Style

Style is in my opinion an awful nightmare that is constantly looming over any artist who wants to "make it" in the art world. It is ever present and I am sure everyone has felt that they needed to find their own unique style or else they would surely fail before they ever really started.

As a student I wasn't so focused on it until I started to become comfortable with my chosen medium. The more comfortable I got with the materials it seemed the more uncomfortable I got with the result.

I spent a large part of my time in school poring over my favorite artist's work. Reading books and watching videos about their processes, trying to find that elusive secret that somehow unlocked their 'style'. I learned a great deal about their working methods and I unlocked quite a bit in my own mind about conceptually painting but I was still no where closer to finding their, let alone my own, style. My knowledge of painting then became so much greater than my technical skill which was entirely backwards. I found myself painting more in my head than on the canvas which is definitely a start, but not when one hampers the other.

The fact is that there is no covetous secret that anyone possesses that will suddenly let you inherit a style, or all of a sudden develop your own.

The only real secret behind developing a personal style is hiding in plain sight...

WORK.

DRAW.

PAINT.

Just do what it is you do.

You will discover it for yourself.

Borrow from the masters. Draw from your inspirations, but make sure you draw from ALL of your inspirations. Keep what works for YOU in the way that YOU interpret it (it will never be like the source material, nor should it). Play around and invent your own methods for things but don't try too hard to achieve originality, strive instead for authenticity. Be true to what feels right for YOU.

The goal here is to see a unique style shining through your work. You may only see glimpses at a time but the more you train yourself and recognize the good from the bad from the blatant copies, you will see those glimpses more and more. The key is to keep any singular vision from outshining the rest, unless of course it is your own.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF STYLE...

Part of one's training as an artist should be to expect, endure, and react to change. This includes your personal style. Expect your style to change because it will, frequently; especially in the beginning of your education and career.

As your technical skill develops and matures, your style will react and adapt. As in my case, I felt my conceptual knowledge lapped my technical skill which then caused my technical skills to develop that much faster as I put into practice the concepts I had learned. This inherently caused the style and look of my painting and drawing to change within a very short time. It is still changing.

This change however has to occur naturally. The more you try to force the change early on the more you will probably end up just copying someone else.

It wasn't meant to be easy to find your unique voice when it comes to style. Take your time and it will pay off in the end.

The most beautiful thing about personal style and in fact art in general is that there is never an end to this grand journey we're on. Change is inevitable, so recognize and embrace it.