Yes, 30 images and 5 pages, no own domain - Custom domain: Paid plans - Where Portfoliobox is strong: You want a shop and a blog built into your portfolio. - Drawbacks for artists: Low image limits on every plan below Professional. - Verdict: Portfoliobox counts your images on every plan. Semirare Pro has unlimited works for $6 a month. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/portfoliobox ### Semirare vs Behance - Behance (https://www.behance.net): Creative professionals, as a free network - Price: Free - Free plan: Yes, a profile on behance.net - Custom domain: No - Where Behance is strong: You want to be discovered by other creatives and recruiters. - Drawbacks for artists: Not your own site. Your work sits in Adobe's feed, next to everyone else's. - Verdict: Behance is a network, not a website. Semirare gives you your own site, with your own look and domain. Many artists use both. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/behance ### Semirare vs ArtStation - ArtStation (https://www.artstation.com): Concept artists, game and film illustrators - Price: Pro about $4.98 / month billed yearly - Free plan: Yes, a profile on artstation.com - Custom domain: Pro - Where ArtStation is strong: You work in games or film and want to be seen by studios. - Drawbacks for artists: Its layouts and audience are built around entertainment art. - Verdict: ArtStation is the place for games and film. For fine art, illustration and photography, Semirare's themes give your work more room. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/artstation ### Semirare vs Dunked - Dunked (https://dunked.com): Creatives wanting a simple portfolio - Price: $96 a year - Free plan: No, 10-day trial - Custom domain: Yes, domain bought separately - Where Dunked is strong: You like its simple editor and one of its templates fits you. - Drawbacks for artists: Only 18 templates. - Verdict: Dunked is simple, like Semirare, but has a short trial and fewer templates. Semirare is free to start and has more themes. - Details: https://semirare.com/alternatives/dunked ## When Semirare is not the right choice - You need an online shop with a cart, inventory and shipping. Link to a shop elsewhere instead, or use Squarespace or Shopify. - You want to design every page freely on a canvas: use Cargo, Framer, Readymag or Webflow. - You need a blog, bookings, client proofing galleries or print sales: use a general builder or a photography platform such as Pixieset, SmugMug or Zenfolio. ## Frequently asked questions - Is Semirare really free? Yes, for up to 12 works, with every theme and your own domain, forever. Pro is only needed for more than 12 works or for password-protected pages. - Can I use my own domain? Yes, on every plan. You buy the domain from any registrar and point it to Semirare; HTTPS is automatic. - Can I change the theme later? Yes, at any time, with no rework. All themes use the same content. - Who owns my work? You do. Semirare only gets the permission needed to host and show it. We don't sell your data or license your work to train AI. - Can I leave? Yes. Export all originals and data in one ZIP, then close your account in Settings. Everything is deleted. - Can I make a PDF portfolio? Yes. Choose works and pages, pick a layout and download the PDF or share a link. It's saved, so you can update it and send it again. - Is it good for SEO? Every portfolio has clean URLs, titles, descriptions, a sitemap.xml, robots.txt and fast, responsive images. - Where is Semirare based? Prague, Czech Republic (EU). It is operated by Initial condition s.r.o. and follows the GDPR. ## Links - [Home](https://semirare.com/) - [Themes](https://semirare.com/themes) - [Pricing](https://semirare.com/pricing) - [Compare portfolio services](https://semirare.com/compare) - [Blog](https://semirare.com/blog) - [How to make a portfolio website (without losing a weekend)](https://semirare.com/blog/how-to-make-a-simple-online-portfolio): A plain-English guide for artists, photographers and illustrators: choose your best work, photograph it, write a short bio and publish a portfolio website in an afternoon. - [The best portfolio website builders in 2026, compared](https://semirare.com/blog/best-portfolio-websites-for-artists): We compared 12 portfolio platforms for artists, photographers and illustrators on price, ease and how good your work looks. Honest picks for every budget, including free options. - [How to photograph your artwork with a phone](https://semirare.com/blog/how-to-photograph-your-artwork-with-a-phone): Good photos of paintings, drawings and prints, with only a phone and a window. Light, angle, colour and cropping, explained step by step. - [Instagram vs a portfolio website: do artists need both?](https://semirare.com/blog/instagram-vs-portfolio-website): Instagram is great for being found, a portfolio website is where people decide to hire or buy. What each one is good at, and how to make them work together. - [Do artists need their own domain name? (And how to set one up)](https://semirare.com/blog/do-artists-need-their-own-domain): What a domain name is, whether you need one, how to pick a good one, what it costs and how to connect it to your portfolio, in plain English. - [Start free](https://semirare.com/registration/new) - [Terms of Service](https://semirare.com/terms) - [Privacy Policy](https://semirare.com/privacy) - [Sitemap](https://semirare.com/sitemap.xml)