Switching from Artwork Archive to Fine Art Form
5 min read
If you've been using Artwork Archive to manage your practice, you already know what a proper art management tool looks like. You track inventory, send invoices, run reports. You're not a beginner.
This guide is for you.
It covers what Fine Art Form does differently (and where it goes further), what carries over cleanly, what you'll need to re-enter, and how to get your catalog set up fast.
Why Artists Switch
The most common reasons we hear from artists coming from Artwork Archive:
Price. Artwork Archive's entry-level paid plan starts at $10/month. For a solo artist with a small catalog, that's a meaningful ongoing cost — especially when the features you actually use are a fraction of what you're paying for.
Complexity. Artwork Archive is designed to serve artists, collectors, and organizations simultaneously. That's a wide surface area. The result is a navigation sidebar with 15+ items, dense feature sets, and a learning curve that takes time to climb.
No AI features. Artwork Archive has no AI-powered tools. Zero. Every description is written by hand, every price is set by instinct. Fine Art Form's AI Smart Descriptions generate professional-quality descriptions from your artwork images in seconds.
Modern UX. Artwork Archive's interface is functional but dated. Fine Art Form was built from the ground up with a clean, fast, mobile-first design.
Side-by-Side: What You're Comparing
| Artwork Archive | Fine Art Form | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ❌ None ($10/mo minimum) | ✅ Free (25 artworks) |
| Pro tier | $21/mo | $12/mo |
| Premium tier | $42/mo | $29/mo |
| AI descriptions | ❌ None | ✅ Included on Pro |
| Private Viewing Rooms | ✅ Pro+ only | ✅ Free tier included |
| Payment processing | PayPal only | Stripe (cards, Apple Pay, etc.) |
| Passkeys / Apple Sign In | ❌ | ✅ |
| Public portfolio | ✅ | ✅ |
| Invoicing | ✅ | ✅ |
| Reports (PDF) | ✅ | ✅ |
Bottom line on pricing: At equivalent tiers, Fine Art Form is 30–43% cheaper. Private Viewing Rooms — which Artwork Archive gates to their $21/mo Professional plan — are included on Fine Art Form's free tier.
What Moves Over Cleanly
Fine Art Form covers the full core workflow that professional artists use in Artwork Archive:
- Artwork catalog — Title, year, medium, dimensions, status, price, description, multiple images
- Artwork statuses — Available, Sold, Not for Sale, On Loan, In Storage, and more
- Public portfolio — SEO-optimized artist profile at
artsketch.io/artist/yourname - Private Viewing Rooms — Curated rooms with password protection, custom slugs, and view analytics
- Contacts — Full contact management with tags, roles, and interaction history
- Invoicing — Professional invoices with Stripe payment links
- Reports — Inventory, portfolio PDF, price list, QR labels, catalog, consignment, sales
- Collections — Group artworks into named sets for easy curation and sharing
What's Different
A few things work differently in Fine Art Form. Not worse — just differently. Worth knowing before you start.
Viewing Rooms vs. Private Rooms Artwork Archive calls them Private Rooms. Fine Art Form calls them Viewing Rooms. Same concept: a curated, shareable view of selected artworks for a specific collector or gallery. In Fine Art Form, Viewing Rooms are backed by Collections — so your organized groups can power both your portfolio and your private presentations.
Collections are a core primitive In Fine Art Form, Collections are how you group artworks for any purpose — organizing your inventory, powering a Viewing Room, or generating a report. You'll use them more than you might expect.
No income/expense tracking (yet) Artwork Archive includes income and expense tracking in their Pro tier. Fine Art Form doesn't have this yet. If you use Artwork Archive's expense tracking actively, you'll need a separate tool (QuickBooks, Wave, or a spreadsheet) for that until we build it.
Reports are generated on-demand Artwork Archive stores generated reports so you can revisit them. Fine Art Form generates reports fresh each time — so your reports always reflect current data. No stale docs sitting around.
How to Move Your Catalog
There's no automated import from Artwork Archive yet — it's on the roadmap. In the meantime, here are the three most practical approaches based on your catalog size.
Small catalog (under 50 artworks)
Manual entry is fast. Use the bulk-upload flow:
- Go to Artwork → Add Artwork
- Upload your image
- Fill in the essentials (title, year, medium, dimensions, price, status)
- Save — then move to the next
Most artists with 30–50 pieces can re-enter their catalog in an afternoon, especially since you already know your inventory inside out.
Tip: Start with your currently-available works first. Get your live portfolio up quickly, then backfill sold and archived pieces at your own pace.
Medium catalog (50–200 artworks)
Use the CSV preparation approach:
- In Artwork Archive, export your catalog (Settings → Data Export, available on Master tier)
- Open the export in a spreadsheet
- Clean it down to: title, year, medium, dimensions (H × W × D), status, price, description
- Import into Fine Art Form via Artwork → Import (CSV)
Note: Images can't be bulk-imported via CSV — you'll still need to upload images per artwork or in batches. But text data (metadata) can come in cleanly via CSV, which saves substantial time.
Large catalog (200+ artworks)
Contact us. For artists migrating large catalogs, we'll work with you directly to make the transition smooth. Email [[email protected]] with subject line "Migration from Artwork Archive."
Getting Set Up in Fine Art Form
Here's the recommended order for your first day:
1. Add your profile
Go to Settings → Profile. Add your bio, artist statement, profile photo, and website URL. This is the "About" section on your public portfolio — collectors and galleries read it.
2. Add your first artworks
Start with 10–15 of your best current pieces. You want your portfolio live and looking good before you import everything else. Quality over quantity at the start.
After uploading images:
- Fill in title, year, medium, dimensions, status, price
- Run Smart Descriptions (AI tab) for any work you don't have a strong description for yet — it analyzes the image and drafts professional copy you can edit
3. Configure your public portfolio
Go to Portfolio → Settings:
- Choose your theme (Minimal, Gallery, or Bold)
- Set your portfolio URL
- Verify your public page at
artsketch.io/artist/yourname
4. Create a Viewing Room
If you have an active gallery relationship or collector conversation, set up a Viewing Room right away:
- Go to Viewing Rooms → New Room
- Give it a name (the collector or gallery's name, or the context)
- Add artworks via the visual picker
- Set a password if you want it gated
- Copy the share link and send it
This is where the platform immediately earns its keep.
5. Import your contacts
If you have contacts to migrate, you can add them manually or via CSV import. Go to Contacts → Import and upload a CSV with: name, email, phone, role, tags.
Artwork Archive doesn't export contacts in a standard format from all tiers, so you may need to export from their system first and clean up the columns.
Your Data is Always Yours
Before you cancel Artwork Archive, export everything:
- Pieces: Export CSV from their Data Export section (Master tier only — if you're on a lower tier, screenshot or manually copy key data)
- Images: Download your original files before canceling
- Contacts: Export from their Contacts section
- Reports: Download any historical reports you want to keep
Fine Art Form stores your data in your account. If you ever want to leave Fine Art Form, you can export your artwork data, contacts, and images at any time. No hostage situations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I run both in parallel for a while? Yes, and we recommend it. Use Fine Art Form for new work and active sales while you migrate your back catalog at a comfortable pace. There's no rush.
Q: Do I lose my report history? Artwork Archive stores generated reports. Fine Art Form generates on-demand, so historical reports from Artwork Archive don't transfer. Download and save any reports you want to keep before canceling.
Q: What about my exhibitions history? Fine Art Form has an Exhibition module for tracking shows and exhibition history per artwork. You can re-enter past exhibitions if they're relevant to your provenance record.
Q: Is the AI description tool included for free? Smart Descriptions are included on the Pro plan. The free tier doesn't include AI features.
Q: I use Artwork Archive's income and expense tracking. What do I do? That feature isn't in Fine Art Form yet. Continue using Artwork Archive for expense tracking, or move to a dedicated accounting tool (QuickBooks Simple Start, Wave, or even a spreadsheet) while we build it.
Q: Will you build a one-click import from Artwork Archive? Yes. Direct migration import is on the roadmap. We'll announce it when it's available.
The Short Version
Fine Art Form covers the core features working artists actually use: inventory, portfolio, viewing rooms, contacts, invoicing, reports. It does them with a cleaner interface, at a lower price, with AI tools that Artwork Archive doesn't have.
If you're paying $21/mo for Artwork Archive Pro and using maybe 30% of it, Fine Art Form Pro at $12/mo covers what you need — plus Smart Descriptions.
The catalog migration takes an afternoon for most artists. Your portfolio goes live the same day.
Have a question about migration that isn't covered here? Email [email protected] — a real person reads it.