A Practical Guide to Finding Your Drawing Style

Have you ever been overwhelmed by seeing so many artists with beautiful drawing styles, but thought that you yourself don’t have a style of your own? Would you like to have a drawing style that everyone identifies as yours?

In this article, I will give you suggestions on how you can find your own way to represent the world…at least when it comes to art.

‍

practice the basics

It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a professional. If you don’t know the basics of drawing, you may feel like your art looks weird when you’re done and you don’t know why. No amount of details, lighting and effects is going to replace a good knowledge and management of the basics of drawing.

Let’s clarify something: basic is not easy, nor is it simple. The word refers to the basis of everything. And in drawing, that refers to the general structure of the drawing, the composition, the knowledge of light and shadow, space, proportion and colors.

Even if you’ve been drawing for years, it’s always a great idea to practice the basics. We have tons of articles in Art Heim talking about the fundamentals of drawing, but it is also possible to find a lot of free and quality material on the internet.

References are essential

I understand, you want to have your own style, the idea is very nice. However, how do you want your style to look? Do you want something more cartoony, or more realistic? More anime, or closer to the comic? Do you want it to be an explosion of colors, or something darker and more somber?

Try to do the following exercise: find 8 to 10 artists whose drawing you admire. Make a list with them. Then, look at their work, one by one, and see what they have in common, what you like most about their art.

By doing this, you will have a clearer idea of ​​your personal artistic taste, and in this way, you can begin to incorporate these elements into your work. How can you do it? Then…

Copying is different from tracing

If all your life you have been told that copying a drawing is cheating, you have been lied to. Observation is the most important skill a draftsman can have, even more so than practice itself. This is because if you practice things without reference, you may be doing them wrong without even realizing it.

Copying drawings is not bad. On the contrary, it helps you understand the visual language of other artists. Obviously, I don’t think it’s necessary to say don’t upload copied content and say it’s yours, but rather use it for the purpose of studying and understanding how other artists draw.

Steal like an artist

Learning to steal like an artist is one of the most important and difficult things to understand at first. What I mean by stealing is just identifying the elements you like in a drawing (line, color palette, lighting, composition, expression, perspective) and adding those elements to your drawings.

Of course, for it to be easy for you to identify all this, you have to have clear notions of the artistic principles, which we already talked about in this article. Also, you have to learn to recognize what things go well together and what things do not.

For example, a drawing with thick lines does not go well with lighting that is too elaborate, it looks weird. But those are things you come to understand with time and experience.

One last bit of advice

It is very good to have your own style, because with it people will gradually recognize your art, and this can even become your work, with commissions and merchandise.

However, the most important thing for an artist is to have the ability to draw a bit of everything. That’s because if you want to work in the entertainment industry, chances are you’ll be hired not because of your style, but because of your artistic ability and adaptability.

Finally, you have a good direction on how to start finding your style. Practice the fundamentals, understand your references, develop your observation skills, and understand what you specifically like in other artists’ styles by trying to add these elements to your own work.

Regardless of whether you manage to find your style today or in 5 years, I hope you continue to develop your skills, and never stop practicing! If this article helped you in any way, let me know in the comments. 🙂

‍