When looking through my art to upload it onto this website recently, something became overly apparent. I don’t have an art style. I don’t even have an inkling of an art style. So I reflected for a moment and tried to work out why.
Why I don’t have a set art style
I’m still learning my mediums
A huge part of why I don’t have a consistent art style is that I’m still learning about the mediums that I use. Each time I make a piece, I experiment with what I think will make it look good.
The variations in effort put in
Some of my pieces simply had more effort put into them than others. For example, my Willow (2019) piece took over 150 hours to draw. Every single tiny detail was carefully drawn in, from the individual strands of fur to the texture on the sweater. As a result, I achieved a very photorealistic look. By comparison, my Heart (2021) piece was something I wanted to create as a quick project so I felt more comfortable letting the brush strokes show rather than trying to make it look like a photo.
Huge variations in inspiration
I’m lucky in that there are a lot of artists that inspire me and get me excited to create art. The bad news is, they all have completely different art styles. There’s a huge variation between my inspirations in terms of whether they do realism or more stylisation, the medium they use, the technique for that medium, the colours, etc. There are so many art styles that I see that make me think “I wish I could do that”.
I also have a huge variety in subject matters that inspire me. This means that the subjects of my art are not consistent.
My approach to art
I approach an art piece like a problem-solving activity. I usually am trying to find the most efficient way to produce the most visually appealing image possible. I don’t usually even consider consistency in style, I merely focus on the specific piece I’m working on.
When will I have an art style?
I feel as if my art style will get even more varied before it begins to get more consistent. I still have a lot of experimenting and learning to do before I find a technique that I want to stick with.
Perhaps an aim for the future is to at least create a collection of pieces with the same style and related subject matter.
Nicola Lucy 