Sam Denmark:
Starts out bad since the home page is just a title, you have to click the title to access the gallery but there's no indication that's what you can do. I even recognise the font of the title, I don't know if it shows character or if it's unoriginal but its a strange choice. So right from the start I'm looking at a bad and mundane looking page. What's worse is that this page gives me a pop up of mini menus, such as gallery and contact. Although his gallery is eclectic it with a splash of thumbnails for his work it's bad that when I blow up the images they are all of various sizes, so I had to keep zooming in and out with the browser to get a better look of individual sizes that would be better if they were kept consistent. (Sam, if you're reading this I want you to know that I love you and I think your work deserves better, but it's not all bad!)
The good thing is that he has the essentials and more, such as a news/awards section (good for showing experience or your history of work as you would a CV). He's also got links to his other sites and a "contact" and "about" page with a photo of himself, as do all the people I will mention on this post.
Lois Van Baarle:
Unlike Sam's there's a good illustration used as a wallpaper with a menu on the side listing all the things I can look at, including links, which are shown as coloured icons that automatically creates a mood and accentuates the wallpaper illustration. I really like how she has listed her original, commissioned and rough doodles as separate galleries. Having mentioned that, something doesn't feel right. Intuitively I prefer to see a list of thumbnails or mini image previews of the art. The art is amazing but it's just not intuitive to browse through. On another note I love the simplicity of the name she uses ("Loish") and her URL name. It's easy to remember and that helps with good business.
Jennifer Healy:
She combines the best of Sam and Lois, an attractive home page with the essential pages listed on a menu at the top of the page, consistent at all times even with links listed at the bottom. The page doesn't evoke a mood like Lois' does but when I click any of the listed galleries it takes me to an Artist's statement with a selected image alongside a neat order of previews for the rest of the work.
Unlike Sam's when I click the cropped previews to see the full images the sizes remain consistent with only the width stretching for landscape paintings. Emma Reynolds has a very similar style as well and is clever to include her homepage as the portfolio. I do think Healy bests it since it's intuitive to browse the art work up close with hers.
