Hello and happy July everyone! There’s been a slight change of plans - you’ll be getting another RoundUp weekly for this month too (woohoo!). Steve will make his dramatic return to Substack soon, but in the meantime, looks like you’re stuck with me.
If you’re new here, hello and welcome to the RoundUp! A series where I scour the internet for answers to common questions that tend to plague creatives and present my findings here.
Today’s question is more of a quiet contemplation and I invite all of you in the comments to let us know what has worked for you as with all aspects of the creative process, unlike maths, there are no wrong answers! (No, it was not my favourite subject in high school, how’d you know?)
Anyways! Today’s question:
How do you find your artistic style?
Answer:
Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
Process > results
Melbourne born contemporary visual artist Tahlia Stanton, best known for her Borrowed Wing collection, has been dominating the arts industry long before she first opened her print house in 2020. As an abstract-expressionist mixed media painter, Stanton began as a self-made artist when she decided that art school was not for her. She won Young Australian Artist of the Year from 2015 - 2017 and has amassed hundreds in her collection including fine art prints, woven tapestries, commission and The Pioneering Artist - a painting workshop.
With over 15m on TikTok and 327k subscribers on youtube, Stanton has a range of videos from vlogs to commentary. In her short entitled “Make work you’re not proud of” she states:
“who cares. It’s just a painting, have fun express yourself, it’s not that serious…we need to make work that we’re not proud of, we need to make work that is experimental and fun and weird and just an absolute explosion of expression because without that, we’re just chasing perfection and what is perfection, it doesn’t even exist”
Finding your art style requires the continuous repetition of finding the fun of the process. Every time you put brush to canvas, you find out what you’re drawn to, what would make sense to your eye. But this must come from a place of playfulness, of fun.
“Strong Heart” Oil on Canvas, Tahlia Stanton
A painter wants to paint. A teacher wants to teach. They get better at it because of the repetition of the act. That’s all it is.
Follow what piques your interest
Being a good painter requires painting (wow, can you imagine). As is writing, public speaking, cooking etc.
It also requires research and study. Not in the stressed, hunched over a laptop, late into the night in a coffee and Redbull induced haze, but in the follow-what-makes-you-curious way.
The book that catches your eye in the local library or the youtube video you see on writing during your lunch break whilst working in a cafe. There are a lot of free resources for you to use to improve your art. (Support your local libraries!)
As a writer, I stumbled across The Closer Look some years ago on Youtube and I insist that any writer or anyone interested in storytelling should watch his stuff.
*A small side note here to say that as always, all links to the creators mentioned are at the bottom of the article :)
Created in September 2016, The Closer Look’s youtube channel has steadily grown to 1.15m subscribers. The creator, Henry Boseley, offers free video essays “where (he) helps aspiring writers hone their craft”. He’s covered a range of topics from ‘How to introduce a character’, focusing on Death from Puss in Boots 2 (a very good movie), “How to write a terrifying villain” - Homelander from The Boys and ‘How to do a plot twist’ - Knives out.
His works mostly focus on screenwriting, though sometimes he veers into gameplay (How to Fail At adaptation - The Witcher) or writing prose.
Finding other creators that can explain how they work their creative process is just as fulfilling as creating yourself.
Finding a space to share mutual appreciation and interest in a creative work infuses your own practice.
***
An important thing to note when you’re finding out your artistic style is that heyo- nothing is original anymore.
Billie Ellish’s early work sounded a lot like Birdie with a hint of Lorde and Lana Del Ray.
Art Deco looked at Cubism and said, ‘mmm, a little to the left’.
Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan could all sit at a table and point accusatory fingers at each other.
Artistic style is curated by consuming a range of media that piques your interest. Creativity is like wit, it sharpens when put in different conversations. Consume like a madman and start making whatever makes you curious. Place quantity over quality to overpower the nagging voice of perfectionism and slowly but naturally you will stumble upon a genre or niche that delights you every time you pick up a paintbrush or scroll through Letterboxed.
Copy the masters. Copy them clumsily and horribly, just don’t stop.
Eventually, eventually. You will come across something.
Rare? Maybe. But undeniably unique. And that’s your style - built on the frequented Pinterest boards and dog-eared novels that kept you entertained for years.
Ultimately;
The more time you put into your creative process + the more fun you have = your creative style.
Because at the end of the day, it is fun. Creating is fun. Fun infuses progress, progress rewards dedication, dedication is born from curiosity.
And anyways, the best doodles are made in the margins of graph paper during maths class.
***
Thanks for reading! It’s nice to meet you! Let us know if you like this type of content or if there’s anything else you’d like to hear from us.
You can find the creatives that were mentioned in this article down below, if there’s any topics or people you’d like to see me cover, let me know in the comments. (And if you’d like to be featured, let us know too!).
Thanks again for reading and remember - be kind to yourself!
Catch you later,
Kaye
Make sure to check out the artists mentioned!
Tahlia Stanton
Website:
https://tahliastanton.com
Youtube: @tahliastantonart
Instagram: @tahliastanton
Henry Boseley / The Closer Look
Youtube: @TheCloserLook
Pateron:
https://www.patreon.com/henryboseley
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Read Next: Should You Monetise Your Art?
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thanks for this article. As an indie musician it's hard to find what my area is when I like so much, and it's driven me crazy! Now I try to not think about it. and you're right about
"Place quantity over quality to overpower the nagging voice of perfectionism and slowly but naturally you will stumble upon a genre or niche that delights you every time you pick up a paintbrush or scroll through Letterboxed"
I need to do that more!