#idk where to put this but I've also been trying to get better soft shading but I can never figure that out

[delatoid]

How did you develop your art style and how do you achieve the color choices of your art? (are you fine with discord dm even tho the server is closed?, im afraid to ask)

Short answer: It's a lot of constant trying to imitate things I like that I see from other peoples' art and what's easy for me to do ( and also art styles just naturally develop as you practice, ofc :L )

VERY long answer (prepare for some old art jumpscares):

It's kinda difficult to say. I think it's safe to say that everyone who's just starting out doesn't necessarily have an "art style" since you're just figuring things out ofc. I think at that point there's two directions someone could go. that really influences how your style develops. I think the best option is to go step by step by learning the fundamentals, drawing from real life, and stylizing from there. Unfortunately I went the "I'm gonna try to copy things that I like :D" route that took way longer lol. Here's two of my earliest pieces where I think it's clear I'm taking influence from something (also two of my earliest sonas yippee! (idk why I made myself white)):

It's still very rough, of course, but I think Pokémon and MLP being some of the first things I tried to imitate laid a pretty big foundation for my art going forward.

A bit later on I started to mash a bit more of Nichijou into my art. I'm not sure if it's too obvious, but I think the eyes and how I started are a bit of a giveaway here.

I think around this time here I was starting to develop things on my own. I still think the Nichijou influence is clear, but I started taking a bit more from just other online artists' works that I liked (e.g. messing with lineart colors, taking inspiration from poses, actually starting to do some shading and effects), which is are still things I do to some capacity now (getting to that later)

So fastforwarding to around now, for the most part I've just been building on what I've been doing and generally just improving my skills. I still tend to take a lot of influence from art that I see around and really like. I don't like to have my style "set in stone", as it were, and I want to feel like I'm always improving with anything I do. Sometimes it backfires since I'll see an artist with a style I like, and I'll try to emulate the aspects that I like the most and I think would mesh well with my current style, but then it kinda looks bad... But! I learn (at least a little bit) some new techniques. Of course, there's also the things I learn that makes drawing easier that seeps into my style too. The biggest example I can think of right now is how I put a slightly thicker outline/stroke/border/whatever on the subjects of some of my drawings. That was developed since it covered up some of my shittier lining whenever I drew on my sketchbook :L I think this timeline I put together a couple years back is a good way to show a gradual evolution of the style. Despite me eventually taking inspiration from different source, there are still a couple details you can spot that are reminiscent of older styles (even if it is the same character). Ofc, 2023 is a lot different since around then I've been trying to break away from my comfort zones and find something that I really click with (which I'm still finding).

As for the colors choices, I never really put much thought into them. I just put down what I think looks nice =) I'm aware of color theory and whatever, but I tend to overthink that stuff and I guess do things a bit to strictly according to the "theory" which really limits my creative freedom so I don't bother much. The only conscious efforts I've made with colors I can think of is that just recently I've been desaturating/darkening my color choices a bit more since it's a LOT lot easier on the eyes (for me at least). idk why it took me this long to figure that out lol Also regarding discord DMs: probably not. Even if I kept them open I'm terrible to contact (just ask any of my friends how long it takes me to respond to any message) :L My social anxiety's been getting worse lately so I'm even less comfortable than usual talking to people I know (let alone people I'm unfamiliar with!!) so sorryyy