I used to worry so much about whether my art was unique or not.
What was the drawing style I wanted?
How do I achieve it?
Will other people like it?
And I think these questions naturally come up for almost every artist at some point in their creative journey.
So I decided to create this blog post for anyone with these same questions in their minds.
And if figuring out your art style has been causing you a little anxiety, I hope this article helps to bring you some peace.
Because I promise I’m not going to overcomplicate things.
In fact, I think the answer is much simpler than we sometimes make it out to be.
You don’t really find your art style.
You develop it.
And the process happens so quietly, it can sometimes be hard to see.
From my experience though, it tends to happen through these specific phases each artist tends to go through… so let’s get started with how to develop your own art style!
Phase 1: Learn from Other Artists
Every artist learns from other artists.
It’s simply part of learning how to create art.
We look at artists like Vincent Van Gogh or Monet, a manga artists we admire, an illustrator whose books we love, or maybe that one artist we constantly see on Instagram, Pinterest, or Youtube.
And naturally, we start wondering:
How did they draw that?
How did they choose those colors?
How do they make their line art look like that?
So we practice.
We try drawing eyes the way they draw eyes. We experiment with similar color palettes. We study their compositions, their brushwork, the way they simplify shapes, or the little details that make their work feel special.
And I think this is an incredibly important part of developing your own art style.
You’re basically collecting little pieces of artistic knowledge.
Of course, there is a difference between studying someone’s work and directly copying their finished artwork and selling it as your own.
But when you are practicing privately, studying and recreating artwork can be a really useful learning tool.
You might imitate one artist for a while and realize you love the way they draw faces.
Maybe another artist inspires the way you draw clothing, backgrounds, flowers, animals or line art.
Little by little, you begin collecting the things that resonate with you.
And eventually, those influences start mixing together.
Phase 2: Create Without Trying to Have a Style
This is probably the most important part.
Just create art.
Try not to overthink your art every time you draw by asking yourself:
Does this look unique enough?
Is this my style yet?
Does this look too much like someone else’s?
That kind of pressure can make creating art feel much more complicated than it needs to be.
Instead, draw what you genuinely feel like drawing.
As you become more comfortable, you may start relying less on other artists’ work and creating more from your own imagination, experiences, preferences, and ideas.
And then, something interesting begins to happen.
Some of the things you learned from other artists will naturally stay with you.
And others will disappear.
Like maybe you once loved drawing extremely detailed eyes, but eventually you realize you prefer simpler ones.
Maybe you experimented with realistic proportions but discover you enjoy exaggerating them instead.
Maybe you used to love bright colors and later become drawn to softer palettes.
You don’t necessarily make these decisions consciously.
It’s just when you keep creating art over and over again, eventually you begin to think:
I actually like doing it this way instead.
And then you do it again.
And again.
That repetition is where you style begins to form.
Your art style is made up of hundreds of tiny preferences you’ve collected over time.
The way you draw eyes.
The colors you like more than others.
The kinds of subjects you like to draw.
The amount of detail you use.
Even the things you struggle to draw can sometimes become part of what makes your work recognizable.
And you don’t need to consciously decide all these things.
A lot of it happens all on its own as you create art over and over again.
Phase 3: Share Your Work
It actually wasn’t until I started sharing my artwork that people began pointing out my art style to me.
And honestly, I was kind of blind to it.
People would tell me that they could recognize one of my drawings before even seeing my name.
And I remember realizing:
Oh. I actually do have an art style.
And other people find it unique.
Sometimes your own art style is incredibly difficult to see because you’re so used to looking at your own work.
But whenever I look at other people’s artwork, I immediately see their unique style and I know their work is unique to them.
Maybe it’s the way they draw their lines.
Maybe it’s their specific color palette.
Maybe it’s the expressions they give their characters.
Sometimes I can’t even explain exactly what makes their work theirs… but I just know.
And the funny thing is, they might not even notice those same qualities in their own work.
The same thing can be true for you.
Your art will be unique. It most definitely already is.
Your Art Style Will Change – And That’s Okay
Another thing I think artists worry about is finally developing an art style… and then watching it change.
But art styles are supposed to change.
If you look at artists who have been creating for decades or even famous artists throughout history… their work often goes through completely different periods.
Their techniques change.
Their interests change.
Their lives change.
And naturally, their artwork changes with them.
You might love one style for three years and suddenly feel pulled toward something completely different.
That doesn’t mean you lost your style.
It just means you’re growing.
I actually think one of the worst things you can do is force yourself to keep creating the same way simply because people recognize you for it.
Your style should be allowed to change and flow with you.
Your Art is Probably Already More Unique Than You Think
Something I wish I understood earlier is that being original and unique doesn’t mean creating something the world has never seen before.
That sets the bar way too high.
Almost everything we create is influenced by something.
Art we’ve seen.
Places we’ve visited.
Movies we’ve watched.
Colors we associate with certain feelings.
Even our personalities influence the kinds of things we create.
Two artists can study the exact same subject and still create completely different work because they are filtering that inspiration through two completely different lives.
That’s why I don’t think you have to worry so much about trying to be unique.
You already are.
Your art will naturally carry pieces of you inside of it.
And the more you create, the more visible those pieces become.
So How do You Develop Your Own Art Style?
Keep creating.
That really is the answer.
Study the artists you love.
Experiment with different techniques.
Try things that feel outside of your comfort zone.
Notice what you keep coming back to.
Notice what you like to draw or don’t like to draw.
Allow yourself to change your mind whenever you feel like it.
Because your art style isn’t something you choose once and keep forever.
It’s something that evolves alongside you.
There will probably be phases where your work changes dramatically, and there will be other periods where it feels very consistent.
Both are completely normal.
So no matter what phase of the process you’re in, keep creating art!
It is through creating that we learn what we like, what we don’t like, what we want to improve, and what feels completely naturally to us.
And eventually, you may look back and realize that while you were busy trying to find your art style…
you had already been creating it the entire time.
Thank you so much for stumbling upon this blog post! I hope you enjoyed!
Please let me know your experiences or insights in finding your own art style. For me, it came pretty organically as I was just putting little doodles out there but let me know what you’ve experienced in your own art journey!
I am wishing you a wonderful day or night and I’ll see you in the next one <3