I will never find my art style

“Finding my art style” sounds great, but it’s one of the biggest clichés that artists repeat. Nobody has ever had a moment, where after years of drawing, it just clicks and they miraculously draw in a different way.

Language shape our reality and expectations, so what we should say instead is “develop” or “refine my art style.”

“Finding my art style” is misleading, because once you’ve “found it,” you will get tired of it. Everybody gets bored of repeating themselves. Taste change with time. It’s the same for everything. One of the beauties of life is that we are allowed to change and evolve.

About every two or three years I grow bored of the way I draw. Drawing becomes automatic, a step-by-step process. Which is great as long as it’s fun or if I’m on a project. But sometimes it becomes unbearable, I just gotta trash some habits and do a little noodling in search of a new twist. Right now I wanna be messier.

I’m having a lot of fun playing around with less perfect shapes and wobblier lines.

I know once I’ve found that sweet, messy spot, I will unavoidably feel stagnant and come back to that exploration. It’s a constant process.

I never made a huge discovery, it’s always been small things - it’s just that I’ve done it so many times. The little tweaks accumulated over the years and I ended up somewhere unexpected. Every little discovery mattered. The fun of it is to not know where I am gonna end up. One day I might lay out every picture I ever made, in order, look at them and say “ofc that’s where it was going all along.”

Developing an art style is a good pursuit. For an artist, it’s a journey of defining and discovering yourself. It’s feels like I pull a piece of my insides out when I make a picture that looks the way I feel inside. It’s a great feeling.

But it’s not all about looks, it’s also about what you draw and what you say. What we should really try to find is a way to make a distillation of our vibe.