Greetings Artisan!
Who watches the Watchmen? Who influenced your influences?
OK, so I want to continue discussing art style… as I think there are so many ways it affects us as artists.
We all want to develop a style that allows us to express ourselves fully. It can be extremely frustrating to be unable to achieve the look you want. Style has a major impact on how people perceive your art. It’s a major part of the stories you tell!
Getting this right is so vital, despite some of the best advice being… to just chill and forget about it. Let it happen by itself!
It’s nevertheless a major part of the initial journey… And it’s also something that we refine over time.
Above is one of the first covers I created for 7 Pirates. Below is one of the Covers for Star Atlas: CORE. Many similarities, yet many differences.
If we accept that style is often influenced by the medium we work in, and by simple factors like our deadlines or publishing schedules… what is left? What other factors can we consciously change to alter our art style… or get it closer to something we really like?
This brings up a few side tangents that I’ll probably dive into in upcoming instalments… like ‘are some art styles better than others?’ and ‘is style really a choice?’
I made an Art Ritual video last week where I showed an art book by J. Allen St. John, a classic golden age illustrator who I found many years ago because of his influence on Frank Frazetta (who, as you will know if you have been following for a time, is one of my favourite artists).
A Tarzan Image by St John from the book 'The Paintings of J. Allen St. John'
You can check it out here:
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There were some good comments that people left… one mentioned the idea of style diversity and questioned if modern social media has led us to see an expansion of creativity and art style… or more of a compression.
…Which got me thinking.
One of the best things you can do to build and refine your art style is just to look at a lot of stuff!
You can think of this like a fine wine that ages well…
In the beginning there is preparation. You turn grapes into mush. You barrel it.
Early on, there is nothing but grape juice… it takes time to get to the point where you have actual wine… then the real aging process starts…
With age, it gets better and better. It gains depth. Sophistication! Something that cannot be created without age and maturation.
The bottom line is that immersing yourself over time in a wide variety of good visual "stuff"—good Art, Illustration, Architecture, Design, Nature, etc—will help add depth and sophistication to your style. It's often this process that creates something unique and personal.
Sometimes if you leave wine too long, it turns to vinegar… which kind of ruins the metaphor! But yeah… anyway.
Or… maybe not… at some point, artists often age out, and what was once a new fresh style is now antiquated.
It’s sometimes this antiquated look that turns off new, fresh-faced artists from looking too far back in history. And I think this amnesia can have mixed results…
As someone who grew up alongside the creation and realization of ‘the web,’ I had this early part of my life where there was no googling… no ability to find stuff by typing it in, especially not when the goal was something visual.
Modern algorithms can visually match stuff we like… they can connect visual language and style and serve us up a literal infinity of ‘sameness.’
This is great. It’s pretty much the dream for anyone who wanted to find more art ‘like this’ before the internet existed. But like the AI algorithms that can now create said sameness whole cloth… it lacks… shall we say… CHALLENGE.
It’s not going to argue with you. It’s not going to say ‘hey, you will like this’ despite you not clicking on it.
If you don’t click… it doesn’t show. Algorithms lack courage. They lack all conviction. They lack a point of view.
If everyone sees only what they want, do you end up with diversity? Probably not…
You see, the thing is (and wow, this is making me feel old…) when I was 16… and I had no freaking idea about art, I had to go to my LCS… my Local Comic Shop.
I had to walk there. On my way to the train to get home after school.
Some of these comic shops were literally like the one from The Simpsons… a hostile environment! But I found one I liked… and it changed my life.
Even modern-day Google had nothing on the guy who owned this place.
I could vaguely describe some book I had seen, and he would then go rummaging in the racks and come out with something… ‘is this what you are talking about?’ Yes… yes it was.
Who created that? He knew. What other books were similar? He knew. Do you have a copy? Yup. Here it is.
I started to follow different books. To learn about different artists. He would have a good understanding of what I liked based on the things I purchased.
But unlike Amazon, or modern algorithms… he had a point of view.
He would push back.
‘Do you know who inspired Joe Madureira?’ I did not… Turns out, Arthur Adams!
Lines for a Red Sonja cover by Arthur Adams from the Book Modern Masters 6.
But to me, Art Adams did not look the same. I had no interest in this stuff! I liked the ‘Manga Look.’
Above: A Page from Joe Madureira's Battle Chasers.
Below - A Jonni Future Page by Arthur Adams from the Book Modern Masters 6.
So it was a matter of waiting until I figured it out… eventually Jonni Future came out, which blew my mind…
It turned up in my ‘bag’ (FYI - it’s common for regular comic shop customers to have a bag where their monthly comics go… so you don’t waste time looking for them on the rack… if you spend enough time/money at the shop, they just start putting stuff in there you might like… or at least that was the case for me).
Above: A Jonni Future Page by Arthur Adams from the Book Modern Masters 6.
Who made this? Oh, it was Art Adams? Who wrote it? ‘Steve Moore’… no relation to ‘Alan Moore.’
Wait… ‘Who’s Alan Moore?’
Oh, ‘a crazy old guy who wrote The Watchmen and now claims to be a magician?’ That sounds so stupid… I have no interest in that.
…yeah right.
Little did I know!
And it went on and on. This is how I would find artists like J. Allen St. John.
Having a resource like this was priceless. And it’s something that can be severely lacking for artists in the current age of algorithmic recommendation engines.
This is not just the inane rambling of someone out of touch (well, maybe a little!)… This is speaking from experience mentoring people fresh out of high school who are dedicated to becoming full-time artists.
They are often shocked at what is really out there. At the career options, and the stylistic options. They mostly have a limited visual library for art and illustration history… Just as I did!
I would have imagined that today most young artists are swimming in influences and inspiration. But from my experience, a lot of people just starting out who are 15 or 16 have no idea about the history that has come before them.
They have no idea about the diversity and possibility they can find inspiration in.
A lot of younger artists are more inspired by someone with a webtoon who is a few years older than them, than they are by the great pantheon of artists who have come before.
Which is a good place to start!
But it’s not going to be enough to create a fine wine… It’s not going to age well.
And it seems that all of the options and variety that ‘social media’ and algorithmic recommendation should offer… are just not there.
It is failing to challenge. To push back. To truly understand what inspires us at a deeper level.
And the end result is a lot of sameness, I guess.
But lucky for us… we have the entire world and history of everything at our fingertips!
We just need to look!
Once we understand that a lot of style comes from actually working in a medium and experiencing its limitations, the following ideas can really help to give you stylistic direction:
- Finding a unique list of ingredients and inspiration for your own art style is a major part of a successful recipe.
- It’s good to nail down some key influences that are really essential to your visual goals and inspiration. These can be a guiding light.
- Tracking down WHO influenced your favourite artists and people you aspire to be like… is a superpower. It will show you what really makes up their style and allow you to get closer to that look without copying mistakes and idiosyncrasies.
- You might actually find that some of your favourite artists’ influences become your NEW favourite artists.
- As you eventually find a style that works for you… it’s now a matter of adding layers and nuance to really build something unique… this can take years and decades. But it’s part of what makes art so fun. The more you learn and the more you can appreciate, the deeper your knowledge becomes.
- It’s important to challenge yourself. Not everything that can really take your art to the next level is going to be pretty and safe with rounded edges. Having an open mind to different art styles and mediums can really help. Often the most unique styles are a mix of things no one thought to combine before.
- You have to seek this out yourself… if you wait for some algorithm to serve you inspiration, guess what… it’s sending people like you the exact same thing. To be unique and really learn to express yourself, you have to do the hard work of figuring out what you really like. Below the surface level that a dull, dark basement of dusty server racks can 'see'.
Not everything good is pretty… not everything true is universally agreed upon. Not everything that will make you able to express yourself better is part of some algorithm designed on averages and spiking dopamine.
So yeah… finding your style is a challenge for sure, and it never ends. But that’s often where the fun is!
Let me know if you have any ideas for hunting down great inspiration in today’s environment. (It seems like Pinterest has well and truly become useless with all the AI-generated stuff on there now.)
Happy Drawing!
Tim
If you haven't lately:
Check out The Line and Color Academy:
One of the keys I focus on from the beginnning in The Line and Color Academy; is building out your Influence Map. This is one of the tools that can really help to figure out where you're aiming stylistically!
