Do I have to have a domain name to start a website? If so is it possible to obtain one free?

[Carlos G]

I am a graphic artist and want to design my own website at the least expense.

[Jake]

You can use a free host which gives you a sort of post office address on their site, like CarlosArt.blogspot.com

If you have no coding experience you might try a blog host like blogger.com or wordpress.com which have design themes and plugins that allow you to customize it and add content without any programming.

Try a Google search for: site:blogspot.com inurl:portfolio
to get a feel for the look of Blogger sites.

Many free hosts allow custom domain names, some charge a fee for using a name you probably get elsewhere like Godaddy.com or Namecheap.com, Google's Blogger has no paid upgrades, that $12 a year for a custom domain name allows you to relocate to different hosts as needed without losing your established site address. Stay away from the occasional free domain name, some have been completely banned from search engines due to the fraudulent activity those easy to get and poorly regulated names encourage.