Some Tips For Developing Your Own Art Style

By C. A. Brown
Copyright 2013 C. A. Brown
Smashwords Edition
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%n April# % wrote an artile on my blog titled ()hy *o$ Sho$ld 'e&elop *o$r +wn Art Style And
,ow To 'o %t-. This was one of the earliest artiles whih % wrote for my blog and# from all the
statistis# it seems to be one of the most pop$lar artiles on my blog too.
Sine the original artile is in dire need of impro&ement# %.&e deided to release a re&amped &ersion
of it /sadly witho$t any images0 as a free e"book. )hilst this is a rather short artile# it sho$ld help
to point yo$ in the right diretion if yo$ are thinking abo$t de&eloping yo$r own art style.
%f yo$.re getting into drawing omis or artoons# then it is definitely worth de&eloping yo$r own
distinti&e and $ni1$e drawing style instead of $sing a more established drawing style /eg2
anime3manga"style art# lassi Amerian omi book style art# realisti drawing styles et...0.
)hilst there is a lot of ama4ing art in these established styles and there are probably 1$ite a few
arg$ments in fa&o$r of learning these styles of drawing# %.ll be fo$sing on the ad&antages of
oming $p with yo$r own art style.
+ne ad&antage of oming $p with yo$r own art style is that yo$r work is a lot more reognisable. %f
yo$ ha&e a &ery distinti&e art style# then people are going to notie and reognise yo$r work a lot
more 1$ikly than if yo$ $se a more widely"$sed style.
Another reason for de&eloping yo$r own art style is that yo$ drawings will ha&e more of a sense of
5personality5 than drawings and omis done in an established style. This is probably something of
a do$ble"edged sword and it.s probably more appropriate in some genres of omis than it is in
others /for e6ample# if se&eral artists are drawing omis feat$ring the same haraters# then a more
standard style might be better for ontin$ity0. B$t if yo$.re writing as well as drawing yo$r omis#
then it !$st kind of adds a personal to$h to them.
As well as this# finding yo$r own art style ens$res that yo$r drawings stand o$t and are more
memorable.
How to develop your own art style:
%n one word# pratie. %n two words# pratie and researh.
%t.s a lihe# b$t it.s tr$e " de&eloping yo$r own style takes time and yo$ will probably only notie
that it is de&eloping when# after a lot of pratie# yo$ ompare yo$r $rrent drawings to some of
yo$r older drawings. B$t when yo$.&e worked o$t the basis of yo$r own distinti&e style# then
most of these hanges tend to be more to do with tehni1$e than anything else.
%t.s also important to learn and researh too. Altho$gh books and online g$ides abo$t learning how
to draw won.t tell yo$ e6atly how to ome $p with yo$r own $ni1$e drawing style in the same way
that they might teah yo$ other established drawing styles /eg2 5,ow to draw manga5 books#
*o$t$be &ideos et...0# they will help yo$ to learn important tehni1$es whih yo$ an inorporate
into yo$r own drawing style.
*o$ an also learn drawing tehni1$es by looking losely at yo$r fa&o$rite omis and piees of art
and trying to work o$t what kind of tehni1$es the artist $sed when drawing bakgro$nds# lighting
effets# e6pressions et... +ne of the best ways to do this is to try re"drawing the interesting part of
the drawing or omi whih yo$.re looking at.
7ikewise# one yo$.&e worked o$t how the artist $sed a parti$lar tehni1$e and ha&e re"drawn it a
few times# try e6perimenting with making a few hanges to their tehni1$e and see if yo$ an ome
$p with a way to make it fit into one of yo$r own original drawings.
There is nothing wrong with inorporating small parts of other drawing styles whih yo$ really like
into yo$r own drawing style# as long as yo$r drawing style# as a whole# doesn.t look idential to
anyone else.s indi&id$al style /whih an a$se trademark3opyright iss$es and is !$st bad pratie
anyway0.
%t is best to learn tehni1$es from a &ariety of different artists as well as working some o$t yo$rself#
that way yo$r tehni1$e will still be fairly $ni1$e and yo$ an.t be a$sed of ripping off anyone
else.s style either.
8or e6ample# % learnt how to draw people losing their eyes tightly from 5So$th 9ark5 and % draw
this in a reasonably similar way# b$t my drawings /as a whole0 don.t really look anything like
5So$th 9ark5 e&en tho$gh it was one of many infl$enes on my art style.
%n short# oming $p with yo$r own $ni1$e art style an be more diffi$lt than learning a more
established drawing style# sine yo$ kind of ha&e to work it o$t as yo$ go along b$t it is a lot more
rewarding in many ways.
:::
)ell# % hope that this e"book has been informati&e and % wish yo$ all the best of l$k with
de&eloping yo$r own personal art style too.
%f yo$.re also interested in writing# then it might be worth taking a look at my other e"book
(Emergeny; 2< )ays To Beat )riter.s Blok- too.