Well, your wish is our command.

The Graph Paper Press team has put the finishing touches on Gridspace, and we’re thrilled to launch it into the wild today. Gridspace is a responsive portfolio theme for WordPress that is perfect for showcasing vertical, horizontal or square images. While the theme works great for horizontal or square images, we specifically designed Gridspace to showcase your portrait images.

You’ll recognize the same elements of our other themes – a clean, minimal layout that lets your work shine through, and the layout has been designed to display your portrait photographs.

Gridspace supports seven post formats, a portfolio custom post type, slideshows and includes multiple page templates for alternative homepage designs.

Let us know if you’re excited about this theme in the comments below!

Theme Features

• Responsive - Gridspace adapts to different screen sizes so that your website will work (and be optimized for) iPhones, iPads and other mobile devices. Resize your browser window to see the fluid grids and flexible images in action.
• Post Formats - Post videos, images, galleries, audio, quotes, links, and standard posts – and make them stand-out. Each post format has a unique layout on it’s respective single and archive page design.
• Theme Options - Enable infinite scroll, change colors, add custom CSS, upload a logo, add a favicon and much more all without touching a single line of code. Visit the Appearance -> Theme Options page to get started.
• Portfolio Slideshows - Upload multiple images into a portfolio entry, assign it to the gallery post format and beautiful slideshows await. Minimally-styled navigation controls and make your pictures stand out.

How to Download

You can download the Gridspace WordPress theme immediately if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member. All paid members receive automatic theme updates, and access to our brilliant Support tech team and tutorials to get you out of any tech jams.

If you’re not part of our creative family yet, sign up. We build WordPress themes exclusively for creatives like you including photographers, designers, musicians, artists, foodies, illustrators, and more. You get new theme launches monthly, awesome Support and the opportunity to showcase your talent, draw in clients and build your creative business in just a few clicks.

In this sneak peek of Gridspace, you’ll recognize the same elements of our other themes – a clean, minimal layout that lets your work shine through, but the layout has been designed to display your portrait photographs.

We’re putting the finishing touches on this theme right now. Look for Gridspace to be launched later this week, and as a paid Graph Paper Press member, you’ll be able to download it for your site and give it a test drive for your portrait images.

In the meantime, let us know what you think in the comments below!

This week, we’d like you to take a trip with us as we turn the spotlight on travel photographers using our WordPress themes.

First up, I want to introduce you to Francesco Pessolano of SiteAside Photography, who has the most amazing photography essays full of pattern, repetition and visual interest displayed on the Sidewinder theme. He’s really incredibly skilled and we couldn’t stop looking at his portfolio. Our eyes were far too happy.

Next up, we’re taking a flight down-under to Jess Gibbs, who is an Australian-based travel, landscape and lifestyle photographer. She lives for the coast and the surf, the mountains and the snow, and all the beautiful places she finds in between. Her site uses the Workspace theme, which features eight optional homepage apps that can be enabled or disabled from the theme options page.

We loved Jess’ keen sense of lighting and timing in her photographs; each seems to have been caught at just the right moment.

Finally, our trip ends with Canadian born and raised in the hustle and bustle of Karachi, Afzal Huda, better known by his screen name Avi Aly, who started publishing his work in magazines and newspapers at the age of 14.

He has travelled extensively, covering the Israeli and Palestinian conflict throughout the West Bank, conquering Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, skiing in the Rocky Mountains, eating snakes in northern China, mud bathing in Boryeong and playing bongos in the Mediterranean.

We were particularly drawn to Avi Aly’s black-and-white work in Jerusalem, where the characters and streets were so vivid, it was almost like we were there. Avi is also using the Sidewinder theme, which once again proves itself by putting all the focus on the photography.

Well, that’s the end of this visual vacation. Too short? Ah, they always are.

Don’t forget to submit your site to our WordPress showcase and keep an eye out; we may feature you next! Go ahead and tell us what you enjoyed most about these travel photographers below in the comments and we’ll see you next time.

So how do you make it great? First up, your website should have a goal. If you don’t know why your site exists, how will you know what to do with it? Whether your goal is to attract new clients or simply to express yourself to the world, make sure you’re aware of the purpose that lies beneath your HTML, and let that drive your decision-making from selecting a theme to content strategy.

Keeping your goal in mind, edit your content – your portfolio, your sidebar categories, your widgets, your About page. Take a look at each part of your site, and if a piece of content doesn’t further your goals, get rid of it. Be ruthless. Just like you edit and make selections in your art,  do the same for your presence online.

Now, once you’ve added your secret sauce in and subtracted the extraneous and outdated information out, take ten steps back. Literally. Take ten steps back from your computer and squint your eyes. What do you see? What’s popping out and commanding attention? If that something is not helping you reach your goal, start back at the beginning of this process.

Because you only get a few moments (seconds!) to attract and keep your visitor’s attention. Seth Godin once described web visitors as little monkeys; they hop all over your site, they’re distracted and funny, they’re quick to leave. You don’t want to give them too many options, lest the poor little monkeys get confused. You do want to give them a banana.

Your site needs to have a definitive and clear action that you want your visitors to take, whether that’s exploring your portfolio or booking an upcoming session with you. Can you see that from ten steps back?

We want to hear from you, so let us know in the comments. What are your website goals? Does your current site meet those goals?

Theme Features & Benefits

If you’d like to get the look of the Multimedia Shooter site, you too can use the Immersion WordPress theme. This theme’s real specialty is how it handles “Post Formats,” which are unique layouts for specific types of posts. It supports Video, Image, Gallery, Audio, Quote, Link and Standard post formats.

This will come in really handy if you want to post:

• slideshows (use the gallery post format)
• screenshots of projects (use the image post format)
• videos (for video content)
• audio (for playing mp3s in html5 format)
• links (for quick updates where a full blog post isn’t needed)
• quotes (for referencing someone and providing a link back to their site), or
• standard (for normal blog posts)

Each post format has their own unique layout on the homepage, on their respective post format archive page and on their individual single post pages.

You can view all of the Post Format options when adding/editing a post. And once you get the hang of using Post Formats, you’ll really love how they work and how they work well to emphasis unique content. This theme just might change how you blog (easier and more fun!).

And There’s More!

Not to mention, the entire Immersion sidebar is widgetized, there are lots of theme options (infinite scroll, three column layout options, logo upload, custom fonts, etc), 3 menu options (main menu, top right menu, and an optional footer menu), and much more.

Immersion also joins our collection of responsive themes, which means it works awesome on all mobile devices. The site adapts to different screen sizes so that your website will work – and be optimized for – iPhones, iPads, tablets and more.

Check out the Immersion demo here, and let us know if you like what you see in the comments below!

How to Download

You can download the Immersion WordPress theme now if you’re a paid Graph Paper Press member. All paid members receive automatic theme updates, and access to our brilliant Support tech team and tutorials to get you out of any tech jams.

If you’re not part of our creative family yet, sign up. We build WordPress themes exclusively for creatives like you including photographers, designers, musicians, artists, foodies, illustrators, and more. You get new theme launches monthly, awesome Support and the opportunity to showcase your talent, draw in clients and build your creative business in just a few clicks.

Every month we’re highlighting the amazing community here at Graph Paper Press not only on the Showcase, but right here on the blog. So far, we’ve featured wedding photographers using WordPress, and last month, we turned the spotlight onto illustrators using our WordPress themes.

This month, we’re highlighting editorial photographers, and they are hot, so let’s just jump right in!

First up, is Buenos Aires-based photographer Marco Guoli, who is using the Photo Workshop theme. With this theme, you can enable or disable slideshow controls and slideshow thumbnails throughout your site with a simple click on your theme options page. You can also hide or show captions by default for all slideshows and enable support for iPhone and iPad video to impress your peers.

Marco is also using the Photo Workshop theme in tandem with the PhotoShelter plugins, since this theme integrates with PhotoShelter nice and easy.

My favorite thing about editorial photography is that it tells a story, and my, what a story Marco tells! I love everything about the featured photo below – the action, the perspective, the light, and of course, the horse. Gorgeous, right?

Next up, check out editorial and humanitarian photographer Heber Vega‘s site which is using the theme Emporia. Originally from Chile, Heber has been based in northern Iraq since 2003. He specializes in documenting the work of humanitarian organizations and capturing stories for editorial photography.

The Emproria theme is responsive, which means it will work and look great on all mobile devices. It also allows you to choose from five different styles, add custom CSS, and has slideshow integration and easy magazine-style column layouts if you so choose. Definitely take some time to browse through Heber’s site. The photographs are beautiful, yes, but also illuminating.

Last up, we have Mark McGowan of Formidable Photography, based in the UK, who specializes in urban landscape photography, architecture, graffiti, religion and art. Mark is using the popular Sidewinder theme, but has given it his own unique look with his own logo.

I love the slight edge and darkness, or perhaps grit of Mark’s style. He certainly has an artistic viewpoint that is at once mysterious and intriguing.  You definitely want to take a step into his mind and see what happens.

That’s all for this month. We hope you enjoyed going into the worlds of these three different editorial photographers. Are you inspired to tell your own story? If you’re feeling like your site needs an update, browse our newest WordPress themes and then, keep your submissions coming! We love seeing and sharing your work.

Oy.  It seems no one likes annoying animations and long-loading times.

Wait, that’s your site? You’re still using Flash? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. None of our WordPress themes use Flash and if you need a push in the right direction, below are twelve reasons to make the switch. Even if you’re not a Flash-abuser yourself, use this list to convince your fellow creatives to update their websites (it’s easy!). Sometimes the best help is a little tough love.

1. Flash is a  closed, proprietary system created by Adobe, which means it’s not open for anyone to examine, change and improve, and it could be withdrawn from the market. In contrast, HTML is an open standard, and HTML5 now supports many of the features Flash is able to do.

2. Flash only runs on Mac or Windows and costs a good chunk of $$$ in order to do so, whereas an HTML file is a text file and can be created on any computer in a simple text editor and no money.

3. Flash can take a loooooong time to load, while correctly built HTML sites are quick and easy to load because they are smaller downloads. Generally, you only have 8 seconds to attract a web visitors attention. Do you really want to introduce yourself with the “loading…” signal? Oh, not to mention, Flash websites are not cacheable so they have to reload every time a vistor comes, and so they have to wait… every. time.

4. You can’t use “back” and “forward” buttons on Flash sites, which is how most browsers – and people – intuitively browse the web.

5. On a Flash site, copying text and images is difficult and often impossible. On an HTML site, you can. Flash sites don’t let you do much of anything except sit back and wait, which is a frustrating experience for users on the other end.

6. Flash is far more difficult to update than regular HTML code. If you are going to be updating your site often, or are paying someone else to, it will take more work and that means a loss of time and money.

7. Flash is not accessible for people with disabilities. Enough said.

8. Flash doesn’t work on mobile devices. Flash is only viewable if your browser has the Flash plugin installed. Websites that rely on Flash present a completely inconsistent (and often unusable) experience for fast-growing percentage of the users who don’t use a desktop browser. Adobe itself has publicly neutered Flash on mobile devices. In short, you cannot view Flash on mobile devices. That means if you want your Flash website to be viewable on an iPhone or iPad or any other mobile device, you’re out of luck.

9. Flash Player is often buggy and crashes a lot. Not to mention, it requires constant security updates. If you still have Flash installed on your browsers, think how many times you’ve had to update it already this year!

10. Flash is cumbersome, and often difficult for users to navigate. Site usability is your priority, and you’d be surprised how how often a visitor will take information accessibility over a great-looking Flash one.  Pretty ain’t everything.

11. Intros with Flash just annoy.  Websites exist for their visitors, not the other way around. Unless your web strategy includes wasting visitor’s time, there’s no reason to have a Flash intro to your site.

12. Flash sites are HORRIBLE for SEO puposes. Content on Flash sites is not indexable by search engines (HTML sites are indexable, of course). While normal visitors might see the actual content, search engines simply see Flash embed codes. In the eyes of the search engine crawlers, any Flash content is meaningless. And if someone doesn’t have Flash installed or has it disabled, they miss out on your site just like the search engine bots do. All in all, Flash makes it extremely difficult for anyone to find and enjoy your site.

Have we overlooked any reasons to switch from Flash? Do you disagree with our criticism of Flash-powered websites? Express yourself in the comments below.

First up, we’ve got architectural illustrator Paul Hill, based in South Africa. Paul is using the Sidewinder WordPress theme (with it’s side-scrolling gallery slideshows), and we absolutely love what a statement the black-and-white drawings make when you visit the page. Such detail and depth! I have a soft spot for architectural drawings so I particularly enjoyed browsing through Paul’s images.

Next, we’re going in a completely different direction illustration-wise. That is, we’re featuring the tattoo artist, Rhett Johnson! According to his About page, Rhett has been putting ink to skin for more than ten years in Kansas City, and his site really shows off his cred. On his blog, it looks like he’s also getting into watercolor on skateboards, which is equally awe-inspiring.

Rhett is using the Modularity WordPress theme, which you might know is highly customizable and is one of our most popular themes. You can select from a homepage slideshow, homepage video, magazine or traditional blog layout from the theme options page. That means you can change your homepage layout in seconds with a simple mouse click. Of course, all apps are optional and can be configured with the content you choose. Modularity also integrates with PhotoShelter for you photographers out there.

Finally, we’re showing off Jean-Francois Vergne, who is an illustrator and animator. Vergne has a ton of vibrancy and personality in his work, but we also wanted to showcase his site because it’s using the F8 WordPress theme and has been customized by WPcoder. It really shows off the fact that if you have the inclination, our themes are a great starting point to making a site that is uniquely you. Of course, F8 allows for plenty of customizations on your own without touching a line of code too.

We hope you enjoyed this diverse look at some of the talented artists using our WordPress themes and that the peek into the world of illustrators has you inspired. If you’re ready to make some updates on your site, or want a new theme to freshen things up, don’t forget that we launch a new theme every month. Check out some of our latest themes >> 

Seneca is our first e-commerce enabled theme that will allow you to sell tangible and digital goods from inside WordPress. Seneca integrates with WooCommerce so you can build your business on your existing site.  The Seneca  theme will allow you to blend commerce and editorial in a way that engages and excites visitors to your site so that you can start (or continue) bringing in money.

The Seneca theme gives you the flexibility and familiarity of using WordPress to power your entire blog and e-commerce site, dramatically lowering the cost of entry associated with running an e-commerce site.

You’re also going to love Seneca’s widgetized homepage. What that means is you can quickly change the layout of your homepage using drag-and-drop widgets – so, so easy! Not to mention, you’ll be able to customize Seneca’s styles to your heart’s content in order to build the strongest brand possible for your creative business.

Of course, if you just love the look of Seneca, and don’t need or want to sell products, you can still use the theme. It works regardless of whether or not you have the WooCommerce plugin installed.

Check out the demo here, and tell us below, are you as pumped as we are about our first e-commerce enabled theme?

Seneca Features & Benefits

• E-Commerce Enabled. With optional commerce integration, you can sell tangible and digital goods from inside WordPress using Seneca with the WooCommerce plugin installed. If you won’t want e-commerce integration, simply run an editorial/blog site using Seneca.
• Drag-and-drop interface for reorganizing slideshows, Blog posts, featured products using Widgets on your homepage.
• Easy-to-use theme options for customization (no need to know code).
• Easy-to-switch out fonts, customize the background, the header, the colors, add custom CSS, and more.
• Post Formats – Seneca supports the Image, Gallery and Standard post formats, as well as Team and Video custom post types to help you feature your clients and sponsors.
• HTML5 (that’s the latest and greatest under the hood).

How To Download

If you already have a paid Graph Paper Press account, simply log in and click Download.

Otherwise, go ahead and sign up for an account. Not only do we not bite, but we also build WordPress themes exclusively for creatives including photographers, designers, musicians, artists, foodies, illustrators, and more. You get new theme launches monthly, awesome Support and the opportunity to showcase your talent, draw in clients and build your creative business in just a few clicks.

Turns out, you can make a living as an artist. And there’s no better time to do so.

Numbering almost two million, artists – those in photography, architecture, music, production, art, dance, design and writing – are one of the largest classes of workers in the nation, only slightly smaller than the U.S. military’s active-duty and reserve personnel (2.2 million).

“American artists tend to be better educated and more entrepreneurial,” Dana Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, says in the report, Artists in the Workforce. Indeed, artists are 3.5 times more likely to be self-employed.

Artistic creativity and entrepreneurship are no longer mutually exclusive. What was once a vehicle for personal expression has increasingly become an avenue to impact society, and artists are now change agents for communities.

“Rather than seeing art as something to pursue in the hours when they are not earning a living,” argues New York Times columnist Marci Alboher, “these artists are developing businesses around their talents. These artists are part of a growing movement that has caught the attention of business experts and is being nudged along by both art and business schools. Living in the Internet era has certainly helped.”

Making your passion your profession – and ensuring the resulting income has long-term viability- is no easy task. Just because you have the ability to create, doesn’t always mean you have the skills to own your art and profit from it. But yes, of course, the Internet has helped. It has sparked consumer interest in unique, one-of-a-kind or handcrafted products, and has created new and effective methods for tech-savvy artists to find an audience.

Not to mention, technology reduces the cost of producing many types of art, and gives artist-entrepreneurs “the ability to create and manage small businesses with multiple revenue streams. This greatly increases the likelihood they will generate enough revenue to succeed,” argues small business researcher Steve King.

Giga Om reporter Michael Wolf agrees, declaring 2012 as the year for the artist-entrepreneur. Wolf points to examples in digital publishing where former mid-list writers like Barry Eisler to superstars like JK Rowling, are increasingly making waves. Or how everyone’s favorite comedian Louis CK said no thank you to corporate middlemen and put his concert video online for $5 a pop.

“No doubt, the vast majority of economic wealth is still distributed through large corporate media,” Wolf argues, “but as new technologies enable artists to reach consumers directly through push-button creation and distribution, there is a movement afoot. Expect this movement to expand in 2012 as more artists take control of their own economic destinies and become part of the artist-entrepreneur generation.”

Here at Graph Paper Press, we have had the great pleasure to watch these trends explode from a front-row seat. Next week, we will have an exciting announcement related to the artist-entrepreneur. Stay tuned…

(Don’t you just love a good cliff-hanger?)

What do you think? Have you found you’re becoming an artist-entrepreneur? What challenges or successes can you share?