A guide to finding your style

In five simple steps

Before I start: Sketchbook club is this weekend. We’re gonna draw using layers.

Sometimes, when you look at a piece of art, you know exactly who made it. The style gives it away.

But what is a style? And how do you find yours?

A lot of people talk about wanting to find their style, but they’re not sure how.

The main way is by drawing a lot. There isn’t really a shortcut to it. Fill more books. Draw enough, and your style will emerge.

But it’s a lot easier if you find a path someone else has taken already.

We are not totally original. We’re products of what went before us. All kinds of stuff goes into our brains, and what comes out is influenced by those inputs.

But we’re not totally made up of our influences. There are things that are us. We all have unique handwriting. Drawing is like that too.

I think that style is the culmination of the decisions you make. So, looking at other artists and their decisions can make it a bit easier to find a style.

Find your heroes

This is the easy part. Look for people whose art makes you say “I wish I could make that”. Most people stop there and collect dozens of favourite artists and keep wishing, but not you. In this exercise, you’re only allowed three.

Step one: Find three artists you admire. Write their names at the top of a page.

Work out what they do

Once you’ve got the heroes, you’ve got to work out why they’re heroes.

You want to really understand their drawings. The best way to do this is to copy them! Even artists with extremely recognisable unique styles made copies; there’s a whole Wikipedia article about copies by van Gogh.

Look at the work and try to understand what tools they use. The kind of marks they make. What colours and subjects keep repeating? What size do they draw? What is it that you like about their work?

Step two: for each artist, make a list that describes their work in simple terms.

Make a list of what is common to your heroes

By their powers combined, you’ll work out what your taste is. There’ll be words that keep appearing. This is what you’re aiming for.

Step three: go through the lists and make a list of what is common to all three.

Start drawing

Look at the list, and try to make a drawing like that.

The first one will fail. That’s normal. If you really don’t like the drawing, I’ve got you covered

Step four: use the last list to make your next drawing.

Keep going

Draw more. The more you draw, the closer you’ll get to the things on your list. Or you’ll work out that you don’t like what you thought you were into.

Step five: use the last list to make your next drawing.

This journey goes on forever. We’re never finished working out what kind of art we make. That’s part of the fun.

Happy drawing,
Andrew