“Style” is a pretty loaded term for a lot of illustrators. It can be a confusing and frustrating topic shrouded in mystery for both seasoned and emerging artists. When I first started creating illustration work, I internally agonized over figuring out “my style” and putting massive amounts of pressure on myself to figure out one, totally consistent way to always create artwork. I thought that was the best way to attract clients and that I needed a portfolio that was instantly recognizable to art directors.
However, I found that despite the medium, my voice and sensibilities organically came through overtime. I consider my style to be a repetition what I find enjoyable about the art-making process. Over time, I’ve discovered the sweet spots where a creative decision both fulfills my love of the process and is appealing to others. Then I repeat those decisions over and over and over.
I also prefer to view style as an evolution rather than an end goal. As your input of life experiences, interest and visual taste inevitably changes with time so will your output. It’s like each piece I create is a small journal entry that adds to the story of my work that will continue throughout my life.
Giving myself permission to experiment has not only been so nourishing to my creative soul AND has been beneficial to my business. At least for me, working with the same aesthetic and process all the time with no variation can get stale pretty fast. Having a variety of media/processes I can work has become a valuable “tool kit” clients can choose from. In this post, I will walk you all through my journey over the past few months in finding another “style” to add to my tool kit.
Last year, I discussed with my agent, Jennifer Nelson, about trying to break into more mature work, specifically home decor or apparel. I had previously focused on creating work for children (which I absolutely love). However, I had an itch to switch things up a bit with my surface design work.
I had gotten in the habit of working digitally almost 100% of the time, so my first attempt was in Procreate. I made a Christmas pattern, something I always can use in my archive:
But the reindeers were still too “cute.” I received some really helpful feedback in order to age things up:
Observation from life and capture more realism with my animals
Tone down the colors (think about how adult decor and clothing are as bright and saturated as kids products)
Make my shapes more elongated, sharper and less round (get away from the baby-face effect)
I also wanted to switch up my medium which I felt could help me get out of my routine. I decided to give it another shot, but take out any faces this time. Leaning more into realism, I painted some mushrooms:
Now we are getting somewhere!
As suspected, working with a medium I was less familiar with offered a new space where I couldn't rely on my usual tricks. I continued drawing from real-life observation while on a trip to Tybee Island, Georgia. I collected various shells for inspiration and pulled my color palette from my natural surroundings:
This month, I decided to challenge myself to paint a unified composition (rather than stand alone elements) in this mature, painterly style. Using a prompt provided by my agents, “farmer’s market,” I digitally sketched out a few of my favorite garden critters among an ensemble of fruits and vegetables. Then I used watercolor for the majority of the painting and added in a few details with prismacolor pencils like fur and veins on the leaves.
Here is a video time lapse of the painting:
Overall, I’ve really been enjoying working in a different style and challenging myself with analog materials. Developing another style has really filled my creative cup and I’m finding so much joy in this new challenge :)
Here are some illustrators that I find super inspiring and their thoughts on multiple styles:
Dylan Mierzwinski recently shared her thoughts on this very topic on her instagram. Her words REALLY resonated with me and reflected what I was personally feeling. She shared that it’s actually beneficial to your creative business to have multiple “signature styles.”
Kyle Webster: The Style Problem for Artists
Terry Runyan: Multiple Art Styles? No Problem!
Creative Peptalk by Andy J. Pizza: How to Find Your Style & Why You’re Making it Harder Than It Is
Kayla Stark and Vivien Mildenberger discuss the pros and cons of having multiple styles on the Odd Thoughts Podcast.
What do you think? Do you think having multiple styles is a positive thing? Is there a style or medium you want to try out but have felt held back?
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