How to Develop Your Signature Art Style

1. Introduction: Notice that artists that you admire have signature styles. When you see their work on products or even projects, instantly know that it's them. This is because they have a defined style and aesthetic. They know what they like to draw. They've honed in on their strengths and they even have processes down to make cohesive work. They get hired for their signature style and they're known for it. Are you an artist who is interested in creating your own signature style? You wish to have your artwork on products and even create a solid, cohesive body of work that's in your own special style. And if you do, I have a class for you. So hi, my name is genetic Gonzalez and I'm an illustrator and surface pattern designer and also a coach for artists. And I'm here today to talk to you all about developing your signature art style. I have been working on my own creative signature style for many years. And they went from this in 2013 at my trade show to this where I am currently right now in my work. And I'm going to be teaching you all the steps and how I did this in this class. So I'm really excited for you to see this. There is a process to this. It does take time. It's not something you rush, but it is definitely worth every hour experimenting and drawing and putting the work and time into it and also the joy that it brings you, right? You're going to be feeling so much more confident, unhappy with your work. In this class, you will learn what makes a cohesive art style. See examples of signature styles. Steps to develop your signature style. Receive in-depth questions to help you find clarity in your artwork. And receive a fun worksheet to help you define and describe your current style and use it to track your progress on how evolves in the future. So this class includes a worksheet that is going to give you insight on your current style and help you define it, as well as creating new art-making processes that you're going to need to make a more cohesive body of work. Also, the worksheets are designed for you to use over and over again as your style develops and you can use them to track progress on your work. I also included a worksheet here on how to talk about your artwork. So once you answer the questions, you'll be able to not only define your style, but also verbally be able to explain it to others and share what you do. I'm so excited for you to see how you can do this. It really is possible if you're interested in creating your signature style, Let's get started. 2. What is a Signature Art Style?: So what is a signature art style and why is it important? A signature art style is a recognisable aesthetic that your art work embodies. There are common threads that are found throughout all of your art that make it cohesive and unique to you. Now the benefits are you're developed style is recognizable and attracts the right attention, clients, customers, and buyers. It provides clarity around all your work, who you are as an artist, where you're going with your work and who you will attract. It gives you credibility and makes you trustworthy. Your clients know exactly what you offer and what they will be getting from you. So what makes a signature art style? For me? I think its consistency, its consistency, and most or all of these things. And that is color palettes, subject matter, your art techniques and execution, tone and personality of your art, and any messaging and values that you're conveying through your art. Each of these components are very important when it comes to defining your art style as well as developing your art style. I will go over each of these in the examples in the next video. 3. What Makes a Signature Art Style: Now I want to show you some examples of artists that I think have very unique signature art styles. First up is Lisa Condon. You may all know and love her. I think she is the embodiment of this. She is the example of what having a signature art style looks like. And it's very proven through her success as an artist and illustrator. You can see here through the just very random pieces I pulled from her throughout her work, her work in product, her work as an illustrator, paintings, pattern, everything here you can see it is consistent and it is consistent through her color palettes. So she uses blues, this very signature blue. She chose bold reds and these quirky yellows. She's really just made this color palette her own, and it's very, very her. Also, you'll see here the subject matter. She loves Scandinavian art, so it has a nod and an influence to that. There's lots of big bold graphic motifs that overlap. They're very clustered. Her patterns are tight in her execution and the tone of personality of her work. It's very bold, inspiring, vibrant, and she definitely speaks out on things that are important to her, whether it's a social, social causes or political issues. She is very open about her beliefs and things and portrays that through her work. Often all of these things are pulled together well and it can show instantly what you're trying to say with your art. And she does have very beautifully. Another artist I chose is Megan Raider. And I really love her. She's somebody that stood out to me. I love her. Soft color palettes that are actually looks more nostalgic, but in a modern way, it's completely consistent what she does throughout, whether it's here you can see what's product, pattern, illustration work. There's always this femininity to it. And it's sweet. It's very sweet. That's in tone. I would say her technique is done in gouache and it has, it's really perfect for this type of style. And this feeling is felt throughout like this nostalgic, almost traditional feeling. But again, it's modern. It's very modern and it's very, her, it feels, feels cohesive, very cohesive. And her subject matter to its people, scenes, florals, nature. She just does it all so well and it's very, very consistent. So I think you can see here too, just from pulling random art pieces from your Instagram or your products, your website. It all still feels like it fits together and the same artist is making it all the time. And that's really what I believe is a signature art style. Feels like one artist is doing it and they're doing it consistently throughout. 4. How I Developed My Signature Style: I have been working on my own creative signature style for many years. And actually I was a graphic designer for a very long time and I studied surface pattern design and I was even a textile designer at one point. I made many patterns and art prints and things on the job in my in-house positions. But wasn't until about 20:13 when I did my very first art licensing trade show is when I really started to develop my own signature style. I wanted to come to the show with a body of work that was cohesive and that really demonstrated my strengths and what it is. I like to draw it and do it now I didn't get it right, right away. It did take me a bit of time and maybe even many years actually, to really hone in on that and to really work on nurturing my strengths and developing that style that I have today. Here I am here at surtax in New York. And you can see my art in 2013, I was doing all the things I was doing. What I thought I had to do was bring to the show a large body of work that would appeal to everybody. And that means doing all the occasions, all the themes I could think of. And because I can do a lot of those things, it was like I'll do them all. But I didn't realize that I really I don't know who I'm interacting with this. And I didn't realize that until later on that I thought this was the way to attract the buyers and I want it and it really wasn't it. It was attracting certain buyers to certain pieces, but not buyers that I really wanted to work with. And the type of products and things that I realized that I wanted my art on. So yeah, I would really say this is what not to do. If you are interested in creating your own signature style, brand, static, identity, those kind of things. Don't do the kitchen sink and I think it's a great place to start. I think everyone does start here and needs to start here because this is where you learn, this is where you experiment. This is where you do all the things to find out what you like and don't like and what's working and not working. And and it was a great place to start because that's exactly what happened for me. Over the years. I was able to niche down more and develop the style that I have now. And this is it, this is where I am today. You can see here I've found my consistency throughout. I'm doing it through color palettes, subject matter, I like to draw lots of nature and people love birds, flowers. I was like food too. I think food can be fun and scenes is something I'm doing more and more of these days. Also tone and personality of my art. I think that's always been similar, but now I've just really ramp that up more and it's more of like very upbeat, uplifting, vibrant, energetic, fun. I'm told it's all of those things. And also my messaging and values. I really do like making work about diversity and inclusivity. To me, those things are really important. And I am doing more and more of that as my work evolves. So I really just gotten tighter on my color palettes and nourishing down. And this is what's happened and just making a lot of work and focusing on the type of work I want to make to attract the type of people and clients and customers. So I noticed when I got clear about my art work is when it started to get more fun. And it was easier to make art and create art because my processes were down and there wasn't a lot of frustration or anything that was all eliminated. Now I can just make the work and I know what it is I love to do and I can jump in and do it. Well, making artwork became easier, so much more fun and my work became more cohesive and more cohesive and more cohesive and really consistent over time. I also began to see an increase in client deals and inquiries, right. So as my work got stronger than if you've started to notice and I was posting it more and sharing it more and just all of the joy and passion that was coming through was now being received on the other end and it's getting reciprocated and people want to work with me, right? So that was a really big plus and a big benefit of having a cohesive style. Also, my work is now more recognizable. I'm getting hired to do the work that I love to do. And also my work can be found in lots of products and stores. And that's also the greatest benefit of this, right? So you can see my work on books, puzzles, journals, stationery, greeting cards, accessories, so many things. And it's incredibly rewarding and I love what I do. So how did I do this? How did I get from where I was in 2013 to where I am now. And it was really all about getting clear, finding clarity on exactly what it is I need to do to meet my goals. I honed in on my strengths and really nurtured them. What is it, the things that I want to draw? What does the things that I love to draw, what I think are things I think I draw well. And I really, really nice in on that. I put in the hours of work too. I didn't quite a bit of work and I made a lot of work that I thought was getting me closer and closer to those goals. I also works on my designs, my compositions, and my execution of it, and the techniques that I wanted to use over and over again. So I did that through experimenting and Billy just exploring different ways of doing things in the ways that I like to do them and finding more efficient ways to do it too. I'm going to walk you through a little bit more about this later, but I do want to tell you that through your worksheets and through the exercises that I'm giving you, you are going to be able to do this too. And I pretty much outlined the steps here for you to get clear and for you to do the work so you can start developing your own signature art style. I'm so excited to share my tips and tricks with you and show you how you can do it too. 5. Get Clarity on Your Signature Art Style: So now I'm going to walk you through these worksheets that as part of your project work. And I'm going to explain them and how you can begin to work on your own signature style. So the first thing that we're going to work on here is something that I think is extremely necessary and a must for all artists to do. That is to get super-duper clear on what it is that you are actually doing. You're getting clear on who you are as an artist, the type of art that you want to make and put out into the world. And who is it that you want to attract to your artwork in your handouts? You are going to be given a questionnaire and this will help you find clarity on your work and who you are as an artist. You will also be able to find confidence in your work once you really define everything and go through these questions. And it is so important, confidence is so important for an artist, right? It will shine through in your work. It will shine through when you talk about your work, it will shine through everywhere. So that is really where we want to be, right? And when you are crystal clear on what it is that you do, then you're established style will be coming through. It'll be more cohesive. So here is where you will see your confidence is going to improve greatly and the quality of your work actually is going to improve greatly as well. The handout includes questions such as, what do you like to draw? What mediums do you use? What are your strengths as an artist? What are your weaknesses as an artist? Then I want you to go a little deeper when you describe your art. So don't just say something like, Oh, my art is colorful. Know I want you to really, really dive into that question and evaluate what it is that you do and an answer that from an honest place. And when you take the time to dig deep, you're going to find the clarity and it's going to get much clearer and easier for you. So take the time to really work on these questions. 6. Articulate Your Signature Art Style: I also included an art description worksheet in here, and this is a fun one. This is like a Mad Libs style fill in the blank worksheet. And this is where now you are going to fill in the blanks with the answers to the questions that you had answered in the previous worksheets. So once you had figured out and to find your style, you'll see here exactly where you can put this in this description, verbal description of your work. And this is something that you can use when you talk to people about your work. Whether you're being interviewed for something or somebody is asking you what it is that you do. This will also help you get more confidence in talking about your work and really understanding what it is that you do. So go ahead and fill this one out after you do the first one. 7. Create Your Style Board: Next, in the handouts you will see your style art board. I'd like you to start working on this art board. And this is where you are now going to be able to visualize your work altogether in one place, be able to articulate it, be able to see the colors, be able to see it. The consistencies in your work through this board. And you're also going to be able to use this board to track your progress going forward. So you can make new boards and put all the new information on there and see them side-by-side. So that's a cool part about this, that it works with you and for you as your work evolves. So this will help you see where you are currently in your style. And I want you to pin this up on the wall somewhere where you can refer to it as you make art. And this will be the guide that you use. So when you work on new things going forward, you'll be able to refer back to it and just know that oh yeah, i'm I'm using the same colors. I'm staying in this consistent aesthetic and you're not going to be or too far away from it. Now, if you do find yourself veering away from it, then maybe your tastes are changing and maybe now you want to work in a different medium or you're finding some new discoveries in your work as you're making more and more of it. So that's great. Make a new board, put it up next to the old one and you can start to track your progress. Included in your handouts will be a style board and there'll be instructions on how to do it, as well as your board. So this is for you to print out and fill in. You can do this on the computer if you want to do it digitally. This is an illustrator generated PDF. So if you want to open it in Illustrator, you can do it right there. Or if you wanna do it analog, go ahead and print it out like this, I'm going to show you. And you can also print out other things to cut and paste onto it. So the first thing on this board is your colors. So I want you to fill out, fill it out with the colors that you're currently using that you use the most. And what I did was I just printed out some colors that I use a lot, cut them out, and I'm going to paste them right into this section. The next one is art techniques. And here you're just going to write in the kind of techniques that you tech you typically use. Like if you use acrylic paint or gouache or iPad or whatever it is that you used? I would probably keep it down to 23 if it's something more specific that you do, but this is for you to see what you're using now and how it's going to progress later on as your work, It's more refined. So here I will say Photo shop, painting and gouache and watercolor. So I do a combination of digital and traditional media subject matter. This is where you're going to write in the things that you do. The things that you wrote, you draw the most. So for me, it would be like lettering, woman, plants and flowers. Then there's other things too, but probably the most common things, messages and values. If there's anything that you stand for, your work reflux, that's a really serious message for you that you want your work to convey. Put that in here. So for me it's about diversity and inclusion and words that describe your art. So going back to the clarity worksheet, you're going to put those words here. So I'm just going to put a few specific ones. Maybe they're uplifting. And then I don't know, maybe happy happening uplifting of the same could be inspiring and vibrant. These are just some examples. Then how does your art make people feel? Hey, feel. I'm going to use the same wording and inspired. They feel, they feel joyful, hopeful. And on and on. You can think of two or three words. Maybe I would say two to four words that would really work here. And then your current art style, this is where you're going to put images of the work that you are currently doing. I want you to pick at least three as many as you can fit in here, it would be great. And this is so you can see how your style is coming together across everything you're doing. So you'll be able to see if the color palettes are coming together, if the style is coming together. So just arrange them on here however you need to. And you can print them and make them as small as you need to, to fit on here just like the colors as well. You can also paint the colors on here too. That might be fun. So this board will be something that you post up and you can refer to it when you're making art and see where you're at currently, make sure you currently always using these colors in some ways, you're using the techniques, subject matter and so on. And that way you'll stay consistent. Now as your work gets more refined and evolves, you may find that some of this is changing. So print out another board, make the changes to that one and then you'll have all these different ones that you can see the progress you're making on. So it'll just be a way for you to track your style and see how it's coming together. So I hope you have fun with this. I think this is a really great exercise for you to see visually and understand on one place everything that you're currently doing with your art. 8. Tips for Success: I have a few tips for you to use as guidance on developing your style. So my first tip for you is not to overthink it. Do not overthink anything that you're doing right now. Don't think too far in the future. Don't be thinking about where you want your artwork to go. I want you to be present right now in the moment right now, and really take note on what is working, what you are doing, right? What is really showing in your work that you're excited about? To be super-duper present, don't think about the future or be in the future because that's when you get stuck. That's when you start comparing. That's when you start getting frustrated or overwhelmed, even stay present when you start to see that happening, you're thinking too far ahead. So even if things aren't developing the way you want them to keep going, you have to keep going. You got to work through the ugly part, right? So to get to the better part, so work through that ugly part and just keep going forward. Experiment, have fun with it. Getting the flow of making art and feel happy and joyful about what you're doing. You're making art, right? So that's where I want you to be. Don't overthink this at all. And just one more time I'm going to emphasize if you are feeling frustrated is because you are focusing on the end result too much. I want my art to look like this. I see my art looking like this. That's great. You have something to work towards. Justice. You're not there yet. You just need more of a fine man. Do you need more time? You need to experiment, more, need to really build your hand and your eye skills and everything. So give yourself that time. So don't overthink that. And if you are getting frustrated to snow that, you just might need a little more time. It's okay. It's okay. Also, you can also switch it up too. So if you're getting frustrated, Welcome something else, put it aside to start a new project, starts something that you're really excited about. So maybe that thing wasn't that great after all. So let's start something else. This is your time to experiment and have fun with. They have happy accidents. And really just figure out what it is that you do and what your strengths are. Then next tip is, I want you to make a ton of work, make a lot of work, okay, experiment like crazy, go crazy hair, try new things, trying new mediums. Maybe you've never used the iPad, use iPad. Maybe you've never used gouache your paint before. Go deep in here and go crazy. Okay, make a lot of work. This is where everything starts to happen for you. This is where it gets fun. It's a fun, messy in a fun way. And this is when you really learn a lot about your art-making processes, what you like and don't like, what you're good at and not good at. So this is really an important step and I don't want you to miss this. So make a lot of work, okay? And also you will see what you gravitate towards. Like maybe you really love working with a certain medium or maybe you love certain colors that you like to pick up and use all the time. So this is where you find all that information out. And then that's when the consistency happens. That's when you're going to start to really see these common things coming through in your work. So make a lot of work, make ugly work, doesn't have to be good. And just start to find out what you like to draw, what you don't like to draw. Just take that time and put that time in to really figure these things out and make the things that you love. Once you start to figure that out, then you can start to make the things that you love more and more. Use the colors you love more and more mediums you love more and more. That's how you start getting more niche, more specific, more cohesive, and your signature style will definitely start to come through at this point. So make a lot of things and trying new things and really have fun with, really, really have fun with it. I want you to enjoy making art. The next tip is to nurture your strengths. Really pay attention to the things that you are doing, that you love. These are the things that you are going to be nurturing and doing more and more of. So maybe you love to paint birds. Maybe birds are your thing. You've figured that out. So keep going with birds. Make more birds, make them differently. Try to, try different things with birds. Keep moving forward with birds. Or maybe you really love, I don't know. Maybe you really love patterns or flowers or things like that. So keep moving forward with these things that you love to do, but just keep going. And this is going to get better and better because now figured out what it is that you love to make and this is what you want to put in your portfolio. These are the things that you want to be known for. This is also now once you start making more of it, your signature style will come through. And this is how you start creating recognizable work. Okay, So keep going. Play to your strengths, play to the medium, Zillow, the things, the themes, the things that you love to draw, really nurture that right now. Just at this point, this is now when you've done the experimentation. Now you start to figure out what it is that you love to do. And then just keep moving forward. Now we're going to niche down. So now we love painting birds all the time. So that's how we leased out. We're able to leach down. But if you start doing all the things, painting all the things kind of, sort of well Ish, not so great. Then instantly there's no recognizable style, there's no consistency or just doing everything. So, so, so that's why putting the time in on the subject matter and the themes and things that you love the most is really going. You're gonna be able to develop those and grow those and grow those pieces and your portfolio in that way, if you're doing all the things in your portfolio is just gonna be a bunch of all the things. And you're not going to really hone in on the style, this static and the love and the joy is not going to be really coming through and all this pieces. So really start thinking about what it is he loved to draw, narrow that down, do more of those things. And this is where you are nourishing and not just doing all the things, just nice down. And this is where your strengths are going to come through. This is where now you're making recognizable art because you're doing your own signature things, your own themes, your own subject matter in your own way. So continue to hone in on that. Things that you love and also niche down on them more. Lastly, I want you to think about execution and composition. This is so important. So it's great. You're making all these things that you love. But now, how are you making them? Like? You need to come up with some maybe common layouts, some ideas and compositions and things that you like to draw in the style. And this is how your aesthetic in your style is really going to show through even more. Because now you're using these common, this common things that you're doing. So maybe you, you like to create artwork in a really bold graphic style. Keep making everything in that bold graphic style. Maybe you work in a soft and soft colors and you do line work and it's slurred, delicate. That is your style that you'd like to use. And then your compositions are also in a soft, delicate way. Maybe you use borders a lot or maybe there's a certain kind of just drawing style that you've developed, but this is part of the execution, this is part of the aesthetic that you're going to have and the compositions that you're going to consistently use. So maybe your patterns are really tight, are really busy and involved. But in a cool way, there's a lot of elements and storytelling. This is what I'm saying. Like, what is that thing that you like to do with your art that you can now do on a more consistent basis with the pieces of the collections or whatever it is that you're making. 9. In Conclusion: So once you complete your worksheet, make sure you post your work in the project section. I'd love to hear all about it. I'd love to hear if you have new insights on your artwork, how you've defined your current art style, anything you've learned about it and what you want to change going forward. Anything. So share with me here in the project section as well as the style board. I can't wait to see how you put that together. And you can also find me on Instagram. My handle is net designs and feel free to reach me there too and post your work. Can't wait to see it. So follow me here on Skillshare to be notified when I have new classes available. Is it my website and learn all about my coaching programs for artists and also join my newsletter and get monthly colorful Desktop Downloads. Thanks so much for taking this class and I can't wait to talk to you all about it.