In August we asked our Artist Community how their artistic style has changed over the years and why? We got several great responses so we decided to split the blogs in two. Esutick My artistic style has changed a lot over the years; I went from digital to traditional, trying out different techniques, media and styles – trying to figure out what is ‘ my’ style. It’s when I started combining fine-liner work, pointillism and watercolours I felt I was creating truly something on my own. Ever since I’ve been sticking to that style, practicing and becoming better at creating my own unique way of creating art.

Owlsome Over the years, I didn’t really focus on creating “my style” or trying to find it. It just happened two years ago when I started to play with watercolors and painted things that were close to my heart. Suddenly I realized, that everything that I make has something in common. Some say it’s gentleness, I think it’s just love mixed with some skills.

TeensOnAcid I guess what has changed is my use of colour and refinement of my handwriting/line style in an attempt to create a personal style that can be identified as ‘Teens On Acid’ style, which is a fusion of 90’s skateboard art, 80s Manga and 70’s Hanna Barbera cartoons using the basic design principles present in the Swiss Design/International Typographic Design Style.

ZéTeibÃo As an emerging artist my style has been changing every day, every week, every month, specially when it comes to painting. I don’t think that artists' should have a single style “attached” to them, they should be able to create different things and keep exploring new styles and ways of creating art. My art keeps changing, but there is something that will never change, my love for using coffee on art, for paintings or illustrations. Regarding illustration, my style is usually marked by free lines, without any type of fixed measures or precise shapes. I like to “go with the flow” to be able to create something close to my state of mind at the moment. My art is really free and I’ll keep experimenting with different, new styles, but always aiming to do it with passion. Even though they are different, they all have my unique mark.

LauraKMaxwell Over the years, my style has gotten a lot more free and loose. I used to work on a drawing for months until it felt just right. Now I feel more confident to just dive right in, and be OK when things don’t go as I planned. Similarly, I've grown to love the imperfections of hand-drawn designs. I find it charming when things are a bit wobbly or off-center. This has further freed me up to draw with less hesitation.

TimPangburn I continuously bring new influences into my art. Initially, I was heavily influenced by illustrators and animators such as Simon Bisley, Sergio Aragones, and Bill Plympton. When I began tattooing in the late 90’s, it brought an entirely new spectrum into what I was drawing, as I immersed myself into the burgeoning new school style that was so prevalent at the time. Ever since then, I’ve been learning as much as I can about the diverse styles in tattooing. I consciously open myself up to new mediums, and push my limits outside of my comfort zone. As artists, we have a natural growth and progression, but without drive, we can easily get comfortable and plateau. I often revisit old concepts and ideas years later, when I am able to approach it with a fresh eye and an entirely new skill set. My work is constantly in transition, and I’m sure it will be that way forever.

DamnBonesShop As long as I can remember I have been drawn to the macabre end of the spectrum. I started out drawing a lot of skulls and skeletons and never stopped. My style has changed from happy cartoon style skulls, some of which ended up on my t-shirts, into more realistic skulls with a total lack of anatomy, drawn by hand with black and white ink. Nowadays a dark illustrative style is my weapon of choice . I am a newbie on the DBH site, so check out my page! Lots of deadly love! – Damn Bones Shop

TheKristin I’m still working on what exactly “my style” is. For many years, I loved working digitally and have made that my career (as a web designer). But I find taking time to work on my own projects makes me want to work with physical media. Getting on a computer to digitize a work is always the slowest part of the process for me because I have to make time to do that rather than getting excited about starting something new. I’ve played around with many different medias, but lately I’ve found watercolor speaking to me the most. It’s something that you HAVE to get right in the physical form, since that flow of colors can’t really be faithfully recreated in digital the same way. There’s a lot of new techniques and ideas that are open to me because of that and so I’m working through ideas and inspiration as it comes to me.

JMHurd I’ve seen a big change in my artistic style over the past few years and I can pin point exactly where it came from, it came from practice. A few years ago I made a commitment to myself to draw something every single day. At first I would get frustrated with myself because I was all over the place, but after a few months I saw my style emerge like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. It was fun, illustrative and worked well when I scanned it in to use digitally as a vector. Before long, everything was consistent and I was happy and confident with my work. In an effort to keep getting better, I continue to practice, drawing even if it’s not for a paid project. I also take courses on platforms like Skillshare regularly to refresh or to learn new techniques. No matter how good an artist is, there’s always something to learn and there’s always room to grow.

Loriesque I’ve completely overhauled my artistic style by changing my artistic medium from painting and digital media to sculpting puppets and filming stop-motion videos. It’s included learning new programs for video editing and filming and thinking more about photographic shots. I took this route after some soul searching for what really motivates my art and what I really enjoy doing, which is creating with my hands. I dabbled in this medium as a kid and was told at a young age that it was a dying art and digital was the future. But I never let it go inside. Then films like Kubo, and Coraline, and the Little Prince made me realize that beautiful quote can apply to me; “It’s never too late to be what you could have been.”

Takirainer I was one of those that started out drawing only manga. I did that for 5 years on and off without really having a style. Then I went into digital when I got a tablet, but the style didn’t change much. Soon after I had a five year hiatus because of, well, life! The hiatus ended with me starting to draw a sketch a day. My style grew to be more of my own through that, the manga elements fell off and I was doing a lot of crosshatching black and white pictures. After inktober last year, I felt like trying some traditional colouring for a change and started using watercolors. Basically now I’m drawing a manga inspired western comic style with watercolors.

Psweetsdesign My work has softened over the years. In my younger days I had much more of a temper which was evident in my work. I have become more reflective as I have aged and my work shows this as I paint mostly calming outdoor scenes of nature. As I paint I become enraptured with being at ease with the world around me and at peace with myself. I hope my work calms you the way it does me.

Notsonorm I’ve been working hard over the years on my portfolio, but honestly I just draw stuff that makes me laugh for DBH. I draw simpler things for my products rather than a masterpiece I keep in my sketchbook. Maybe I’m doing this whole thing wrong, haha.