STOP Taking This Art Style Advice
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2021
- Folks, it’s time for drama. It’s time to subtweet. It’s time to take some umbrage. Today I’m particularly calling out some advice I’ve seen floating around about how to find and develop your art style. And while it might seem like I’m splitting hairs, I’m going to give you the principles of what to do instead.
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"Art style is... Problem solving" EXACTLY. Perfect way to describe it.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Some people say
Creativity is Problem solving
@Kaeya Alberich I mean... when you put it that way, I had to stop and think for a second, but I still don’t think it’s wrong to call any of those fields problem solvers. Arts and Sciences are in the same category after all, and it’s reflected in a lot of the fundamental things that define the subjects. I mean, just think, Creative Thinking + Analytical Thinking = both Artistic and Scientific Thinking! And both, in the end, are trying to understand & utilize the subject at hand!
“What is the Higgs Boson particle and can we manipulate it or use it for something?” is a scientific problem solving question!
“What are the key features I want to emphasize on my subject and how can I simplify or utilize shapes & colors to convey that?” is an artistic problem solving question!
@Kaeya Alberich oh, but it is a little frustrating I think when ppl say “you’re not a ___, you’re a problem solver!” Lol.. It’s both, so it’s fine to just say someone is an artist/programmer/designer. All of those titles are already cool and respectable imo, & the problem solving aspect should probably just be implied? idk lol
Slow clap
I think so many new artists forgot or don't realize art is a journey. Your"style" is going to change and develop over the years it's the culmination of your experience, skills and knowledge
So true I stated art properly 3 years ago and I never focused on “finding my art style” yet it’s changed so much. Basically just learn how too draw kids.
this is 100% true in my opinion. I used to love to draw in nothing but anime style but I just wasn't improving and I found myself dissatisfied with my drawings. I was doodling and goofing around to get rid of an art block and i made something more simplistic and stylized than what i normally did. it was like a switch flipped!
I kept trying to draw in anime style but loved the way my new method looked and slowly bled it into my style.
Art IS a journey and sometimes you have to take a back road completely out of your way to find your path to improvement
@@kyanshi preach sis.
Exactly
@@kyanshi thats cool
I never understood why the online art community care so much about art style. It's like focusing only on the sprinkles of a cake.
Its like only focusing on the icing of the cake instead of the cake itself
@@coffintears5821 Because "the cake is a lie"
But GLaDOS said there really was a cake...
Jk
The cake is a fake and the pie is a lie.
Because it’s mostly made up of teenagers who are in the phase of searching for a unique identity, and having a clearly defined art style is a (immature) way to express identity
Maybe they’re hoping they’ll become famous for their style. Which would make things easier since you don’t then to learn to draw different things. But that’s a handicap I think because then you can’t change your style to suit the subject.
This is a lot more helpful than “DrAw PeRfEcT or YOU NO dRaW!” or “Copy artists you like!”
Perfect is dumb. 😅🤣
Imperfect is my art style it’s supposed to look unfinished like I forgot to draw the faces and forgot Line art
Exactly. There's a huge difference between actually studying artists you like than just copying them. You learn way more from one method than the other.
@Jo Jo what do you mean
@ Jo Jo
You know.. some artists don’t understand what makes their art successful because they have low self esteem. I, personally, don’t rely on myself to make assumptions of my work. But, it really doesn’t matter. Why? Because most artists work hard for what they made. They spent time, and energy. Yes, some don’t know how to critique theirs properly. But that is just a matter of how people perceive what they made. For me, I hate almost everything I make. But I show pride in it because I know I spent hours on it. Maybe you should get to learn more about people who do art before you hold this against them
That "finding your art style" thing annoys the crud out of me. Look, I also want to draw more simple and use some elements from art styles I like, but ultimately in the end of the day, my art style IS the *way I draw currently.* Copying for study, practice, and fun? Yes. Copying amd using it for your work, well it could work, even if you could phase out with the abundance of similar art styles.
Improvements and studies will be the great factors of finally having an art style.
Ive been drawing for years and honestly, idek when did the finding your artstyle thing start getting more prominent.
@@cthulha_north because on the internet people get recognized through their artstyles. Style is very important (according to many) if you want to sell your art and/or to become recognized.
@@somethingwithbungalows i thought the video said it wasnt important. so which is it?
@@cthulha_north it isn’t but many make it out to be.
I always thought it was made up to denigrate the influence of manga and anime, like "you need to find YOUR OWN style" is a putdown that you don't have to back up in any way
Great discussion dude! Style is so overvalued and overrated, and the truth is we all have one but some styles just have more mileage, experimentation, problem solving and taste - and thats why many of those artists stand out
Exactly! Plus, in most mainstream art jobs (such as animation and game design, not freelance stuff) it's actually more important to be able to replicate other styles. This is not to say that style isn't important- it most certainly is- but rather, that it isn't needed to be an artist, much less a professional one.
And another thing- one artist can have multiple styles, just as there are multiple genres of art style in general, such as anime, realism, cartoon, 3d, chibi, furry, etc. For a certain project you may want a more stylized look, while on another you may want to be more realistic... this doesn't mean that one of them is "not your style", just that you can adapt your style/have different styles to fit what you want to make. And isn't that what art is about, being able to adapt your skills to make what you want to make?
On a final note, style is subjective. More cartoony doesn't mean "bad" and more realistic doesn't mean "good". There are certain principles that make a style better, generally- clean linework, understanding of color theory, etc. It's entirely possible for an experienced artist (say, Butch Hartman) to have a style that looks like complete shit while an amateur can make much better, though more limited, pieces. As long as you are able to adapt, be creative, and experiment, there's really no need to worry about finding your style.
Hey I'm subbed to you
Thanks Toniko! Absolutely
@@thedestroyasystem I love your pfp
@@ashleymusicx thank you! :)
One of the few questions I got from one of my followers was "When did you develop your art style?" as if it's a single event that just sort of happens at some point in your life.
Relax, it’s just an innocent question lol
@@DesignzRUs1 Why would you just assume I'm angry about it? I did answer it normally, I just thought it was relevant as a faulty way of thinking.
@@DesignzRUs1 they dont seem mad to me bruv
@@the_honored_one_06 in most coments that are worded that way, the OP is annoyed or angry
Im not saying he is, just that is expectable
Maybe they were asking about one of those "Eureka!" moments when you realized you preferred to do certain stuff instead of the other, for example when you decided which type of lines you'd mostly use. But things like that sometimes simply come I assume... I am not an artist myself at most I do some sprites that aren't good, so i don't really know.
"Mickey with photorealistic hands can't hurt you, he isn't real"
Mickey with photorealistic hands:
Mickey takes off his gloves to do dirty work.
Those hands were the last thing Blue Sky Studios saw.
@scftlcve he wears them to hide the blood stains on his photorealistic hands
@scftlcve Because gloves are much nicer, softer and less abrasive than a mouse with human hands and fingernails at the time and it just stuck for many Disney characters.
Well, I understand these replies are jokes, but the reason why he wears gloves is because they were a way for his hands to stand out during dark scenes, considering that he was created in the day before color cartoons. The gloves were so iconic that they became accessories for many Disney and Non-Disney characters.
You forgot to add a timestamp. Let me do it for ya: 0:00
"you don't find artstyle, artstyle finds you"
It's beautiful
I hate the fact that so many young artists are so obsessed with finding an art style to the point that they will watch tutorials of how to find it and all that. The truth is that art styles develope naturally based on own preferences. It's nothing people should worry about...
I will say that when I look back at some old art of mine I do see a difference and it morphing. I thought art is kinda like shin-godzilla. It's constantly adapting.
Yeah, even as a kid, I thought of art style as the artist's equivalent of handwriting - it's just naturally how they draw.
So I guess every animated cartoon ever made is forgery, then?
@@ARCtheCartoonMaster basically, a lot of animation and brand design requires artist to know how to replicate an art style. If you were to try and design characters for league of legends you’d need to know how to get the same atmosphere and stylistic features they want
That art style Frankenstein thumbnail scares me
Gonna make that my art style!
/j
Its like when theres a toy line where you can “Mix and match for CRAZYYY combinations!”
@@papasscooperiaworker3649 did you not watch the whole video?
@Mili you too
@Mili I thought the /j was a deformed bro-hoof for some reason. Like, he held his messed-up, mixed-with-something-else hoof up for a high-five (so to speak) and _was left hanging._ So instead of /)*(\ it just wound up like a misshapen version of:
/)
The whole 'trying to find my art style' thing really did some damage to my learning process when I was younger. I eventually stopped caring and just began to draw what I felt like, and looked at other art to see where I could improve on past mistakes. It feels like every few months I have made so much progress compared to several years ago where my style barely changed even over the course of a couple years. I personally think learning artists should draw something they like, instead of worrying about finding their own individuality.
This.
I feel this.
for me my progress was every peice looked difrent but the same eyes and hair all that changed was the style but now every charater i create looks like they are from the same universe but still difrent. mostly because i do lineless insted of only ballpoint pen with no flesh for the charater
i have a art style but i do the same thing lol
3:56 honestly? im glad someones sayin this. because i see so many people going like "uhhh thats not how the human body looks/works uhh its unrealistic" like yeah. its called cartooning.
thats kind of the point
YES!!! My friend always picks on me for drawing furry like things, and i drew a skull poping out of a cat's face once. She's like "ohoh its a dinosaur!!" I said "no, its not hah, but you can see when im done!".
She then went on about how it looks like a dino so it has to be, and when i explain to her that not everything i draw has to be a real thing, she said it was stupid. Its disappointing how the schools in elementary teach you that art has to mean something, and has to be made up of things that already exist (human, dog, rat, etc.), bc look where she is now, stuck in the same mindset from years ago.
Its disappointing, really.
My mind automatically defaulted to Craig McCracken and his recent Netflix cartoon when watching this. I’ve learned to greatly admire the fact that none of his shows over the past 20+ years look even remotely similar to each other, although his earliest, PowerPuff Girls, looks a bit similar to his work on Dexter’s Lab.
A lot of iconic newspaper comics, like Garfield, Peanuts, and Calvin and Hobbes are also good reminders for me that it is perfectly okay and even encouraged to develop different styles and techniques over time. Even CG shows like Jimmy Neutron and Sonic Boom refreshed their character models, animation, and lighting between seasons, which is harder to do than just changing the way you draw 2D characters but usually worth the trouble in the end.
Sorry to interrupt you there, but these changes in 3D shows aren’t done for artistic value. Like, at all. Whenever models, lighting, textures, etc. in a 3D show change, that just means that the episode had a different animation studio working on it, nothing more. Especially French shows like Miraculous or Sonic Boom often do this as they tend to hire a bunch of studios at once. The differences are usually the most evident in details like hair textures, a thing I know for a fact both of these shows were inconsistent in, not just between seasons, but between *episodes.* This isn’t even comparable to something like Steven Universe not having model sheets so the storyboard artists could draw the characters in their own way (which the show got a lot of flak for by the way), it’s just the cold hard 3D animation process being the cold hard 3D animation process in different studios. Not to mention Jimmy Neutron and Sonic Boom are kind of… They’re not the best examples when it comes to the artistic value of 3D animation.
I‘m not saying 3D animated shows look inherently worse or can’t be artsy at all, but comparing them to 2D animation in this way is comparing apples and oranges.
Have you ever heard about how one of the big differences between these two art forms is that backgrounds are harder in 3D while character animation is harder in 2D? In 2D, you draw the background once, in 3D every object in the background has to be modeled, lit, rendered, etc., but at the same time a character can be modeled and rigged once and then reused a million times while in 2D, every frame of the character moving needs to be drawn. Because of this fact alone, a 3D show‘s artistic values are not going to depend on the same elements as a 2D show‘s artistic values.
The „spastic weirdo“ character type commonly used in Illumination movies isn’t very impressive there because 3D makes these movements casual, but when 2D cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry do it, there’s way more stuff going on because every frame is a drawing. Inversely, a 2D animated show that’s all about traveling to and exploring different locations is probably not going to be as much of a standout as a 3D show that fully commits to this concept (such as The Little Prince 2010).
@@rainpooper7088 Oh, I didn't know that. That said, I also think art styles change so often in CG shows simply because of the rapid pace that 3D rendering tends to grow at. TV shows have to be made as cheaply and efficiently as possible, and of course rendering is a massive bottleneck in the pipeline, so 3D artists have to keep up with the latest developments so that, hopefully, they can make the animation look better AND save time and money at the same time. Although I'm not sure why there aren't more cheap TV cartoons that use real-time rendering solutions like Eevee, Unreal, or iClone, considering that they don't seem to use a million light sources or photorealistic reflections or anything that requires the use of slow-but-photorealistic software like VRay or Renderman.
Same
idk, i definitely get a ton of PowerPuff/Dexters lab vibes from Kid Cosmic like right off the bat, but it's still got enough of it's own thing, I like it.
@@rainpooper7088 3D/CGI content can still have a conscious shift in art styles, lol. It's not just about studious and budget.
I spent my teenage years on DeviantArt drawing whatever I want and getting inspiration from all the artists around me. Back then there weren't many good fundamental sources online (unlike today), and I really wanted to get into Art School *to learn the fundamentals*. However, local Art Schools hated the fact "I was already stuck on a style". It was so frustrating to me, because I wanted to go to Art School to break out of that, but instead I felt like I was being punished for trying my best with the limited (stylized) ressources I had. I made it into a school now, but it still makes me angry to think back.
Fr line the point of school is to LEARN. But they’re always surprised when you didn’t learn stuff the year before or don’t know how to do certain things
Art has to be one of the most polluted education sectors when it comes to elitism and pretentiousness. I'm glad you found a place that actually wants to teach
Yeah exactly and I agree. I had a similar experience in my first Electrotechnology course. They asked if I knew what and how Ohms effects wattage and stuff. I told them I hadn’t done anything on the subject yet, and they got super weird about it asking why I didn’t know already as if I should’ve learnt about it before, when my whole purpose to be there was to learn about it lol. It’s like a catch22: “You should know about it before I teach you about it” smh
There are lots of good and open minded art schools/colleges, but back then if you didn’t draw hyperealism, political cartoon style, or Disney style, they were just rude and close minded
@@Rain-nm1eeYeah! If you already know it, what’s the point of learning it?
You know? That "art style is problem solving" kinda answers another meme I see tossed about from time to time. You know...
"woah my art style is so inconsistent! it almost never stays the same!" (In spite of the fact that you can still have some tells.)
Would my tell by really bad faces? Bc even though I've practiced them for years, they still look no better.
@@Nakia11798 no, the tells are oftentimes things that are more about execution than the art style itself- my art changes a lot and it looks different every month, but my friends can always tell a drawing is mine because of the way i draw lines and because of how sharp/soft specific things look
Something else that I noticed about copying other’s art style features, is that (for me at least), doesn’t really feel comfortable. Just because I like someone else’s art style, means that I’ll feel comfortable doing it the same way they do. And so it ends up being counterproductive, because instead of finding MY style that makes me comfortable and happy with what I create, I just end up frustrated.
So besides that, what I’ve also experienced over the years that I’ve drawing, is that most times, you just have to be patient, and keep on drawing, analysing, observing and experimenting. It’ll take years, sure, but I still find it really nice :)
I've gotten to the point that I dont care about having an art style. I just like to draw to draw
In your case, your habits become your style, and there's nothing wrong with that.
"Drawing is drawing!"
I stopped calling art style "style" a long time ago because of all the misconceptions and the stigma around the word, now whenever I'm talking to a person that's starting with art I talk to them about their art essence, about not having all your art look necessarily consistent but to make it identifiable as something you made around stuff that you like, many new artists tend to be so afraid of not having all their art look "the same" so I also try to help them understand that the way we all do art and how it looks changes constantly and it's always good to experiment with those changes we find that we like because that way you can make your art more about yourself and your identity as an artist as you evolve as one.
You're an art hero!
if someday I decide to go commercial I'll sort my art in piles of similar "style" and sign each pile with a different pseudonym...
Well i have many different art "style" .. cuz sometimes i don't like drawing in the same "style" over and over again .. i like to experiment another artist art "style" and see if it's work for me or not ..
I just noticed that I did improved my art style for over the years it was trash before but now I’m getting the hang of it and understanding the depth of art I’m only a minor but I like learning art more.. than any studies I do
@@zafaii9354 I think the most important thing is not to give up even if you think your art is trash, if art is worth doing, it's better to do it badly than not at all. I got discouraged for years and regretted it after
Okay but
Atlantis hands are the best hands ever
Absolutely
Tru
I aspire to make hands akin to Atlantis hands
Triangle nails babey
Hands down~
Here's another thing about art style I learned recently:
Improving in your own art style doesn't mean going from stick figures to an absolute beautiful realistic portrait, it's improving the weaker points. Sure some people do go from the change of very simplistic to complex but that isnt always the case. You might notice that the way you draw certain features is a bit awkward, so what do you do? You change it up a bit!
Example: for the longest time when I would draw ears on a person they never fit the head shape or size, this was mainly because for a long time I refused to draw them until I realized that they actually complimented my drawings. But when I would study my own art looking at things I wanted to improve one of the main things was ears. So I made them from small ears that you could barley see to ears that actually fit the head size.
For others it might be other things, it could be the way you draw mouths, the way you draw eyes or hair ect.
Same the nose thing. Now i'm drawing buttons and sausages as noses, because it fits my simple drawings
Nice but if you still only know how to draw stick figures how do you progress from there
@@usurpererenyeager649 if you're asking for yourself then I recommend by replicating a very simplistic art style that mainly revolves around shapes. I actually started learning how to draw by drawing the powerpuff girls over and over again
@@Suricious Ohh I see thanks, I never bothered to improve my art from when I was younger so I'm still stuck with stick figures
as an artist that can pretty much do any "style" except hyperrealism, i wholeheartedly agree. it's much more rewarding to be versatile.
absolutely
so art style is basically how you interpret human anatomy or your surroundings in a way? Thats how its Problem solving? :0
An artstyle can be more that "how your anatomy looks".
Artstyle can also be considered "your view of the world, it's feelings and rules"
yes and no. problem solving is when you identify a problem first and then come up with solution. i.e. "i need this character to look powerful and scary"
problem solving is like, you need to draw a hand. There are infinite ways of portraying that hand but you're gonna have to chose pose, lighting, ammount of details, ammount of anatomy, colors, render. How do you chose what to do? you look at context. Is it a pixel art project? a realistic looking project? animated? Is there a context for the character? do you need to draw some accessories to convey some personality trait? does it need to be super anatomical or is that just gonna distract the viewer from what you want to convey?
you go about eliminating things you don't want and simplifying things you don't need so that what comes through is exactly what's needed out of your drawing. It conveys both the story and fits the world/aesthetic you are going for. If the point is practicing perfect anatomy then go for lighting that shows form and maximum detail. If the point is looking scary maybe consider dramatic lighting and more of it in the dark with less detail. Problem solving is context and simplification
I draw a hand by drawing a circle put a circle inside the circle put ovals as fingers
I’m going to show this to my best friend. She’s been struggling with her art style for a year now and I’m trying my best to teach her.
Awesome!
So, how did it go?
Art style is not about copying someone else, or breaking the rules after learning them. It is about making YOUR OWN RULES for drawing, and adjusting them as needed.
I had no idea how much studying from life affected my art style until someone pointed out how my art that I made for fun had gotten so much better over the course of a year. It was absolutely down to developing a stronger understanding of how proportions work, something that I'm still learning and experimenting with. Hands are still a massive pain, but I have ways of dealing with them now and when I get them right, it's oh so satisfying.
I hate when my hands ruin an otherwise satisfying project. I keep the 'bad' drawing around as an example of what went wrong. It helps to see improvement as well.
Barely anything satisfies me
That’s exactly what happened with me!!!
personally I think just draw what you like and over time it kinda changes into your own
Such truth in such a simple sentence.
Swear. It definitely helps to use references and get some help but your goals will change and it’ll fix itself.
It dont though your just a derivative
I've often used the "you can't break the rules without first understanding the rules" phrase when explaining why I have issues with the people who lean so heavily on "it's my style" when their work is criticized. I'm actually glad to hear this from someone else as I've often found myself being the only person who seemed to use that phrase.
6:49 Why'd you had to call me out like that! As a Pikmin fan I am offended on the utmost level. I will never be capable of recovering from such deep cutting words.
Joking aside, Pikmin is a big reason why I wanted to get into game making. Who knows if I would have ever picked up programming if it weren't for Pikmin and other games I've enjoyed. I'm not trying to make a Pikmin clone game, but I've always had it in my mind to make a game inspired by it.
As a huge Pikmin fan, I’d love to see it!!!
Yeah, making a good game is a lot like developing your own style in that you have to understand *why* certain games are designed the way they are. What aspects of Pikmin do you enjoy so much? Is it the exploration? Time management? Team management? Combat? Is it a combination of these elements? How did they try to solve different problems. Look at other games and learn how they handled these elements and solve similar problems.
Also while it's good to add new game mechanics to make your game more unique. It should be more than just "Pikmin but with sword or Pikmin but with portal gun". Understand how adding these mechanics influence the entire game and what other mechanics would you need to add or change to balance it? For example, how would the sword influence puzzles and combat? How would you balance the combat so you need to use both the Pikimin and sword in conjunction with each other? Would you need to add a stamina meter so you can't spam sword? If so, what other elements can you incorporate with the stamina meter?
It's basically like setting up a long line of dominoes and hoping each one hits the other.
as an artist who's been online for way longer than social media has been a platform for artists to make money, connections, and get their work out in a big way, I've noticed that younger artists by contrast have almost exclusively experienced art as a social media phenomenon. kids now see social media as this potentially very lucrative income source and they want to get "good" as FAST and as easy as possible so that they can start making money and clout. They feel so much unnecessary pressure to rush through their art journey so that they can jump into the pool as soon as possible and compete. I hate looking at art that way.
Yes, finally someone says it, don't worry about your art style, worry about your SKILLS! look to your favorite artists for inspiration and tips, but still practice fundamentals and try doing things yourself. Practice and learn realism so you know what you can throw into the trash later. I hate hate hate when ppl tell u to "find ur Artstyle" cuz that implys that it'll never change or improve which is not true. Thanks man.
I used to think that finding your "art style" is the way to go. But as I continue to learn, the more I realized that you already have an "art style" and you just don't know it. "ART STYLE" to me is how you use and interpret the fundamentals you've learned in your work. Every artist, especially beginning artists should study the fundamentals. Fundamentals do help a lot in making your art look better especially if you have that preferred style you're working on. They are the foundations of art.
My style was just a copy and paste, but after a while I improved on that style and over time made some aspects my own style.
I see a lot of people on Pinterest screeching about art style without having no knowledge,these people need to learn that a art style is a result,not an option.
Oh my god, the fact I know what you're talking about hurts me
Way too many young artists who have honestly pretty terrible advice on there
People only care about art style and not how the peice fundamentally looks
Exactly! Art style arrives with hard work, not a cheap option from their poor options menu.
Tbh I’d even argue people have no art style until they understand a the subject to a certain degree, if you can’t draw a face, you don’t have a stylised face, you just have a wrongly proportioned face and need more practice
Art style being problem solving is 100% right
I went though a whole phase in highschool where I didn't want to draw noses, so I decided to streamline a bunch of aspects of my style at the time so that not drawing noses wouldnt look strange
Ironically, removing the noses actually made me practice exaggerated expressions more because the noses werent in the way :')
*HOLD THE DING DANG CORDLESS PHONE FOR A MINUTE*
allow me to add this to my vocabulary
This video finally made it click for me why I enjoy art in the first place. I love the problem solving aspect of it. This has been such a watershed moment for me. Thank you.
Don't compare yourself to famous artists online or otherwise. It's like a first grader being jealous of an eighth grader for knowing more. You are still learning. So are they.
Thank you I seriously needed to hear that 😅
@@cheefclam654 We all do :D
But they better in my age i feel so bad T~T
Art for me is more adventurous and experimental than holding myself back by one art style.
For me there's no definitive art style like the artist itself, it will change,shift,and evolve as time passes and it will have it's signature look without you knowing. I wouldn't say it shows now but there's a handful inspiration and influence in there somewhere that not even I can tell where or what it is, so it's like chimera of sorts. (Btw excellent video • v•)b)
This was seriously a really encouraging video for me. For a while now I’ve been looking back at my old art and thinking, “wow, I’ve regressed, the stuff I make is so much more cartoonish”. I think implicitly I’ve always had this thought that “bad” art is “non photorealistic” art, or art that doesn’t give off a whole atmospheric energy that lights up a room and brings tears to the audiences eyes as they barely manage to stand on shaking knees as the artist is engulfed in a wave of thunderous applause- but I think now I’m realizing that’s not the case at all, and my idea of what art is has been disconnected from what I actually enjoy about art, and what I actually enjoy drawing. When looking at my newer art I’m realizing that it looks more “stylized” because I’ve gained a better understanding of the technical side of art, and I’m now more able to have fun with pushing structures to look a more “extreme” way. For example, things are much more relatively proportional, and I have much wider range of poses and design choices. I used to have no clue about how to draw hands and put them at the sides in a relaxed position, trying to make them look “correct” more than anything else. Now I realize I’ve been focusing on drawing hands in a way that is satisfying, and I personally think looks nice. Overall, I think this will absolutely be helpful for helping me continue to improve in the future.
Yea, I agree.
Thank you for this.
After following the "take things from the artists you like" I felt behind someone's shadow.
Never use a style as a short cut to learn the basics. Trust me, I did this when I was younger, and while it help is some aspects, it's better to learn from real life to then be able to interpret reality into your own version of it.
I think a good example of this is Jamie Hewletts art for Gorillaz. His style for band members changed over the years but you know that it's his style and that it's Gorillaz. I like that a lot of the fans are very welcoming of that. They're able to say oh my favorite style is from phase 1 or phase 4. He's just able to top his style every single time. It just keeps getting better and better. He definitely has his artistic voice down.
This is exactly what I needed to hear! I’ve noticed I’ve been kind of obsessing over trying to make and keep one “art style”, but I should really be trying to expand my “tool box” of techniques.
Fr an artsyle means nothing if you don’t know how too use it.
Artstyle is breaking things and making them pleasing, you can have multiple, you don't need a single one
@@stopreplyingtomycomments7954 Yeah, I guess i saw all the well-known artists and saw a main style, so I thought I should have only one too haha
@@sketchfluff5471 lmao, i felt the same, trust me, having multiple is more fun
@@stopreplyingtomycomments7954 Is it okay to have just one? There's really only one style I'm good at, and I'm close to perfecting it. I like drawing it because it's very unique from most. Honestly, I tried having inconsistent art styles, but I didn't like it, I'd rather stick to one. I just wanna know if it's concerning to be god-like on one, and trash at everything else. My case is different from most because I willingly want to focus on just one. And I don't mind not being able to do other stuff because I'm really proud of my work.
This is why I'm thankful that I learned to draw cartoon characters from the tutorials on that Disney CD-ROM game growing up - my art style may be Disney-influenced, but I know *how* it's Disney-influenced, aside from just "duh, I copied features I like!". I actually know about things like lines of action, axis lines, and all that fun stuff, so I have at least a basic understanding of what goes into character design,
The nice thing from those lessons, if it’s what you hone in on, is some of that basic construction and stylization!
When you look for your own style, you should be STUDYING art and figures you like, not copying or tracing. Your style with develop and grow as you find new influences to study and techniques to use. Always aim for improvement not perfection.
But doesn't copying (without plagiarism) count towards studying? The method of trying to understand the the steps the artist took with their work through reconstruction?
@@MellowDarkflower As Picasso said, ‘good artists borrow, great artists steal’
7:42 Reminds me of how the corporate art style (characters drawn with tiny, pea-brained heads and massive bodies) is extremely demeaning and insulting to their costumers.
I recently let go of my old art style of 5 years and have been exploring other aesthetics. Never have been happier, and for once I’m starting to like my art.
A lot of people's styles (including mine) don't even HAVE any traces of inspiration from others' styles. If everyone's art was copied, it would all be boring. You have to develop a style over TIME not "steal" one.
i think that "consistency" in artstyle is so so over-valued! even when you feel different that day, it will show through in your art whether you're trying to do so or not, and the way you'll draw things will change depending on the subject you pick - just draw stuff !!! expand your horizons
people have asked me how i 'found my artstyle' and i think problem solving is a super good way to describe it like you said
when i thought my coloring was muddy and undecided, i'd make it higher contrast, use more colors, and stick to a hard brush, and it's not something i stick to for consistency, it's because it's what i like to do!!!
I completely agree with you that struggling to develop one, singular style and then sticking with that forever is counterproductive. One of my favorite artists is Colleen Doran. Her work on Wonder Woman is very different from her work on Troll Bridge, which is very different from her work on Gone to Amerikay, which is very different from her work on Snow, Glass, Apples. (She recently won an Eisner for that last.) And I'm sure one of the reasons she has no problem getting work is for the very reason that she's a stylistic chameleon -- she can shift her drawing style to fit the project. Which makes much more sense than ossifying yourself into a single style and then waiting for clients who just happen to love that style to hire you.
"What am I trying to say?"
Wow. A great approach to what Im jumping into. The idea of being derivative is interesting. Ive never thought about that but looking for your own voice and solving a problem is something I'm definitely going to take with me.
Bravo on the drama 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🤗
I think of style as the combination of attributes that makes any individual artist's body of work unique, recognizable and cohesive. It should be something that emerges naturally, over time, not something that gets decided at the starting point.
I found this out awhile ago, but I phrase it like "Learn to draw, then make your style." But not to many new artists take that very well when they ask for a critique.
I used to really desire to sketch in a stylized style, now I’m happy with my realistic style.
But for my animatics, I basically don’t have time for realism, so I have a different style for each one that gives the overall impression I want while still being fast and easy to illustrate. So I stylize.
You don't find your art style, your art style finds you.
i used to be so obsessed with "finding" my art style lol. like i used to google "how to find my art style" all the time. what ive learned is that its all about incorperating aspects you like into the art. like lets say you like angles, if so, you just incorperate angles all in the art. then you also decide you like neon colors, so you add it in. you also like anime and cartoons so you incorperate half and half into your artstyle. and then lastly lets say you like thick outer lines and skinny inner lines so you incorperate it in. boom. an "art style" per se. and it just involved you thinking some basic concepts were cool. and the cool part is, as you continue your art journey, you find more little things you like and you hammer out your "art style" per se and it changes and upgrades over time.
I feel like a lot of the "problem solving" elements of my style are derived from "divorcing anime." But despite my efforts towards "realism", people still call it "anime-style." Just goes to show I'm still pretty heavily influenced by it. I think the stigma against "anime" as an art style has gone down in recent years, but I still feel like my art won't be taken seriously >u>". And of course, I have many areas I need to improve. I see a lot of webcomics using 3d backgrounds, but I'm not familiar with those kinds of tools. Maybe I should take a whack at it.
Hm... May I see your art then Fuzzy? Alot of conception of anime style comes to the person’s view on anime style, maybe your art style is quasi realism, knowing how a realistic person looks like and being able to draw it but decides to draw a more prettier/stylized version yet it’s still in the realm of possibilities
Without seeing examples, the most likely culprit I could think of would be that, while the style is mostly realistic, you slip in "anime" design language(most obviously, look at the way the eyes correlate with the personality) or you have less western design choices(eg, I've noticed that longer locks in front of the ear to "frame the face" isn't that common in the west, but almost universal in Japanese works). There are also more subtle cues in things like shading that could trip off an especially sensitive "anime-style" detector.
Art doesn't have to be detailed to be good. Sure, adding a lot of detail is very hard and usually looks amazing, but simple art is perfectly fine as long as it's not *actually* lazy
Don’t rush it. Your style will come as you develop visual interests throughout your art journey, so for now just draw how you like drawing and if you just chill out about the style thing, when you find stuff that interests you implement that into your work and see what sticks, a style is not mandatory when you’re still learning.
Thank you so much for this! I've started my art journey recently and saw a TON of courses on skillshare on developing art style and I was curious about them. Now I should stick to the basics and won't waste my time on fruitless ventures :)
I consider myself as quite as a small artist and I'm glad I stumbled upon this video today, I am not one to really look into having my own "style" and I tend to try a lot of things while there are always people behind me telling to find my style and stick to it as if it was an obligation, I'm gonna send them this video now and show them how my way of thinking is just different ^^.
This video perfectly articulated how I felt about art style, and the thinking and process that goes into “developing” one! From getting stuck by only sticking to one style, or that only copying doesn’t allow you to understand the rules that were broken to make what you were coping in the first place! My following on Instagram asks me this quite often, and I find it hard to explain sometimes what I mean. Now I can just send them this video! Thank you TvT
I started the way you'd expect any young artist to start drawing nowadays: copying anime. I just so happened to be a huge fan of learning so I was studying realism constantly and the more I studied the more I evolved my art style. I'm really happy with how I draw now. It's like a mix between semi realism and mature anime style.
As a young artist I usually watch tutorials and learning anatomy, I started out learning anatomy first then proceeding learning bg,places and animals literally anything. My dream is to become a manga artist seems hard ik but I’m self taught since my parents wouldn’t let me go to an art school, the advice I got from my fellow grandfather artist is to keep what I’m doing until i’am satisfied with the result it may not look like a good advice but it still had me motivated to not give up
can I see some of your art?
The way I developed my art style was by over time implementing some features I liked about others' art. Not copying, just making them look more alike but so they still fit within whatever style I had at the time. I never really cared for having an art style, but more about being consistent with it and making it look nice. I think this is what's at the heart of the advice there, but the author forgot that you can't do it all at once, it takes time to develop and merge into a consistent style.
I heard someone say that everyone already has a style. It follows you everywhere. You cannot escape it. Even if you want to. All you can do is develop it.
that math work comparison at 5:45 is really good
Artistic voice is so great. I have found from music to dance to writing to drawing to video game design - the creative process is the same and every creative falls into the same traps. Style is just one of them.
This is such an interesting perspective. My creative field is music, and I find that this advice is still really on point. An issue I face as I write harder pieces is comparing myself to other artists. I often ask WHAT an artist would do at a chorus or verse rather than HOW they came to that conclusion and what my conclusion will be. I guess thats the difference between being inspired by someone and being derivative of them
I used to get irritated feeling compelled by other online artist to "find my art style". As if I could only draw characters one way. The lie of "I have to find MY art style"...but to do so I felt I had to "copy" other styles to find it. Then the mental cycle if "oh no I'm not original! I copied "their" style.It limited my way of thinking and is just plain stupid. Now I realize that no one really owns a style or has a complete original idea. Now I draw what ever style I feel that day and it is soo much better.
When I started an art account on instagram, getting a unique artstyle was also the most important for me. Looking back at it, it was so stupid. I literally sat behind my tablet trying to "design" an art style and get frustrated when it didn't work out. At some point I just said screw it, and started drawing in different ways to see what I enjoyed most. With lineart, without lineart, different ways of shading, more realistic direction, more cartoony direction. At some point I started drawing things in a more consistent way, but I still try to do new stuff and see if there is something else I enjoy more. Even if it just using a different pen for lineart. Just go with the flow, it's gonna look different again in 5 years anyways. And what if you make it look like an oil painting one day, and like a cartoon the next day. What's important is that you like it and enjoy making it.
This was a fantastic video. I’ve definitely fallen into the trap of oversimplifying “style” to newer artists.
I'm a student for video game art and design, and having made a few small games in short amounts of times for projects, I've notice my art style changed entirely depending on the needs of the game and the time I had. My usual art style for when I am drawing my own things is realistically proportioned with lots of detail and shading. That was not gonna be possible when making a platformer game in 2 months, so my style changed for that game.
Style is fluid and should be chosen based on the needs of the project. That's something I learned recently from going through that.
Thank you for explaining this, the first time I was told to take a bunch of aspects from different artist's work and copy them, I was astonished. That's not learning and it certainly doesn't teach me how to make it my own style!
Glad it was helpful!
Great video!! I know my 'style' improved a lot once I stopped thinking of it as rigid visual features i needed to do every time and focused instead on what and how I wanted to draw to get certain effects
“Taking Umbrigde” 😂😂😂
This was amazing. Thank you for your insight. I’m recently retired and only now discovering my artistic abilities. I haven’t taken an art class since elementary school because “I can’t draw”. But I couldn’t solve quadratic equations without being taught how, so I didn’t really give myself an even break. I think I’m pretty good at problem-solving, but I need the basics. I’m going to check out your online beginner courses - I’ll be online anyway, looking for that sweater! Subscribed. 👍✌️
My art style is a more realist anime/realistic in general but I love cartoon style so I've slowly been making my style more cartoon by figuring out how to design a more cartoon-ish style while sticking to my own and not copying a specific style
So true! My style from even just 2 weeks ago is different from my current one because guess what? I study, change, and get better just like everyone else in every skill. Style is so overrated it’s funny. Sure, it stays somewhat recognizable in some elements, but mostly it changes almost as often as water flowing down a river. It NEVER sticks and that’s... kinda the point! It’s not supposed to stay the same. Otherwise creativity would be stifled, like he said.
Yah good character design is not just a remix... a good character style IMO is well thought out and tells a story and is uniquely recognizable. I also think learning the rules and way things work first is super important like you said! Great topic to cover!
This is a great summation of art style! I think we as artists get caught up in art style because making that consistent is often a good marketing tool. HOWEVER, the draw back is that it stifles your own growth. I like to vary up my art style from time to time to see how I can communicate stories and emotion better. This pursuit is pretty common for comic artists but it's so important to have that reason for why you are drawing! Thanks for the awesome content
I actually started to draw properly (with guidelines/sketching beforehand) by mimicking another artist's style. Did that because I really enjoyed their art, and now can draw in an extremely similar style to theirs. However, somewhere in the beginning of this year, I started subconsciously branching off from just the mimicry style, and my own ways of drawing and sketching began to bleed through. My digital art style changed a lot as I looked at other people's digital art and implemented small details, like coloured lineart and shading colours, into my own work. Art style isn't like a destination, it's an infinite journey, and you learn new stuff every day.
Some advice I always liked was this: find a balance between being detailed and distinctive. Have as much detail is needed to sell whatever idea you’re drawing, but be as cartooney or unrealistic as you can to make it so your art stands among anything else. Your art will look interesting and also will be recognizable at a glance, which is good if you’re trying to sell your work, people see it and immediately know “hey that’s them!” You still can’t give up detail though if it ends up ruining the conveyance of ideas. Like the mans says, learn the rules before you break them, but you gotta find that in-between. I’m def underexplaining a bit, but that’s the general idea.
Have more than one art style?! Why I never-!
But seriously this takes off SO much pressure thanks so much
OHHHH this clears up so much more in my head about art style. i always feel unsatisfied because i dont have a visual 'trademark' but i always hate it when my art looks the same, so i need to cater to my real problem which is 'is my art simple enough for me to draw, yet interesting enough to capture attention.' instead of searching through countless trademark artists trying to pick between all the things i like. i guess i just need to let things change when they need to.
That's a really good analogy to explain the lacking fundamentals when copying / tracing without insight.
“Now. hold the ding-dang cordless phone for a minute.” 😂
Thanks man. Thanks for presenting a common art question/dilemma in a new light
I feel plagued with all this "it depends" advice or this "do this and it will magically come to you" advice.
This is the right amount of "it depends" and "this is the way", I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this advice to really "click" and resonate with me
It's funny to me that there are folks out there that are really worried about developing an art style. You've already got one! It's how you draw now! Your art style will mature and develop just from you making art and developing your skills.
im so glad i came across this video. ive constantly beat myself up for inconsistencies in my style, believing what i was doing was bad art. so hearing your advice amongst all the others is very helpful and nice to finally here. i'm slowly getting to understand me and the way i draw and create art!
your art doesnt have to be immediately or constantly sellable by having a "consistent style", either!! being marketable is the last thing to worry about when youre just starting to learn, and i think the emphasis on style often comes down to that. which a professional illustrator does need, so clients know what theyre getting etc, but most of us are not yet (or will not ever be!) at that point.
great video and advice as usual, brookes :D now THATS what i call consistent style ^^
I really needed to see this! I’ve been so stuck on finding a style with my drawing and sculpting I haven’t really done much of any. Too worried that what I make won’t fit a style, when in reality I just want to create! I’m going to take a step back and figure out what I want to say, and refocus myself.
I relate so much with this concept you've showed in the video. It's been a while since I stopped caring about having some unique and exclusive art style, And begun to focus on resolving each of my artworks in the way that fits better for them individualy. It's soooo refreshing, not only I feel completely free to experiment new things from zero, but also I can see myself improving my skills much faster and with much more quality than before :D
Great video man! I think art style boils down to the artist's habits, the methods they go with because they're most comfortable to them. For example when drawing a tree I've seen people start from bottom with the roots while others prefer to start from the branches and leaves, there's usually no specific reasoning behind it, it's just what the person's hands are more comfortable with, and the result would make a difference, the former's trees would have more emphasis on the wood, and the latter would make the leaves stand out more, and this makes a difference in style. That's why I think the most optimal way to create your own style is to break down and understand your own habits and find a way to amplify them in a way that stands out to others. For example some artists are known for having round and curvy art styles, because they've always been more comfortable drawing circles than triangles.
The funny thing that happened with my art style was that I my reference was nearly photorealistic book covers of a series I liked. To even try to convert that to something I could do with pencil I had to simplify. I was “drawing from life” from the very beginning, and it lead me to some personal quirks and special understanding of the subject matter (in this case, dragons) on a level I never would have developed otherwise.
Really glad to see you delving into this topic, I think it’s something a lot of artists need to be reminded of!
THANK YOU!!! I've been trying to tell people this for years and it felt like no one understood, and I struggled to find a resource people could listen to other than just me. Thank you for talking about this!
If you want a good example of how style can evolve and change over time, look at Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. The first parts were literally Fist of The North Star, but slowly evolved to be more realistic and glamorous over the years. Hell, when I first started drawing, my inspirations were Animal Crossing and Earthbound, so my characters were very short with large heads, then as the years passed, they stretched out and bulked up as i began to explore anatomy --and watch anime.
Your art style is what comes most to you. I feel like a good way to figure out what come naturally to you is to look at all the little doodles you do with no though in your school books, or all the quick doodles you do just to get your ideas down on paper. Or challenge yourself to draw yourself as fast as you can, and since you’re just focused on trying to get something drawn rather than what the style is it would end up being whatever comes naturally to you. Of course you can change your art style if you want your art to have a different vibe (though you should keep it close to your natural style, maybe you can change how geometric it is or how realistic, etc. it’s easier to change what’s already there than try to completely throw everything you know out of the window. Learn how to turn your natural art style into any other style rather than trying to learn one specific style, which would limit you to only knowing that one style) and your original natural style can change throughout time because your skill level is always changing, when I was younger my art style was much rounder and cartoonier because I didn’t know how to draw things more realistically.