Finding your ART STYLE ✨ what I wish I knew as a beginner artist

[@erikathegoober]

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[@meganj1411]

Girl. THIS. I won’t bore you with my art history but I’ve learned the past year that forcing a style that I wanted didn’t help what I already had. Also I’ve learned whatever I’m drawing IS my style. It’s coming from me on not someone or something else online. The process of growing has been so much more healing than focusing on what I couldn’t do. It has been an eye opening experience, to say the least. 💜

[@erikathegoober]

YESSS!! I love this for you! It's so freeing! 🥹

[@robbiegricks2648]

This helps a lot, at least in my opinion! For a long time, I've struggled with "finding a style," mostly because I love the look of realistic paintings, but I get so stressed and struggle a lot when I make them. Only very recently have I tried emulating more of a simplistic/cartoonish look, and I've found that I enjoy painting in that way more. So, thank you for the reminder to focus on the process and not the outcome! ❤

[@odduckOasis]

I think every time I listen to your vids, I feel like you're in my head- I've been feeling exactly like this myself lately- comparing my art to my old art from over 10 years ago, thinking it was better or more special or more unique- and then feeling stuck as though I'm not even close to making any kind of mark on the world... thanks for this insight! I really appreciate your candor

[@heolrozael]

Thank you for this video, it helped me a lot! !! I actually feel the same way you do about your past, and it's not easy, it's frustrating x') But I think, like you said, I need to be patient with myself and let my art blossom...and everything will be fine! xD So thanks again, I'm taking notes. From France

[@milkyartea]

This was another thing I needed to hear. I need to stop trying to force myself to have a uniform art style and go back to enjoying making the art. I don't think I realized it at first, but I think the comments I got about my style always changing effected me a lot more than I thought. It made me think, "they want an artist with just one consistent style, not 5 different styles." It's wild because I used to be so proud that I could draw all these different ways, like a chameleon, but then all of a sudden I was boxing myself in and I became more stressed, sad and slightly self-loathing than anything. I'm still trying to pull myself outta that sad state. I think I'm getting the hang of my style now, taking it slow, but I need to at least get back to being consistent in drawing daily; even if I haven't been posting on social media. 😅 thank you for sharing this. 🥹💖 Your words were what I needed to hear. 🥰💕✨

[@amandaray_art]

Love this! My style constantly changes every year as I improve and/or as my interests shift. Definitely appreciate this advice 😊

[@erikathegoober]

Thank you! 💖 It's so much healthier to realize that your art style will change as you change and grow! I feel like social media pressures us into staying the same and turning our style into a 'brand'! But all I've found is that kind of mindset kept me stuck!

[@sarjchief]

I don’t know where this obsession with art style comes from, but it plagues artists endlessly. Look at the great “masters” of the past, none of them have ONE style their entire careers! We usually recognise them by the most popular style or from one body of work, but when you look at their work throughout time, it is always evolving and changing. I’m sure they felt the same pressure, although I think the pressure we have now is partly due to that ever elusive “perfect” social media aesthetic… make it look the same, don’t change your style/colour palette too much or you’ll lose followers etc And we are always our own worst critic!

[@scribzscribbles]

I struggled so much with my art style up until recently. Weirdly enough it had a lot to do with the brushes I was using. And I was also struggling between wanting a cartoon style, but also thinking that painterly was better.

[@ninasarah04]

I had been in this situation, and everything you said is on point. Like you said, I also got to a certain point where I couldn't decide which brush to use or what style to go for. It became overwhelming, and I ended up not doing anything. So I decided to do it all over again and take things slowly. Eventually, I was able to draw things naturally, and whatever the result is, it doesn't bother me anymore because the process is where I have fun and learn the most. 😊

[@ashwinimhatre4393]

The drawing in your thumbnail is soo cute frrr❤❤

[@jamieseroogy766]

im stuck in the "finding my style" life. But its because i am so all over the place that I basically want to find a consistent to style to then take off from. idk. help. lol

[@soareakua]

your rendering is amazing! also i love seeing how people's art improves over time :) for me it was really hard with the whole forcing an art style thing, I'm glad I've finally found a style that i like

[@FacemanArt]

Really good topic, and important to talk about as artists! Breaking down past styles and really understanding why things worked and things didn't is a hard process for artists, but understanding that information and using it as a foundation to continue exploring new styles is really important! Super useful video here, great advice!

[@Consillustrations]

For me my art style change over the years 2011 my original style to mid 10s a anime style I created to 2022 to now my original style but updated version a more stylized cartoon based on adult cartoons like bob burgers etc

[@ChantelleArts]

this is a really interesting topic, your art style has evolved so much too ❤

[@anneliesv4622]

Thank you, just what I needed ♡

[@stephenlee1108]

Honestly this really helped. I've always found myself sort of going back and forth between "styles" and because of that I thought that I still wasn't able to properly find "my style", but hearing that as long as I enjoyed the process then I guess my style will shine through anyway 😊

[@hajimesenpai7996]

This appeared in my feed today. Maybe it was supposed to happen. But your story described what im seriously going through now. Especially with the idea of finding a style...but I still never feel like i found it just yet. You lifted a great weight off my shoulders!!

[@chelsyescalona]

Ok Erika, hell yessss to everything you have said here, I myself have been struggling with similar thoughts and the way you managed to put in words is just exactly what has happened to me, that is why I recently made the decision of letting things flow without worry about past works or good memories like you said, cause it's only preventing me from creating art I want to create and explore new things, at the end of the day style and topics are as evolving as our personalities and experiences in life and I'm glad you talked about this in such an amazing way!

[@theswimmingowl]

Definitely resonate with this and then I add in the feeling of being behind (especially as an artist well out of her 20’s 😅) and it becomes a whole mess of reasons to not create. Process over style! Love that! Thank you for your candid chat about this! 😊

[@nitzeart]

Thank you for sharing this journey ❤ This video was really helpful as someone who’s trying to find their art style in digital art. I’ve been a traditional artist for so long but I’m struggling to translate my voice to digital. So this breakdown was sooo helpful. Also, welcome back to KZbin! (You don’t have to stay, but I think we would love it if you did 😊)

[@LenaSandul]

Thank you for sharing your way! It was enlightening to say the least. In a few months I’ll finally pursue illustration and design full time, and I just presumed it would mean 1 illustration a day, plus some sketches or drawings as a warm-up or from tutorials😅 So you practically saved me with this one video. Thank you!

[@darkfun2481]

This is really informative when I was just starting to post my art online IDK what the freak is art style because I've been doing and learnning art by just studying what I see around me and my main skill is shading which my uncle taught me he does realistic pencil sketches as a hobby and he's really skilled if I don't know him I'd think he went to art school but he didn't he was just self taught but was introduced to art by my grand father who's a professional self taught realistic painter he paints portraits and life size paintings of people. we're not rich so no one went to art school and since we're in a third world country if you're in one too you'd know titles matter more than the skills so even though my grand father had mastered painting he was scammed a lot so he didn't became rich doing art. so in a way I'm a third gen artist(I'm a wanna be though compared to them my skills are mediocre) and I want to do it professionally without and without art school or any background so I don't know what the hell is an art style and when I've done research on it most explained it as "An important trait of an artist it's their signature" and I thought I need to learn and obtain one immidiately, and then burned the hell out for a year since I was painting digitally on an android phone with tiny screen because it was a model from 8 years before and most painting app isn't compatible with it... this is getting long anyways long story short it turns out *Art Style isn't that important what's important is having the ability to draw almost anything or anyone's art style because art style is what get's stuck to you either intentional or unintentionally through out your experience* just draw that you enjoy or like seeing. Anyways I've burned the hell out because not just because I don't have an art style also because art is my passion and people around me keep discouraging me to do art as a living because "there's no money in the art industy, and it's a dying industry" so I lost my ways and the will to live because I thought "If I don't do what I want what's the point of my life, should I just be a salary man who works just to have food for the remainder of my life?" to be fair they just want the best for me and I still haven't make money from doing art so... BTW it's also because of the AI art, I was already burned out and then suddenly AI art suddenly popping up just felt like the world's middle finger to me for being stubborn so I had a Severe Deppression relapsed and just existed for a year/s

[@Strawberry_cake881]

I’m glad that things are looking better for you now. I can relate to a lot in this video. I always used to struggle with drawing and being satisfied with how it came out and kinda thought about it like it was a miracle. I took a months long break from drawing and when I came back I suddenly couldn’t draw anything right anymore and I actually despised my style. Thankfully studying art and learning the fundementals has helped the actual skill aspect, and I am working towards finding a style that I actually enjoy drawing in Hopefully everyone else is doing better too!

[@morrigansmagikalmakings]

Great video and advice! Love seeing the evolution of your style 💜

[@kamiiodragonart]

Honestly this was really helpful ❤. I learned how to accept what i have as an art style at the moment and let my inner child have fun and find new ways to explore without the pressure that it has to be perfect because perfection is different for everyone and we are not here to please people.

[@thestellarelite]

I started obsessing about style again this year and now that I look at my IG feed the moment I started doing that I stopped uploading as much lol. I've been doing traditional a lot more this year and I find I create way more and faster when I'm in a sketchbook because you can't noodle forever. It's embarrassing how many pure ref files of "art styles" I have trying to come up with my own mish mash of my favorites. I still want to explore it but it does completely stop you from creating anything lol

[@erikathegoober]

Isn't it funny (not really funny but you know) how social media messes with our brains like that? I've felt pressure from it to have a cohesive, ✨a e s t h e t i c✨ feed and style and it made me stop posting! 🫠 It makes us scared to keep going! It's hard to do, but I think cultivating a trust in ourselves and our process that if we keep creating things will sort themselves out is essential for a healthy relationship with our art!

[@thestellarelite]

@@erikathegoober Yeah the aesthetic feed pressure on IG is very stifling! Same with being forced to use trending audio on reels. Opposite of creativity. I've been on a socials break and would like to come back but am literally scared to commit lol. I've found I have the best time on socials when I adopt an "I don't care and if it does well great" attitude! 🙃