#currently spending way too much time on lineart for a piece that really doesn't need that attention to detail oops

[renabe4life]

drew a Qrow :>

[transmasc-wizard]

*cough* art style *cough*

/np /np /np

RIGHT YEAH FORGOT ABOUT THAT SORRY

ANYWAY

art style. the first rule of art style is HAVE FUN. If you have an element you reeeally want to add to your art style but you're like "but my art style doesn't look like that :(" just. add it. Art style is not a law and is ever-changing and art is about having FUN and making COOL-ASS ART

second rule of art style: "art style" just refers to the usual way to employ colours, lineart, form, mood, shape, subject, etc etc etc in your art. All together, it makes up a unique way of drawing that you have.

take LavenderTowne. (I'm not going to post any of her art here bc reposting without permission (even with credit) is shitty, but that's a link to her youtube where you can see what I'm talking about.) Her art is full of pastel colours, round lines/soft edges, large eyes, small noses, feminine-presenting characters, visible and defined lineart, people/humanoids, and a "cute" aesthetic. She goes for a more cartoony effect with largely exaggerated proportions; she's closer to steven universe than she-ra, yk? Additionally, she uses more cel shading than photorealistic rendering.

All those together make up her art style. And not every single one of her drawings has all those elements, but most of them have many.

Meanwhile, Sam Does Arts--despite also drawing non-realistic feminine people in digital art--has a much, much different art style. He has less defined lines, more realistic proportions, softer shading, soft lighting, and a general peaceful, calm, realistic-but-to-the-left vibe.

Art style is just about what choices you make with how you draw. Do you use bright colours or pastel ones? Do you draw in black-and-white? Do you have a lot of thick, defined lines or thinner, vaguer ones? Do you draw X facial feature big or small? Do you go for realism or complete cartoon or somewhere in between? Do you draw people, animals, landscapes, whole scenes, etc? What mood do your pieces tend to have? Do you do round lines or sharp ones? What perspective do you tend to draw from? Do you want your art to look 3-d or 2-d?

It's important to note that you don't need an answer for all of those, and that they're all "usually". You don't have to always use bright, saturated colours just because they're usually present in your art style. You don't always have to avoid drawing feminine people just because you usually draw masculine ones. And you can have more than one art style! My "elaborate detailed painting" style and my usual style are very different, and that's ok.

Finding your art style is literally just going "ok, do I want to do/like to do this or this or this more often?" and then doing it. You can yoink elements from other artists, too; if you like how artist ABC draws eyes, draw eyes like them. If you like how artist XYZ does their shading, shade like them. Just don't take a bunch of elements from one artist's style, because that's then copying them.

Also: you already have an art style. You already have a way you naturally do your art. "Finding your art style" is really about editing your current art style into something you like better, via practice and actually asking yourself "why does my art look like this? what do I want to change about my style?" and then you change it accordingly.

I want to draw more poses and start shifting my style away from "person from the shoulders up with no background", so... I'm doing that. I don't like the way I used to draw eyes, so I changed it. It's a lot easier than it feels at first, and you really just need to spend some time practicing the way you'd rather draw.

I'd like to emphasize that art style is about how you like to draw. It's not about what's popular, or copying cool tv show 273, or what you feel like real artists should be doing. Your art style is one hundred percent about what YOU want to do and what YOU find fun to draw.

That can be what's popular, btw. It can be similar to the cool tv show you like. But don't do something just because you feel like you have to. Do you want to draw nothing but photorealistic cacti? DO IT. Art is for you.

anyway!! i hope that is a tad bit helpful!! feel free to ask more if you have more questions, I had a Lot more thoughts about this than i'd thought it did :D