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Develop-Your-Signature-Style

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15 views

Develop-Your-Signature-Style

Uploaded by

roy.akagane
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6 Steps

you must take


to develop your
signature style

by
Developing your signature style
Developing a signature style can be helpful in many ways. It makes you look polished and
professional when posting to Instagram and when pitching your portfolio to clients. It also helps your
customers and potential licensing partners know what they can expect from you. Your signature style
can come across in many ways, including through your go-to color palette (bright vs subdued), your
line work (clean vs brushy) and your choice of medium (digital, watercolor, oil paint, etc.). Here are
6 things that I’ve found on my journey that have been invaluable in developing my signature style.
Please note: I receive a small commission from some links below.

1) Make lots of work


The number one thing you can do to develop your signature style is create create create. Actually,
the rest of the steps in this guide are to help you with this very important principle. Be creative
sometimes just for the sake of being creative (and not because of a deadline or for work). It is
through making lots of work that you figure out what path you want to go down. It’s frustrating to
hear that when you’re first starting (or really anywhere on your journey) because you want to jump
right into the deep end, but it is a really important (and hopefully fun!) part of the process. I’ve
found participating in 30-day challenges and The 100-Day Project to be helpful with this. I also run
a challenge called 75 Art that you can find out more about at gennablackburn.com/75art

RESOURCE: There are many people who organize 30-day challenges on Instagram and there's also
the100dayproject.org. Or create your own if you don't want to follow along with an existing one!

2) Get unstuck
If you’re stuck or scared to create and don’t know where to start, take a class on Skillshare or
Creativebug and draw along with someone else until you get the courage to draw from your own
mind. Obviously don’t post other people’s work as your own, but you can practice privately this way,
and use what you learn to make your own interpretation of what is taught. Also taking classes helps
you experiment with lots of different ways of creating which is an essential part of honing your skills
and artistic voice. My Draw Simple Daily Skillshare class is a great one for this!

RESOURCE: Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. Everything he writes is wonderful —


just get all of his books if you can.

gennablackburn.com
3) Find your rhythm
My mood is highly affected by the last creative thing I worked on. I find that if I’ve just made a really
great pattern or illustration, then I’ll be feeling accomplished and proud for the rest of the day. And
if I’ve just made something that I didn’t think was very good, then I’ll be feeling insecure and self-
deprecating. I realized a year ago that this fear that I might create something I don’t love and then
feel terrible afterward was what was keeping me from drawing and creating consistently — something
I desperately wanted to be doing but couldn’t figure out why it was so hard. This was a huge moment
for me. I made a note to myself that even if I create something that doesn’t feel successful, doesn’t
mean it was a waste of time or wasn’t good practice. After I did that, it was like a switch was flipped. I
created more artwork that year than ever, and I was proud of a large majority of it.

RESOURCE: Creative Pep Talk podcast Episode 107 - How to Trick Yourself into Creative Career
Success, was a GAME CHANGER for me. I love you Andy J. Pizza!

4) Make "bad" art


Is there something holding you back from creating consistently? Are you afraid you might make
something you don’t like? Well you will. From time to time, you will make something you think is
“bad.” So do it on purpose. Set out to make something bad and take the pressure off of yourself.
Know that even if you don’t love it in that moment, it doesn’t mean you won’t love it later or that
it wasn’t good practice. One time I made a drawing of a pine cone that looked so bizarre I thought
“I’m never going to do anything with that.” Then a few weeks later I sat down to make a pattern for
wrapping paper and thought, “Actually, if I put that funky pine cone into a repeat it might actually
look kinda cool.” And it did. And I sold a lot of it.

If you’re not sure what is holding you back and/or what to do about it, Step 5 has got your back.

RESOURCE: Ira Glass from This American Life has a wonderful quote about making lots of work
and how it feels like "bad" work at first. Just Google “Ira Glass Taste Gap” and there are numerous
YouTube videos that illustrate his quote. I love it so much. I come back to it all the time.

gennablackburn.com
5) Journal
Are you not sure what is keeping you from creating consistently? Do you already know but you
aren’t sure what to do about it? Are you creating lots of art but are still feeling overwhelmed or
frustrated by the process of discovering your voice? Journaling may not sound that enticing, but
it has helped me in so many ways over the years, I could teach a whole class just on that. Journal
about your frustrations, your fears, and your successes. I find journaling about issues I’m facing in
my business and art practice to be invaluable. It seems no matter how much I think about something
or how much I talk about it to other people and think I’ve thought it through completely, when I
write it down a new light is shed on it and the answer tends to present itself as if by magic. I write
in a notebook rather than on the computer, so maybe the act of slowing down to write by hand has
something to do with it. I've been told when you write by hand, rather than type on the computer, it
registers differently in your brain. It’s also really fun to go back and read what I was struggling with a
few months or years prior and see how far I’ve come. Sometimes I don’t realize how much progress
I’ve made until I reflect back. “Oh look, 6 months ago I was struggling with this one thing and now
look where I am! Holy moly!” That’s what my brain says whenever I look at my journal.

RESOURCE: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron talks about writing three "artist pages" every
morning to brain dump before you try to work on anything. This is also a great approach.

6) Get comfortable with fear


Fear is always along for the ride, especially when you try to do something new and different, to
paraphrase Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic, one of my absolute favorite books about creativity. Maybe
one of my favorite books of all the books. I have listened to the audio book over two dozen times.
I like to put it on while I draw, especially if I’m feeling blocked or anxious. Every time I listen to it, I
get more and more out of it, partly because as I learn and grow, different parts of the book resonate
with me even more than others. As an added bonus — the sound of Elizabeth Gilbert’s voice has
become very meditative for me at this point, so I immediately feel a sense of ease and confidence
when I hear her reading the book. Sometimes if I sit down to create and my brain is going nuts with
negativity, I light some incense, put on my Big Magic audio book and begin, and after a little while, I
feel like “okay, I got this.”

gennablackburn.com
One of the best quotes in the book (but there are so many, and you might find yourself stopping
constantly to write them down):

“So this, I believe, is the central question upon which


all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to
bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?”
RESOURCE: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. I particularly love the
audio book version which Elizabeth Gilbert reads herself.

in summary
The thing that you don’t really hear that much about is this: artists are never done searching for their
signature style. They are always experimenting and growing and refining and playing.

Now go make some art! You got this!

Make the Art that


Wants to Come Out of You
Find Your Art is a self-paced class for those who
want to get into art for the first time, as well as
those who want to explore their unique creative
voice through fun drawing exercises.

Learn more at gennablackburn.com/findyourart

gennablackburn.com

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