85 – Developing a Signature Style

Laura

00:01
So everyone talks about the importance of discovering or developing your signature style in art or design. When you’re just starting out, or if you have many different interests or media, this kind of feel impossible to figure out.

Nikki

00:15
In this episode, we’ll talk about the reasons for having your own style, whether or not it’s important, and how to develop your signature style. So let’s get started.

Laura

00:30
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.

Nikki

00:32
And this is Nikki May with the Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.

Laura

00:41
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.

Nikki

00:54
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.

Laura

01:02
So Nikki, what is a signature style anyway?

Nikki

01:06
Well, it’s more than just the medium you use or the subject matter you choose your; signature style for your art is a combination of the subject matter, the media and techniques that you use in your work. It’s what distinguishes you from other artists, and it’s what makes it so that your work is instantly recognizable from others. Really, it’s what makes you stand out.

Laura

01:27
So who do you think has a strong signature style?

Nikki

01:31
One person that always comes to mind when I think about unique styles is Lisa Congdon. You can see a piece of hers across any of the many techniques and industries that she works in and you’ll immediately know that it’s hers.

Laura

01:43
Right.

Nikki

01:44
Who comes to mind for you, Laura?

Laura

01:46
Well, I agree with you, you know, Lisa is immediately recognizable. But there are literally hundreds of people that I could call out that have unique styles.

Nikki

01:55
All right, but you don’t want to edit an episode that’s 10 hours long. So let’s pick one or two, okay?

Laura

02:03
Well, in the illustration world, one person who has a really distinct style is Helen Dardik. She creates both monotone and super bright guache and watercolor whimsical works, just filled with quirky little characters and flora and fauna. And I can always tell her work right away.

Nikki

02:20
And in the surface pattern design world. I think Kate Rhees has a really distinct graphic design style. Yeah, she uses bold color and she’s developed her clean style by doing lots of pattern challenges.

Laura

02:33
Yeah, her patterns have kind of a mid-century modern vibe to them. And most of them are directional. But I find them really beautiful. I especially loved the series she did on birds, like 100 different bird patterns, they’re really gorgeous.

Nikki

02:46
They really are.

Laura

02:47
And in the fine art world, I think we can think of some of the people that we view as masters. Like, Rothko had a very signature style, which was largely similar to giant color swatches on a piece of canvas, but no one had done that before.

Nikki

03:03
Don’t let the art historians hear you say that, Laura.

Laura

03:06
I know, I’m gonna get in trouble. I’m going to be put in art history jail or something.

Nikki

03:11
As well, you should be.

Laura

03:13
But then there’s also Mondrian, who used yellow, red and blue squares with black lines. And that geometry that was uniquely his.

Nikki

03:22
Very recognizable style.

Laura

03:25
Right?

Nikki

03:26
So we can find examples of strong signature styles all over the place. But, Laura, do you feel like you have a signature style?

Laura

03:33
Well, I work in a lot of different media and I don’t think I have one single strong style that dominates all of them. But I do think that I have a unique style in each medium, if that makes sense. So my watercolor florals are bright and whimsical and loose, and the way that my hand makes flowers is uniquely mine. No matter how, how I might try to change it, it’s just the way that my hand draws flowers. My digital stamps are usually black and white line drawings and they’re very whimsical. My digital portraits, on the other hand, are far more realistic. And you can see a sampling on my website portfolio and you can tell that each one has a connecting style with the way that I blend skin tones together. I tend to use a fun watercolor splash background for consistency. And then my digital illustrations and repeat patterns tend to be more classic designs and I haven’t fully defined that style there yet, but I do tend to use bold color as well and inject a little whimsy in those. How about you Nikki?

Nikki

04:33
Well in one way I feel like I have a style for each different kind of work I do or each media, like you, Laura. For example. My illustrations and surface design work are drawn digitally in Procreate and I use strong detailed black line work and bright areas of flat color.

Laura

04:54
Right.

Nikki

04:55
When I draw on paper, it’s just black and white drawings, no color. I also do collage and encaustic mixed media, where I combine found papers, my own photography, and my drawings. And also jewelry where I use hand-drawn little slices of tree branches and copper findings. It sounds like a ton of different crazy things. And at first glance, it looks like they have nothing in common, but they all have a few things in common. First, they all have my detailed organic black line drawings that are either the basis of the work or in the case of my encaustic and collage work, the final element that kind of pulls the whole piece together.

Laura

05:37
Okay.

Nikki

05:37
And the other consistent thread through all of my work is the subject matter. It’s always organic, natural elements. It’s either nude women, flowers, plants, insects, so that even though it looks like a ton of different things, there’s something consistent throughout.

Laura

05:55
Yeah, I think you do have a very organic look. And you do have that strong, also sort of graphic design element of that strong black line. But it looks really beautiful. So I can definitely tell that all of those different media come from the same hand, even though they’re very different types of work of art and using color differently as well.

Nikki

06:16
Thank you, Laura. So why is it important to have a signature style?

Laura

06:20
Well, for one thing, agents and galleries specifically want to know that they have the audience for your particular style, and want to know that you complement the other artists that they represent. If you haven’t listened to our episodes number 74 and 75 with Jhina Alvarado on getting gallery representation, you should definitely check those out. This is one of the things that we talk about.

Nikki

06:44
Yeah, and it can also help with name or brand recognition. You absolutely want people to be able to see your art and immediately say, oh, yeah, that’s Nikki May.

Laura

06:55
It will help you get better and faster as well. So once you get past the experimentation state with your work, you’ll discover that going deep into one area, or one style, allows you to improve much faster than if you were making a bunch of different kinds of art. But I have to admit, I still enjoy doing lots of different kinds of art. So maybe that’s my problem, Nikki?

Nikki

07:17
I don’t think that has to be a problem, Laura. I think as long as each different thing you do has its own style, you’re fine. Different collections can look different. And the more you do, the more you’ll find that your own hand can be seen in the work no matter what the medium.

Laura

07:33
Well, depending on your goal, being able to produce work in different styles could actually work to your benefit. For example, if you’re a freelance surface pattern designer, companies may want to know that you can create work in multiple styles easily. However, if you want to license your work with your name attached, then it will be very important for you to have a distinct signature style.

Nikki

07:57
Yeah, and I would say there’s definitely room for both of these ways of working, just know the industry you’re most interested in, and what the gatekeepers in each are looking for. But you can always do things your own way and find a place in the art and design world for it. So Laura, how do you develop your signature style?

Laura

08:16
Well, Lisa Congdon wrote a great book called Find Your Artistic Voice, The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic, which, it has a lot of really great advice, interviews with other artists, and it’s also just really nice to look at. We’ll definitely link to it in the show notes, but we have some of our own ideas, too.

Nikki

08:36
Yeah, so the first step is just make a lot of art. Do it every day, try different materials, try different subject matter. You could try doing a 30 day, at least, more as better, challenge. Where you try drawing or painting the same subject every day for 30 days, and you’ll see your natural style start to emerge. Or you could use different media and techniques each day for 30 days.

Laura

09:03
Yes, and study your own art. Bring together a collection of the work that you’ve made and think about what you enjoyed most and what you didn’t like in the process. Like what techniques or styles or subjects are coming up again and again in your work. And as Marie Kondo says, what sparks the most joy?

Nikki

09:24
You can also study the work of artists that you love. What is it about their work that you’re drawn to? Is it media and technique? Subject matter? The story behind the work? Look at a bunch of different artists’ work and see what the ones that you love have in common.

Laura

09:40
And Nikki, I’m gonna play devil’s advocate here. I think there’s a different way to look at this. If you spend a lot of your time looking at other artists work that you love, you’re one not doing the work and practicing as much as you could. We know social media is a huge rabbit hole. I mean, have you ever sat there and realized you’ve been scrolling through your Instagram feed for 45 minutes? Or is that just me?

Nikki

10:03
Of course not.

Laura

10:07
And two, you can get very heavily influenced by what others are doing and the trends out on social media versus actually following your own intuition and making the artwork that is uniquely you.

Nikki

10:19
I don’t disagree with you, Laura. But I think there’s a time and place for both. You definitely want to spend way more time making your own work and making a lot of it. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to also look at the work of other artists for inspiration. Just make sure that you keep the balance weighted a lot more towards making your own unique art. And if you don’t know where to start towards developing your style, and you aren’t sure yet what you love or what you’re drawn to, go to Pinterest. This is an exercise I use with my branding and web design clients that works for art as well. Create an inspiration board, start pinning things that you’re visually drawn to. It could be other artists’ work, art that looks like it would be fun to do, art that speaks to you in some way, or that you’d like to have in your house or on products that you own. Do this for a while and you’ll start to be able to recognize themes and styles that you’re just naturally drawn to.

Laura

11:14
And it’s even okay to copy other artists’ work while you’re learning and developing your own style. It’s never okay to sell work that was directly copied from someone else, or to present it on social media as your own without giving them credit. But it’s okay to do it as a learning exercise, you might set a challenge to yourself to copy your very favorite painting 30 times. You’ll likely find that at first you struggle to make it look like the original. But as you keep working, you’ll stop trying to copy it exactly. And you’ll see your own style emerge until it’s no longer a copy of the original painting.

Nikki

11:48
Yeah, there’s a whole book on this topic that I know we both love. And I’m sure we’ve mentioned it before, Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist. And then there’s also the practice in classical art studies of painting in museums copying work from the masters. It’s just got to be a small part of your learning process, not a crutch.

Laura

12:08
Yeah, Brooke Glaser actually has a Skillshare class on this topic. And there are some really great exercises where you can take one reference image and try to paint it three to five different ways with different techniques. And they may not have been styles you even thought of using before, but in the process, you’ll see what feels natural, what you enjoy. And you’ll start to repeat those techniques and style and merge them into something that is uniquely you.

Nikki

12:35
That’s awesome. I might have to check out that class myself. And we’ll, of course, link to it in the show notes.

Laura

12:41
Yeah, it’s a great class. But if you only copy what other people are doing, you’re never going to develop a style of your own. And remember, as you’re doing this, you do not have to share the process with the world. Not every painting or drawing or illustration or pattern makes it to Instagram and that is fine.

Nikki

12:59
Right? That’s definitely a good point. But I actually wish that I had the guts to show more of the messy middle, the learning part, rather than just the finished work in my intentional style, you know?

Laura

13:11
Well, that’s a topic for another podcast episode.

Nikki

13:14
Good point. Let’s move on.

Laura

13:18
Okay, so as you’re working on your own style, think about the message behind your art. What are you trying to say? Why are you making the art? What is it about the subject matter that you’re drawn to? What are you saying about the things that you choose to draw or paint?

Nikki

13:33
Yeah, as an example, one of my very favorite subjects to draw is the female nude. But not the typical thin, magazine model type. I like to draw a variety of body sizes, but I lean toward larger, rounder bodies that are more like my own. And I’ve kind of gotten to be known for drawing bodies that regular people can see themselves in, which is something that really speaks to me, but is also very relatable to my buyers.

Laura

14:00
And they’re beautiful.

Nikki

14:02
Thank you.

Laura

14:03
So the next suggestion we have is to make work that you love making and love seeing and use colors that make your heart skip a beat. Don’t just make the work that you think will sell. Trends have their place. But the most successful pieces many artists have commercially are the pieces that they just made for themselves first. This reminds me of Stacie Bloomfield of Gingiber, who we interviewed in Episode 19. She shifted her business a few years back into creating a lot of illustrations with uplifting and motivational messages, like, “Give Yourself Margin,” which also happens to be the title of her book. And these began selling like wildfire because in creating art that she needed to see herself, she spoke really deeply to her customers as well. And if you enjoy working in different media or even experimenting in different styles, you can tie all of your work together using a go-to signature color palette. If you choose, say 20 to 30 colors that you consistently use over and over in your work, people will be able to begin tying that color palette to your style.

Nikki

15:10
Laura, have you really narrowed your work to a limited color palette?

Laura

15:15
Hey, I tried to narrow it down to 30. But I have like 40. So there. But part of my style is using lots of color, so it doesn’t bother me to use more.

Nikki

15:26
So you’re not choosing this particular method of developing your style.

Laura

15:31
Well, Nikki, think about all the colors in the rainbow spectrum, there are thousands of colors, so narrowing it down to 40 isn’t so bad.

Nikki

15:39
True, true. So another tip is to write about your work. Maybe you’ll blog about it, maybe you’ll write about the pieces you’re posting on Instagram, or maybe you’re just going to jot notes about what you’re working on in your sketchbook. But writing about what you’re creating will help you focus, discover why you’re doing what you’re doing and what it might mean. There’s a couple of great books that can help you with this idea. There’s one that’s called A Short Guide to Writing About Art by Sylvan Barnett. And another one is How to Write About contemporary Art by Gilda Williams will link to those in the show notes.

Laura

16:15
And the final suggestion we have is to repeat all of these steps.

Nikki

16:21
Yeah, this might be the most important step of all – just to keep doing it. Keep making art and your style will show itself.

Laura

16:28
Now it’s your turn. Share with us in the Startist Society Facebook group your thoughts on having a signature style.

Nikki

16:36
Or tag us on Instagram @StartistSociety so we can see the work you’re doing to develop your signature style. For links to all the resources we mentioned and to read today’s Startist Society shownotes go to startistsociety.com/style.

Laura

16:54
If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love for you to leave us a five star rating and review. Reviews help us reach more Startists like you and keep us inspired to create new episodes.

Nikki

17:05
Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next week.