Thursday 19 August 2010

Elongated Coyotes and a note on style


Today's inexplicable brain-fart; I really cannot account for the weirdness my imagination comes out with sometimes...
Anyway! This last couple of weeks I've been grappling with overtime at work, commissions, t-shirt designs, looking for a new house, sorting out cons, worrying about bills and subsequently pretending none of this exists by playing video games. I'm in a constant state of nervous panic at the moment; great for drawing, not great for brain! It's all good though. I also had the pleasure of doing an interview with the lovely people at We Blog Artists; read it here!
But enough griping, I want to talk about style. As an illustrator, I constantly worry that my personal drawing style is rubbish. I have a lot of influences that have contributed to how my work looks now (hopefully none of them glaringly obvious) and continue to find new artists that spark ideas of my own and help push my work forward. Trying to carve out a unique "look" is bloody difficult and has taken me the last 5 years to get right and I'm still trying to polish it. What really makes an artist stand out though? There's so much out there, it's sometimes hard to know if your stuff makes any kind of impact.
I think enthausiasm has a lot to do with it which is why I try and go to as many cons as possible to meet people; I get quite manic at these but it seems to draw people in and take an interest in my work which makes me realise that personality also has a lot to do with individual style. I like to think my personality manifests itself through my work; my boyfriend told me that he thought this is what the inside of my head would look like if someone burst it open like a pinata which made me laugh and also pleased me! Does anyone else see their work as a physical manifestation of their brains? How do you go about trying to make your style stand out?

2 comments:

  1. I love your boyfriend's comment too ~ I totally agree with him! I adore your style as I have mentioned before, and enjoyed emulating it a lot. It really put me in a happier place for the day!

    Developing a distinctive style is, in my opinion, an artist's greatest challenge. Originality is obviously impossible, but I think you have carved a great niche for yourself where it's instantly possible to look at something and identify it as your work.

    Currently, I don't have a style...I'm rather all over the place with the way I draw and often I get irritated that my influences are too obvious. Perhaps that reflects my inscurities...or my split moods/sense of self. Who knows?

    Great post!

    <3

    ~Jess~
    xxxxxxxx

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  2. I love your style too and I like your boyfriend's comment. I know I have a distinct style in photography because I am drawn to to shooting in a simliar way each time. I am drawn to nature photography or weird shaped macro shots. I also have my weird little characters in Bella and the Boys, that I am still to draw. I am not sure that drawing is my thing. Give me a camera and I can come with a great photo for anything, but drawing, its not natural for me. I guess we really do what we are good at! I like your drawing for this post too by the way.
    ~Sarah~

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