August has been a learning month for me, and in one of the dozens of webinars I heard a nugget about illustrating that really resonated with me:
You don’t find your style - you choose it.
Woah.
So all this time I’m thinking that I need to discover my illustration style. That it’s hiding somewhere for me to unearth and magically, one day, I’ll become the artist I always dreamed of being.
But it’s not hiding. I just have to commit to something.
With this in mind, it makes sense that style would come easily to someone who has tried out lots of different styles (probably in art school) so that they can rule out what doesn’t fit and stick to what does.
Then I realized that an artist wondering “How to I find my style?” is not that dissimilar from a writer wondering “How do I find my voice?”
Over the last year I’ve tested out many genres and formats of writing: humor, poetry, prose, dialogue-only, scary stories, picture books, chapter books, nonfiction… The more I write, the more the things that stand out as “MINE” are becoming clear and consistent:
Verse with lots of line breaks
Word play
Repetition
Unique structures
BIG EMOTIONAL PUNCHES
Have I found my voice? It’s possible. These are the things that feel right, at least for now. When I stick to them, my ideas are more clear and my stories are more effective.
So… I guess choice is style, AND choice is voice.
This week’s doodly is an ode to my toddler, who is currently obsessed with Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. I always wished the animals were in rainbow order, so I played around with that idea. It was fun to try out some new things and learn some new skills in Procreate.