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What the heck is "style"?
Mar. 9th, 2004 11:07 amNot style as in the Brigitte Bardot kind ... style as in art style. What is it, and why do so many artists spend so much time worrying about it?
Most fundamentally, I see my art as an extension of the writing process. I want to be able to use my art to bring my words to life. Somewhat less importantly, I want to be able to accurately reflect how the world looks. I'm kind of an art realist, I suppose.
I couldn't care less about style. I don't care if I have one. Actually, I'd rather not have one. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what style means, but I don't want everything I draw to have the same look to it. The important thing is to get the general look of each project fairly consistent -- beyond that, I'd rather have some variety. I tend to look more favorably on artists whose work varies considerably between different project. I guess if you find one thing you draw well, you want to go on drawing it, but I still wonder why they don't ever want to draw different stuff.
On the other hand, maybe I just *do* have a style and don't even know it. I find it much easier and more comfortable to draw realistic figures than cartoony ones. I've done some drawings in "anime style" (distorted faces, big eyes) and found it awkward and hard. On the other hand, the way I draw isn't hyper-realistic either -- there is a certain cartooniness to the faces that seems to be getting more exaggerated as things go on.
But I think Kismet looks fairly different from Raven's Children, and I like that.
What got me off on this was reading a web cartoonist's livejournal in which she was agonizing about not liking her art style (too anime, and all that). What I really wanted to say (but didn't, because I don't know her in real life and figured it'd be too intrusive) was, "Well, then draw something different for a while." If you feel your art style is too cartoony, then draw from life ... is that too blunt? Is it a hard thing? It doesn't seem like a hard thing to me ... I really don't get the whole thing with not liking the *way* that you draw, which is a problem a lot of beginning artists seem to have. I can see not being happy with your technical level of skill. I'm not happy with mine -- I'm frustrated to no end by my inability to draw certain things, or by my frequent incompetence at inking. But not liking the style in which you draw ... you have control over that, don't you? Get out there and DRAW SOMETHING DIFFERENT! Sheez.
Most fundamentally, I see my art as an extension of the writing process. I want to be able to use my art to bring my words to life. Somewhat less importantly, I want to be able to accurately reflect how the world looks. I'm kind of an art realist, I suppose.
I couldn't care less about style. I don't care if I have one. Actually, I'd rather not have one. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what style means, but I don't want everything I draw to have the same look to it. The important thing is to get the general look of each project fairly consistent -- beyond that, I'd rather have some variety. I tend to look more favorably on artists whose work varies considerably between different project. I guess if you find one thing you draw well, you want to go on drawing it, but I still wonder why they don't ever want to draw different stuff.
On the other hand, maybe I just *do* have a style and don't even know it. I find it much easier and more comfortable to draw realistic figures than cartoony ones. I've done some drawings in "anime style" (distorted faces, big eyes) and found it awkward and hard. On the other hand, the way I draw isn't hyper-realistic either -- there is a certain cartooniness to the faces that seems to be getting more exaggerated as things go on.
But I think Kismet looks fairly different from Raven's Children, and I like that.
What got me off on this was reading a web cartoonist's livejournal in which she was agonizing about not liking her art style (too anime, and all that). What I really wanted to say (but didn't, because I don't know her in real life and figured it'd be too intrusive) was, "Well, then draw something different for a while." If you feel your art style is too cartoony, then draw from life ... is that too blunt? Is it a hard thing? It doesn't seem like a hard thing to me ... I really don't get the whole thing with not liking the *way* that you draw, which is a problem a lot of beginning artists seem to have. I can see not being happy with your technical level of skill. I'm not happy with mine -- I'm frustrated to no end by my inability to draw certain things, or by my frequent incompetence at inking. But not liking the style in which you draw ... you have control over that, don't you? Get out there and DRAW SOMETHING DIFFERENT! Sheez.