Some people are truly born with such strong sense of self. These people simply do art and whatever they do, they come out naturally unique or, at the very least, recognisable. The rest of us who deal with insecurities and a different life experience, we end up spending far more time to find ourselves in our art.

This post is meant to give you a framework based on my personal experience for you to recognise your story. If you match with it, if you not. If you feel it was backwards for you or was it like mine. By speaking about the three phases I went through until I could find my voice I hope to bring you a sense of aceptance within yourself and patience for your own journey.

You have heard it over and over again, “Part of your marketing is your art-style”, “Is your art style that differentiates you from other artists”. But what does it truly means when we speak about art-style?

Have you ever seen dry oil paint on a pelette? Most of the time it has an outside layer that is cured far more than the inside which is still wet. You look at it and think to yourself: “My oils dried. I have to pour now more paint from the tubes.”

Art-style is the outer layer of that dried paint on the palette. It seems cohesive “It´s dry! there is no way”. Then you poke it with your palette knife and boom… linseed oil is flowing from it. That paint inside is your artistic voice.

What I mean by this analogy is that art-style is nothing but the superficial look of your artistic voice. Yet beginner artists stress about it searching for some short of vanity and unique proof that makes them be different from other artists. To have that art-style means proof of being unique, therefore in many people´s minds, a great artist.

Being an artist is as simple as making art consistently over the years. For that, you don´t necessarily need a unique art-style that differenciates you. Not even if you aspire to become professional.

Most of us when we start, we are curious about how is it done. How do you use acrylics?, How do you draw anatomy?, How do you draw perspective?, Should I use Procreate or Clip studio paint?, Is this new DHLR camera going to help me get better pictures?, etc.

At the beginnning is all about learning the technicalities of art. Maybe you are in an art academy, in art school or art university. You are being thaugh the fundamentals of arts, you are still not quite ready to understand what art is.

Some artists feel turned off by this type of education, they just want to do whatever comes naturally for them. It seems they were born in the second stage and they have no interest in the educational part. Don´t resent them if you are here but they are not. They are simply different ways to go about your educational years.

Once you have certain fluidity in art fundamentals you start to want to explore. Either is in themes or art mediums. You may be sure about being a digital illustrator and you shift from editorial illustration to animation, then you shift to ceramics, then go back to drawing in charcoal. Your topics range from animal portraiture, character design, webtoon illustration but also landscape photography.

This stage is chaos, you touch several mediums and topics and you don´t fully settle to anything yet because you are in this moment of experimenting new things all the time. Everything is exciting and none of your artwork is maturing alongside with you. You have not had the time yet to recognise which art mediums and topics are fun for you to do from time to time but not for many years almost on a daily basis.

At this stage is highly recomended you pick a main medium or topic and keep doing it for some months. The key is to find out if it feels good for you or if in contrast your are just used to this medium, topic and technique.

At this point you have more or less an idea on what type of art medium you want to do for some years to come on a regular basis, or at the very least, which ones you like to do on a consistent basis and you have no desire to drop them for others instead.

You recognise that there are some type of art that you like to do in a serious manner and some you like to do as a hobby, on your free time to explore, to compliment your practice and/or to have fun.

At this stage is where the big questions are asked:

Among many other questions, this is the stage your start finding yourself in your identity as an artist. You are no longer a beginner artist, you have entered a stage in which you are facing the reality of art: Is not about how well it is done, it is not about how many mediums you know, is not even about who you know in the art world, is about who you are and how well can you communicate to the outer world.

I am a person who wears his heart on his sleeve. I am such a bad liar trying to hide my feelings because they overwhealm me, therefore people notice. For me, my emotions, feelings and psyque is center in my life and art practice. So I gravitated towards abstract expressionism. Being one of my core values authenticity, I lean towards that expressionist side. So when I started using my palette knife for these textured brushtrokes. I realise the bumpy look it has is perfect for my personal experience, values and practice. It simply feels right.

I wish I could tell you what comes after but I don´t know myself yet. What I know is what happens in this stage 3: You start to discover and honour yourself….among other things. You also start developing a better taste, a more acute judgement for using certain techniques over others.

A this stage you want to go full in, make a body of work, one portfolio, 2, even 5 series. You want to see if you are still excited to go back to the studio to do what you do, if it comes naturally or it feels like you have to force yourself to work. The key is about finding the creative process that feels genuinely good, like second nature to you.

In all this process, one day you will look back at your whole body of work and notice those little things that you know about yourself and you see portrayed in your art. You will start to notice those tools and techniques you gravitate towards that make: Your art-style.

This is how my story goes. I remember being in late stage 1 and stage 2 worrying about art-style and copying people, “stealing like an artist” and getting frustrated focusing on the outcome. I barely only started into stage 3 where I am asking myself the important questions and I know it is right because I no longer have any desire to be any other type of artist but myself.

So I hope that the very least, with this post you grow a more empathetic view on yourself and your journey. To not worry about having your art-style today, whether you are 15, 23 or 78 years-old.

Yours truly,

Daniel Concheso