A little about myself (part 2) (Patreon)

Let’s talk about style. Personal art style. When it comes to this topic, I always find myself thinking about Rob Reiner - one of the great directors of American cinema with an impressively diverse and beloved body of work: When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, Misery, Spinal Tap, and Stand By Me. Each arguably a masterpiece in its own genre, and yet somehow, his name is rarely mentioned in the same vein as Tarantino, Nolan, or even up-and-coming auteurs who have only had a few titles under their belt.

It’s not just that Reiner hasn’t made anything well-received in a long time (Burton still commands a great deal of respect), it’s because he doesn’t have a distinguished and unique directing style compared to the others so few remember him.

A unique, eye-catching style is also what makes you notice a ‘big titties anime’ artist out of the other tens of thousands on Twitter timeline. After posting, I might get a few comments saying how much my art resembles Cutesexyrobutts’. Some mean it as a compliment, and some will outright claim I stole his art. He has created his own style, and anyone who draws like him is just a rip-off no matter how good you are.

Those are the 2 problems I think many artists (myself especially), can find themselves struggling with while attempting to carve their path. Either you don’t have a personal style, or your style is heavily influenced by the ones you admire and learn from.

I experienced the first struggle for about 2 years, my art was all over the place and I had no idea which direction I was heading. Finding work and building a following was also not easy when I couldn’t stand out. Then I took a liking to draw more anime stuff and decided to use Cutesexyrobutts’ art as a base to study. More success followed, obviously cause people love the style, but self-doubt also came along. I started questioning the value of myself and my art: Does what I do mean anything when all you can see from it is someone better? 

All that was up until recently when I finally made peace with the fact that there’s no shame in drawing like someone else. 

If you want to produce work exactly like that artist on Insta because you love their paintings so much? Do it, what you want is the only thing that matters. If you prefer to dabble around and have a diversified portfolio? There’s no shortage of ways to succeed doing that, you might just need to be more patient but you’ll get there. Or, maybe like me, you can pick someone to learn from and then at your own time and pace, develop your personal style. I’m sticking with what I’m doing because I love it, but I’ve also been branching out a little here and there whenever I can. One step at a time, no need to rush.