Artistic Styles
As artists, it can be difficult to come up with your signature style. You look up to other artists who have their own styles. You want to get to the point where someone can look at a price of art and instantly recognize that you made it.
MORE: 37 Drawing Lessons and Tutorials
Finding a distinct style is an obstacle that all artists face at one point or another. Most artists start off by mimicking the art they love. Over time, and with a lot of practice, the artist’s personal style starts to show through on their work. This style is often a combination of all the styles they believe to be important.
Some artists’ style is a combination of their love for pixel art, Van Gogh, and food advertisements. Another artist may take their stylistic elements from Sailor Moon, oil paintings, and indie video games. While every artist’s style is unique to them, it is often a collaboration of their personal flavors and favorites.
In today’s blog post, I want to discuss some strategies for overcoming the style hump when it comes to art. I hope these strategies can help put you on the path to developing a personal art style. Regardless, this process takes a lot of time, practice, and patience. Keep working hard and toward your goals!
9 Tips For Finding Your Art Style
1. Work On Being Patient
This is really the first thing that needs to happen when attempting to develop an art style. This can be one of the most frustrating parts of an artist’s progression.
Take this frustration, add it to the stresses of daily life, and you can see why many artists quit progressing (or quit entirely). Remember to love yourself, love your work, and allow yourself the freedom to experiment and take risks.
2. Do Art Exercises
One thing that I like to do is to pick something random and make art about it. I often do this with the help of a name generator website.
For example, I used to practice drawing by using a video game name generator website. I would draw a picture of whatever was generated. This was really fun, especially when you get names like “Anime Hillbilly Elementary School”, or “Super Pizza Grandma Kart”.
3. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Artists often become stagnant in their progression. They create the same style of art over and over. You can jumpstart your stylistic progression by trying new things and making art outside of your comfort zone.
4. Study Different Artists
This may seem counterintuitive. Why would we study other styles if we are trying to develop our own? By studying different artists, you can pick up little tips and tricks about how to further develop your own style.
Many new artists copy other artists in the beginning. While this doesn’t contribute to their own work, it does help them learn the basics of drawing style and begin the journey of finding their unique voice.
This is something I learned when I began making music. Each artist/band has its own little flare. Experimenting with these tips and tricks helped develop my sense of music.
5. Change Your Subject Matter
Sometimes the brain gets stuck on a single connection. This can happen with your artistic medium of choice and your subject matter. Your brain may think “I need to draw this way because the subject is birds”, or “superheroes are drawn in this style”. By deviating from your typical subject matter, you can break out of the box and increase stylistic creativity.
6. Try Out Different Styles
Artists can sometimes get in a rut when it comes to creating in a specific style. Fans of classic art may only take on a painterly style. New musicians might only play a specific genre. By trying and mimicking other styles, you can further develop your own. Don’t be afraid to try different things or different ways of drawing!
7. Work In A Different Color Palette
The same piece of art can take on different forms and emotions with even a small change in color. If you are used to working in a similar color scheme, trying to mix it up! Add some bright colors to your color palette if you are used to working in darker or black and white tones.
Coolers have an awesome color palette generator.
8. Practice, Practice, Practice
Much of this only comes with time and experience. If you are a comic book artist, work on your line work. If you make retro-style video games, work on your pixel art. Whatever kind of art you make, just keep making it and working hard. This is the best way to keep progressing into a better artist. A good way to practice is to do art challenges, such as Inktober.
9. Consume Different Media
Much of this list is about how we can practice our art to help develop our unique style. However, a lot of our own style comes from our tastes, and the art we choose to consume.
Try breaking out of the box in terms of your artistic consumption as well. If you are a huge anime fan, try watching some old black and white music. If you are a metalhead, listen to some country, or world music. These new experiences can inspire you and make you look at your art in different ways.
What Do You Think?
Progression is often related to shaking things up and getting out of our ruts. You never know until you try. Get out there and create art!
Are you a visual artist? Do you have any tips for artistic developments? What actions are you talking to develop your own artistic style? Let me know on social media!
