Introduction to Balloon HQ Artist Portfolios
Every BHQ Member automatically receives a BHQ Artist Portfolio, whether you
intend to advertise it or not. Once you upload a photo to the BHQ photo
database it becomes part of the searchable BHQ collection, and it also
becomes part of your personal portfolio. If you have any photos in your
portfolio, a link will automatically be found under your name in the BHQ
directory that points to your portfolio. Anyone that finds you in the
directory when searching for an artist has a chance to see your work. The
portfolios are set up with all of your directory information, including a
logo or photo if you've included one. In other words, you get a
personalized web site hosted on BHQ without you having to do any work other
than clicking your mouse and typing a few things to upload photos.
It's easiest to get an idea of what a portfolio can look like by viewing a
couple of them.
View a random portfolio from the BHQ collection.
You can also search the BHQ artist directory for more examples.
Create and customize your portfolio
You can add pictures to your portfolio by uploading photos to the BHQ Photo
Database. There is a link to upload new photos at the bottom of every
photo page. Upload your photo, take a minute to properly categorize the
content and add some descriptive information, and you're done. If you have
photos that fall into multiple categories, a drop down menu appears on your
portfolio pages, so customers can select the category they want to view.
Sometimes people want to upload photos to share with BHQ members that they dont' want the general public to see. These may be instructional images or photos of blunders made that are useful for teaching purposes. When you upload new photos, you'll be asked if they should now be included on your portfolio page. if you say "no", they'll only display in the BHQ collection. If you already have photos online and want to change their display status, locate the image in the BHQ Photo Database and click "modify photo information".
Expand your portfolio with an interactive calendar
Every member has a calendar associated with their portfolio. This allows
you to publicize dates and locations that you will be showing your work.
There's no need to remove events that have passed. When viewing the
calendar, the current month is always displayed with the ability to scroll
to other months. When viewing the complete event list, your upcoming
events appear first, so your clients always know what's coming in the
immediate future. Adding your first event activates the calendar
automatically. Anyone visiting your portfolio will see a link to the
calendar page.
Adding and modifying events can be done by following the links from the member preferences page.
Advanced: Embedding a portfolio within another web site
If you are an experienced web designer, you can read our tutorial on
embedding portfolios in other web sites.
