How To Find Your Drawing Style

As most creatives know, expressing your unique art style is important. Your art is your brand, starting with just the basics of drawing. And we’ll show you how to find your unique drawing style – no art school is required. 

In the simplest explanation, your particular style is your artistic fingerprint.

It’s the recognizable way that you draw that tells people that a work of art is yours. 

A signature style can make your drawings memorable. 

Experimenting with different techniques is a great way to improve your skills and develop your artistic style.

Or if you’re already a well-practiced artist, but you’re feeling stagnant or just want to improve your existing skills, trying out different art styles is the best way. 

Finding the style you love, and that work for you takes exploration and practice. Many factors can also influence it, including the medium you work with. 

How To Find Your Drawing Style

Choose Your Favorite Subject Matter

It’s not uncommon for artists to focus on the same subject matter. It’s not a requirement, but it may help you narrow your own drawing style. 

Some artists are known for their subject matter, like landscapes and portraits, some for still life, etc. 

You could tie a favorite hobby with your subject matter. If you love hiking, make nature and landscapes your subject matter. If you love people, then portraits. 

If you focus on subject matters that you’re passionate about, you’ll find people who resonate with your art and with you. 

Choose Your Medium

If you don’t yet know what medium suits you best, then it’s time to experiment!

Some drawing mediums include: 

• Graphite, such as mechanical pencils
• Colored pencils
• Charcoal
• Markers
• Crayons
• Pens
• Oil pastels
• Chalk
• Digital (with tablets and apps)

The great thing about drawing is you can pretty much draw anywhere with pretty much anything. 

Different mediums aren’t necessarily suited for certain drawing styles, however.

Crayons won’t necessarily work great for hyperrealism, and charcoal may not work great for something that requires more of a fine point. 

While trying out several different mediums may be helpful, if you find one you like, concentrating your efforts is also a good idea. Master one medium before moving on to another.

Identify Artists That Resonate With You

If you love art, chances are you have favorite artists that inspire you, whether historically famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci or modern artists you’ve found on social media. 

So, who inspires you? Why? What is it about their work that resonates with you?

Collect imagery from different artists you love and analyze what you like about that type of art. 

Of course, you shouldn’t straight up copy their work. But, all artists are inspired by other artists.

Borrowing ideas, but making them your own, is completely normal and acceptable. 

And, as long as you aren’t copying their ideas and selling or presenting that work publicly, it’s okay to copy their work purely for practice. 

Analyze Your Own Work

If you’ve already been drawing, gather your art. 

Now, write down what you like about your own work. Is there a particular piece that you are drawn towards more, and why? Do you love the colors? The medium? The subject?

Practice Drawing Often

To be a writer, you must read and write often. The same goes for drawing. You must observe art and practice drawing and do it often. 

You can even do that here with our drawing tutorials, take a look at how to draw a simple mushroom, or how to draw a UFO for starters.

By creating a lot of art, you can really hone your drawing skills and figure out what you enjoy and what comes more naturally to you. 

And just as practicing often is helpful, it is also beneficial to walk away from your drawing and revisit it later with fresh eyes and a rested mind. 

Even if you’re partial to one style, it can still improve your chosen style to experiment with other styles. Step outside your comfort zone a little bit. 

Experiment 

Experimenting with different drawing styles is a great way to hone different skills and develop your own art style.

There are so many different styles to choose from, and each will help you in different ways.

Drawing is definitely an art, but it also takes some technical skills. Some styles are more specialized than others.

For example, architectural drawing is more technical than doodling. 

Here are some drawing styles to experiment with: 

Doodling – Doodling is an informal form of drawing. It refers to rough scribbles and sketches of ideas.

Think of it as the stream of consciousness in the writing world. 

Doodling can be just that, but many successful artists create a living based on this drawing style. 

Hyperrealism – Hyperrealism, also known as photorealism, generally requires a good amount of sketches, erasing and improving sections you’ve already drawn. 

Hyperrealism is a good style to experiment with if you’re interested in portraits.  

Cartoon – Cartoon-style drawings are more stylized. This style can include caricatures, cartoon strips, comic book-style drawings, and more. 

Line Drawings – Line drawing is often minimalistic and can be very visually pleasing. 

And just because it’s minimalistic doesn’t mean it’s simple. There’s still practice needed to make line drawings look good. 

Continuous line drawing is an even more niche style to consider as well. 

Geometric – Geometric drawing involves using shapes to create images, and this type of drawing has a lot of variety.

Typography – This type of drawing can include creating an image out of wording or drawing scenes inside of letters. 

The options are endless. 

Sign up for a workshop or a course to further your experimentation. Even the tiniest experiment could possibly set off a new idea.

Express Yourself In Your Work

As you draw, think of the emotions you have. Try to translate that into your art. 

If you have an inspiration block, concentrate less on achieving a specific style and focus instead on getting your emotions on the canvas. 

Sharp, jagged lines may show your frustration. Bright colors may show happiness. Dark and moody colors may convey a depressing scene. 

Consider Color

While not necessary, color can play a huge role in your unique style. Some artists out there only work with pastel or moody colors.

Colors are important because they can express certain emotions and can easily be one of the things that set your style apart from other artists. 

Be Kind To Yourself

It may take no time at all to find your style but don’t beat yourself up if it takes longer than you expected. 

Remember, you’re further along your drawing journey than if you hadn’t started at all. 

At the end of the day, the most important thing to finding your art style is to enjoy the process.

The more you enjoy it, the more you’ll want to continue along the journey. 

With patience, effort, and fun, you’ll find new techniques, your creative process, and your own personal style.