Art style is something many artists wonder about throughout their lives. Think of your own art journey and how your art has developed, maybe the colors and techniques have changed, or the cartoonish characters have become more realistic. There is no right or wrong art styles, as they vary from person to person. Some define it as how a character's features are drawn or how shading is done.
Art style is a combination of choices of different elements. Colors, composition, media, and more are chosen during the art process, and these choices change as life goes by. So, art style is learned, adapted, manipulated, and developed over time. All of this can happen by chance of purposely, or even both.
Having a solid art style is not a must, but it takes time and practice to develop a style that you feel most comfortable and confident with. One way to see if you have found your art style is to line up all your previous works and look at them. Can an outsider determine whether the same person created them all or not? Do techniques repeat themselves, or are the subjects the same or constantly changing?
In the entertainment industry being a flexible artist is required as the work you do must fit into the product's overall design. The flexibility can be achieved by practicing and studying the company's existing art and draw art that fits their design. Try to replicate artwork first and then apply what you have learned in new artwork.
How do you find your own art style? The first thing to keep in mind is that no one is completely original with their work. We draw inspiration from our surroundings, comics, books, movies, real-life… People create new things by combining existing ones and twist and shape them to fit their needs and desires.
One way to start finding your own style is to study your favorite artists. However, do not copy them as then you will be considered an art thief. So, take ideas from them, not the actual artwork. Even better, combine multiple ideas from multiple other artists.
Ethan Becker is a long-time animation industry professional who has worked on shows like Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender, companies like DreamWorks and Warner Bros. He started a YouTube channel to spread his knowledge and has quite a personality doing so. His videos are worth checking out as learning something new is guaranteed.
Dig up your drawing supplies and get ready to hone your style. Below are images of well-known pop culture characters, Super Maro, Kermit, Pikachu, and Donald Duck. Each of these characters has a significant style and features to them. The same style is repeated throughout their worlds, as Mickey Mouse is clearly from the same world as Donald. Pikachu is just one Pokémon among hundreds, but the art style is similar.
The aim of the upcoming exercise is to study these characters and draw them again, but this time in your own personal style. Try to achieve a cohesive style with all four of them.
Tähän tulee video, joka on haettava Risestä.
Art style develops over time, and every choice during the process affects it. The style is personal, even if we learn by copying others. At times you also need to adapt to some else's art style.
Next, let’s recap what we’ve covered in this course.