siberiancities-deactivated20120 asked: Surfing through your blogs I noticed that a while back you claimed to have dificulty settling into one style, and that it's important to have a visual Identity when starting out as an illustrator, how did you go about establishing your own visual identity (horrifically broad question, sorry) I'm in much the same place myself, as I am due to graduate in a years time, and feel like I don't have a voice of my own. Thanks!

Hmmm, style, style, style….

I feel like that’s probably the one thing most artists put the most pressure on, especially since it’s how you’re separated from your colleagues/competition. In a way, I feel like it’s absolutely wrong to put so much importance on such a thing. Well, maybe not wrong, but you’re better off putting that effort into something more worthwhile than pulling your hair out over the fact that your lines look similar to someone else’s.

I can’t teach you any secrets on how to get your style. Nobody can. It’s impossible. And if you sit down and think ‘ok, this is what’s going to define me,’ your art is going to look even more mainstream.

Finding yourself isn’t about looking for something, it’s about not looking. Spending your time looking at other artists you admire and seeing what defines them is great, but you get to the point, especially someone who’s nearing their step into the professional industry, where you need to stop learning from others and learn from yourself.

And this might sound outlandish- but stop looking at other art.

And I dont mean, put blinders on and never go to a museum again…I just mean, when you look for inspiration, don’t ask yourself how your heroes in art solved their problems, as how you’re going to solve this problem. Stop looking at other illustrations for color schemes or techniques and start looking at things that you think are rad as hell- things that aren’t illustrations.

Where do i look for inspiration these days? Old polaroid photos, japanese kaiju monster movies, or even walking outside through cemeteries and stuff. By looking to things that aren’t in the same field as your artwork, it’s impossible to mimic them and get stuck in the whole recycled-style frustration. 

That being said, I don’t feel like I’ve even come close to a style that defines me, but I don’t think I ever will. All I try to do, is distance myself as far as possible from those that I admire so that I hopefully wont be a shadow. Everyone deals with the style thing, so dont sweat it. Do what you love and it’ll develop itself.