5 Tips to Uncover Your Unique Art Style

Finding, or changing, your art style can feel daunting. 

New painters wonder how anyone ever finds out a unique way to paint. Surely everything has been done? And how do you start?

More experienced artists also run up against the style question but this time, when they want to make a change. Perhaps a realistic painter feels the urge to go more abstract with their work. Or maybe a watercolour artist feels the urge to try oils.

In any of these cases, it's easy to imagine we can think our way to the answer. It's as if we think we can draw up a plan and then follow the steps. But of course, we have no idea what to write in our plan and so we get stuck.

But I do think there are some steps we can follow and they're much easier than you think.

You've probably heard me say some or all of these things before, but I think they need repeating over and over. i even have to remind myself from time to time!

So here are my 5 tips for finding your art style.

1) Choose what you love

Constantly focus on what you like and not on what others prefer. Choose YOUR colours, YOUR subjects, your tools, your medium, your substrate .... keep choosing! Each choice is a step towards your own style.

2) Notice what you don't like just as much as what you do

If you hate something (a colour, a style, a medium, a brush) NEVER do that thing. Even if it is the most popular thing there is. Never do something that doesn’t feel good. The reason it feels bad is that it's not aligned with your true voice.

3) Be inspired

Don’t look at someone else’s art and get depressed because it’s better than yours. Instead, decide what you like about it, and then bring those elements into your own work - they will morph into yours if they are meant to be. This does not mean to copy another artist but rather to analyse what you are drawn to and then bring those individual elements into your work. (Examples might be a way of making marks or a colour palette or a choice of subject matter).

4) Don't try to impress

Your efforts to be ‘good’ are hindering your learning. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow yourself to try new things. Stop worrying about what other people think, so you can focus on what you think. It is the only way to tune in to what is truly aligned for you (and therefore the only way to find you true voice).

5) Practice

Finding yourself takes time. It doesn’t happen the first time you choose for yourself. But every time you paint with heart and truth and honesty, you get a little bit closer. Most people give up long before they've arrived at their style, but if you just persist, it WILL happen. Don't be one of the people who gives up!

So there you have it - 5 simple steps to finding your style. It may be simple of course, but it's not easy. There are blocks to each of these things.

We don't choose what we love because we doubt our own tastes.

We don't recognise what we don't like for the same reason.

Instead of being inspired by other people's art, we let it discourage us. We compare ourselves to them and then despair. 

We worry about other peoples' judgement, so we avoid taking risks.

And we get discouraged by our lack of success and give up long before we should have.

But once you understand what's happening, you can make a different choice. You can choose to opt for what you like. You can notice what you don't like. You can let others' art inspire you. You can ignore other people's opinions. And you can make a commitment to keep practicing. 

It really is all up to you :)