Do you ever feel like your art style is just unimpressive...?

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Although in my case, I mean literally 'does not impress people', not that it's actually lacking in any way. Basically, there's art that people look at and go 'wow...now there's a master artist at work' and there's art that people just smile at and scroll past...and I've been thinking that mine, despite its quality, is in the latter category. =/

If this were true, it would explain a lot...for instance, why I've only ever found popularity in animation ('make picture fancy' and 'make picture move' are two separate skillsets, and to use both at the same time usually requires a lot of money, a lot of time, and/or a lot of help). Although realistically I think my bad luck is more due to...well, bad luck.

But it's something to think about...I've never really envied the more mainstream, soft-shading, semi-realistic artists (my top priorities when drawing have always been (a) less effort and (b) more fun, and no amount of jealousy could be stronger than that).but sometimes I've thought about how nice it must be to be them...for people (especially non-artists) to automatically consider your work worthy of respect and praise, even when it's not very good, just because of the style it's done in. And to rarely, if ever, call it 'easy', 'worse graphics', or 'kid stuff'.

Oh, and just so you know where I'm coming from, here's an example of the kind of stuff I do:

It's not my worst, and it's not my best; it's just a typical piece from me: Sketchy pencil lines, cel shading; lots of defining shadows, maybe a highlight or two, and a very simple background.

It did okay in terms of likes and whatnot (the internet isn't exactly overflowing with Gatchaman fan art, after all) but it could easily have done better if it were at least heavily rendered, and the fact that I can say that with confidence is part of the problem.

I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here...it's not like this is something anyone can 'fix'. And 50 years from now, tastes could change, and things could easily become different. For now, it's just a disappointing reality.

I will say, though, that if any of you are heavily involved in any art communities, big or small, I hope you'll try to be inclusive and uplifting to those of us with simpler art styles. Because there is a bit of a representation issue, especially in the professional/freelance sphere. Unless you're Studio TRIGGER there basically isn't a place for you outside of funny cartoons.

I learned that the hard way growing up as an anime fan in the late 00's...if you know what most anime and manga tended to look like during the 00's, you understand. ^^; I was able to draw what I saw on the screen, but it was never truly what I liked...so I ended up cobbling together art styles from kids' cartoons and various individual pieces of fan art (this is why when people ask 'who's your inspiration' I basically can't answer...a bunch of deactivated dA accounts, probably).

I think the first piece of professional art I saw that actually felt like something I'd like to do someday was Macne Nana's official design:

It's hardly detailed, but it's not heavily stylized either...it's just kind of bold and round and cute and itself. ^^

I remember being really happy when I saw it. And immediately after I started experimenting with a lot of the simplified design elements it contained, because for the first time I felt like it was okay to draw that way. That I wasn't just cheating or half-assing things; that it was a valid art style that 'real artists' use, and that maybe doing great art didn't have to be boring and time-consuming.

Of course, 90% of Vocaloid box art doesn't look like her, and they changed to a more 'mainstream' artist for her newest version...that's how it goes. =/ But even if artists like Akatsuki aren't considered impressive by most people, I'll always be thankful to them for inspiring me.

[LittleFoodie]

I'm going to put my 2 cents here, take it with a grain of salt. I think it's not that people think other styles are better than your, but it's their preference. Some people are just more attracted to a more realistic style than the cartoonist style (which I assumed your arts are) and vice versa. And if you enjoy your art style, there is no reason to compare it to other styles.

[VibrantFox]

constantly but then i remember that the point is for artstyles to be different. obviously realism or painterly stuff gets revered as being of the highest quality or top level but there's skill in stylization that's often overlooked so i try to see the strengths i have in being able to take normal realistic human proportions and turn them into visually interesting and appealing cartoony designs

i think it's why i've come to surround myself a little more with folks who also do stylized art versus the fancy rendering folks because of the comparisons and sometimes inadvertent belittling. like both are good both require a specific set of skills and no one is better than the other it's just that one gets way more attention than the other and in the same vain overlook those set of skill unique to each style

[IndigoShirtProd]

Sometimes yes but for the most part no. I when guess I draw really simply, like no shading at all, I feel like my art can easily be overlooked. I also don't like spending too much time on art work so I favor cel shading over doing painterly shading. And backgrounds can be a nightmare, so outside of my comic, I generally don't do them. Do all these things combined make my art a little flat, leading to it being overlooked, maybe so. But I think there's something so charming about all of the styles I draw in that's not there in certain more realistic or painterly styles.

[rajillustration]

For me, that's how I feel when it's time to try out different art styles, honestly. With art styles the grass is always greener, and I used to always draw very simple and think...what is it like to do realism and get all those accolades? So I did...and didn't get any accolades (and to be honest, on the more traditional painterly side of things, are a bunch of people who are like "man I wish I did simple stuff, that's how you do it. They can get so much work done. Nice." ) but, now I got more than one style, so no regrets. You're gonna have a bunch of different styles in your lifetime, especially as trends change and technology changes, and the projects and work you get hired for change.

[Kaydreamer]

I think you could up the 'wow factor' of your art (while keeping the simplified art style you've demonstrated) by experimenting with some watercolour-like textures and brushes, along with slight gradients. They work great with cell-shading as well, because you just can use a stiffer brush on a clipped layer over the base for cells. (And the gradients can just be clipped multiply layers.) You already have the perfect lineart style for it.

I'm not sure what I think of my style, in terms of mass appeal. I really like it, I like the thick, soft, paint-y brushes I use, and the effect they provide... But I'm not sure how much mass appeal it has. It definitely makes people stop and go "OOOH, great art!" when they see my comic, but beyond that... I'm not sure how popular it actually is compared to those which lean more into typical anime, or more into typical western styles.

I've considered playing around with different brush textures and such myself, including watercolours, but all my custom brushes are designed to emulate my current main brushset. My actual drawing style, rendering choices aside, is something I adore and definitely won't be changing... But I think changing the way I colour could be helpful. Lately, I've started experimenting a bit more with gradients, and I'll see where that takes me.

[Mallory]

Yeah I kinda feel that way pretty often. Same reasons as you, really. I have a simple, cartoony style, and I look at like, beautifully-rendered art that has light texture on skin and meticulous little outfit/background details and just go "Yeah, I can't compete with that." Sometimes I feel like I'm not a "real" artist unless I can draw like that, because ultimately drawing from life and drawing realism is what every artist should be able to do, right?

It's not true of course and there's lots of professional artists who make good $$ who can't draw like that but... I can't shake the feeling.

[jurinova]

I think this is a problem that haunts many artists despite their style.

I'm the type that tries to go for a detailed, full coloured and shaded comic pages and I thought for a long time that my style was a good selling point. However recently I did my minor subject in comics in my university, and the feedback I got was devastating. My style wasn't cartoony enough nor was it realistic enough. My choice of technique was always wrong and my art was called flat. The teacher constantly said there was something lacking but could not say what... When I did something super simple with ink I did get praised.

I lost my confidence completely and felt like I had done something wrong this whole time. However with time I came to realize that I love the way I do comics and sure, there is always room for improvement, but the opinions of others shouldn't reign over the joy of mine. My teacher did traditional ink comics and that is what was good in his eyes, but not everyone should do the same thing.

There should be variety of styles in comics and all of them should be equally valid. Of course, certain styles can draw more attention quickly but I think if someone knows their style well enough they can make it look very inviting to new readers. In my opinion the worst thing would be that all comics just looked the same. How sad would that be.

[darthmongoose]

It's actually been forefront in my mind the past year or two that this is the exact area I need to improve my work, yeah. I'll try to share what I've found, but my learnings are a work in progress.

So I've always had this frustration where my work never seemed to have as much audience appeal as some artists with a similar level of ability in anatomy, perspective, rendering polish and colour theory and even similar styles. After carefully thinking and studying, I feel like the missing ingredient is something that might be called "appeal", but I think it's easier to call it "drama".

Some artists have a natural sense for drama, OR they're just really good at copying or referencing the drama techniques of other artists, so they might be able to make images that have a lot of drama before they even have developed good anatomical drawing. Other artists spend years developing their technical skills to a really high level, getting good at anatomy and stuff, because that's what we're all told, right? "Work on your basics!", but feel frustrated because people still look at our work and go "....um, yeah it's really nicely drawn. Cool." and that's all.

Ingredients of "Drama" I've identified include:
1. Putting the camera or viewing angle in a place that's not just looking at the person or thing straight-on. If I'm not thinking, I always draw a character like the camera is at around their chest or head height and shooting with a pretty flat sort of lens. People whose work has drama tend to raise or lower it just a little and might add more dramatic perspective.
2. Putting things on diagonals, especially characters.
3. Exaggerating poses and using line of movement.
4. Avoiding "planting" the character too heavily. Characters who look too balanced and static without some kind of unbalance to the pose can often look boring. Artists with drama will place characters leaning forward or backward, often with their weight off-centre or on one leg or something.
5. Exaggerated light and colour. A really common one being very pink-toned shading on skin, very blue-toned shading on white stuff, exaggerated "terminators" (a line of more saturated colour at the edge of a shadow) overall strong blue or purple shadows to create an unrealistic but very pleasant feeling like an Instagram filter world.
6. Inking with a lot of character. Lines with strong line weight variation, or interesting texture or that use colour.

So, let's see how many we can tick off of those in that Vocaloid image.....

This image hits practically all of the criteria!

The viewing angle is at head height looking down.
The character is standing on a diagonal and her feet are a little off-balance like she's teetering a bit on those big heels adding a sense of movement and drama. Her head is also cocked, which adds more drama.
The big diagonal angles of the arms stop the relatively still pose feeling dull.
The shading uses some variation to add interest and ambience but mostly follows to overall being blue and then being very pink on the skin to add softness.
The inking us very smooth and uses subtle line weight variation, so despite being fine and clean, it has a lot of personality.

I'm hoping to keep improving on implementing this stuff into my own work going forwards. I wish I'd been taught it like a decade or more ago though.

[Bokyongyo]

Like others have said different art styles will attract different people; just cause your art style isn’t inherently realistic doesn’t mean it’s any worst than realistic art. If that’s the case powderpuff girls art style shouldn’t have the fans it has or one piece/Scott pilgrim shouldn’t have the adoration both have. All three have very cartoony and far from realistic styles but they managed to get and find that audience.

From my stance I like your style but also take into account Thats due to what I like in art (Just like anyone) I like the blend of Anime/toon influence in peoples work, cause my own work takes elements of them so of course I’d probably like that type of art.

All in all as artists and people everyone is different and with that will come different tastes so I wouldn’t think too harshly on it and if your style isn’t good because of it

[Llyrel]

I think this is a problem that haunts many artists despite their style.

I'm the type that tries to go for a detailed, full coloured and shaded comic pages and I thought for a long time that my style was a good selling point. However recently I did my minor subject in comics in my university, and the feedback I got was devastating. My style wasn't cartoony enough nor was it realistic enough. My choice of technique was always wrong and my art was called flat. The teacher constantly said there was something lacking but could not say what... When I did something super simple with ink I did get praised.

^ This. This so much. (All of your post, really).

It kinda weirds me out to read how semi-realistic styles are supposedly considered more worthy of praise, since... my personal experience so far has been the complete opposite?

My style has always been on the more realistic side. Heck, I used to do actual photorealism at some point. And the reactions I got, from both my illustration teachers and potential clients was always "meh". I got told that mine was "not even a style", that it was "too old-fashioned", that it "would never sell" and that "I should really learn to do more stylized stuff".

Basically, less of this:

And more of this:

Granted, my art teachers would also usually have a lot of crap to say about anime-inspired stuff, so there's that... however, once I started to share my stuff on the Internet, I couldn't help but get the impression that the great majority of "popular artists" nowadays are the ones who do more stylized stuff, not the other way around. Heck, my own best-selling pieces are extremely simple/stylized watercolors I put together in under one hour... while my photorealistic pieces that took me hours to make STILL get completely ignored XD

So yeah, I wouldn't really say that the blame should be put on an art style or another. I think, as @rajillustration perfectly put it, that it's more of a case of "the grass is always greener on the other side". And tbh, different people will tell you lots of different things: in high school, art teachers will usually tell you that "anime = bad" and that you should learn the basics of anatomy and draw in a more realistic style. Then you go to the Academy of Fine Arts/private art schools... and suddenly you're told that realistic art styles are "too mainstream" and that you should learn to draw in your own style instead. With photorealism, there WILL be people who can't tell the difference between a photo and your drawing and will just scroll past your art, thinking it's "just an edit" or a "normal photo".

I used to worry a lot about my art style and for a long time I did actually believe that I "didn't even have an art style". What happened instead was that, in my attempt to chase popularity, I'd try ALL the art styles. It wasn't that I "didn't have a style", it was that I had so freaking many that people didn't know what to expect from me. Which brings us to the one thing that I learned during my years of posting my art online: what really matters isn't the style itself, but making it "recognizable". Give it something that makes it 100% yours and makes people go "here, look, THIS is that person who does that stuff!"

Or, at very least, that's what worked for me. The moment I stopped chasing trends/styles/popularity and started to focus on something that I enjoyed drawing and that I felt was my own was when my art started to get any sort of attention. In a way, this also meant simplifying A LOT: limited color palette, same textures, black lineart and a traditional sort of feel. In a way, people like to know what to expect from you and your "brand" of art: which doesn't mean that you should always stick to the same themes and stuff, but that if they know you for a particular type of thing... they'll probably want more of that particular type of thing. Point is finding -what- that thing is (is it the way you draw eyes? Your colors? Backgrounds? Know your strength and use it to your advantage! :D).

I tend to get paranoid about my art style, even though don't really think of it as "unimpressive", just... different. And yes, probably a little hard to market: it's semi-realistic, but not as polished as that of Marvel/DC comics, it has a stylized traditional feel, but not as much as that of European graphic novels, it's cartoony, but not cel-shaded, definitely NOT anime and the inks are wildly different from traditional Western comics... basically, it fits NONE of the usual "boxes", making it hard to classify. But it's mine, and while I think that there's always room for improvement... I'm done changing my art style to "impress" others

[Puck]

My art style is not impressing. I like it though

[Kelheor]

I don't think this has anything to do with the art being cartoonish or realistic, I follow a lot of artists who are doing cartoons stuff (of different level of cartoonish) and much more frequently I prefer it over something more realistic. There are a lot of times I look at realistic art and...well, that's realistic art. Good job.
I do learn how to do my art impressive by looking at things I find impressive, whatever it is that makes the picture impressive - angles, colors, effects, anatomy... Does it work? Honestly, I don't know, but I do find my own art more being more impressive than, let's say, having a unique style or an awesome rendering

[Darth_Biomech]

I don't think my art is good enough to even hit that "mediocre" low bar. People usually swayed by my backgrounds... which are 3d-generated...

[frgmnt]

My thoughts on simple vs. complex artstyles:

(source)

but also, there's no reason someone can't like both (you've probably seen this one before but I find it's a good thing to remember)

While artworks with amazing rendering, extremely detailed linework etc. are definitely impressive, and I like a lot of those... tbh it's absolutely not the kind of style that inspires me the most.

I somewhat understand your frustration - my style is neither amazing detailed anime, nor heavily abstracted and expressive cartoon, so I'm afraid it just leaves people feeling lukewarm. I keep trying to go farther in the "simple but expressive cartoon" direction, and, shockingly, it's not that easy.

Trying to analyze some art styles that inspire me, I found they tend to share a few characteristics: noticeable bold linework, very strong shape language, strong sense of dynamism, unique/peculiar stylized elements (eg. the face), and very expressive character drawing. None of which are my forte...
The catch is that this kind of thing can be really difficult to learn if you don't have an innate sense for it (or at least, it is difficult for me). But learning design principles (color, shape language etc. - not to say I know anything about design principles, lmao) and analyzing the works that inspire you, and finding out just what exactly you want to borrow from them, helps in this regard, I think.

Basically, @darthmongoose already wrote pretty much everything I'd have to say on the topic (and much better explained than I would've)

[Gleamiarts]

comparing yourself to others is gonna end up leaving you frustrated. maybe instead of comparing, try looking at artists you love and analysing their art
honestly experiment! maybe add gradients to your cel shading or even lineart.

i'm biased and i personally love adding gradients to my art (you might hate adding gradients to your own art, but i guess that's what experimenting is :D)

i did this drawing a while ago and added a gradient to my lineart

this is another older drawing but i added a gradient to my cel shading, lineart and an overlay.

you could also do master studies of artists you are inspired by as well as making moodboards too

[BOMB]

I think what I'm about to say will more than likely go against what many people have to say, but it's worth saying for one very particular reason.

We are creators, and as such, we view and discuss our work as work. Our books aren't books to us; they are work. Our art isn't art to us; it's work. But to none creators, books are books, and art is art.

That being said, I believe people favor specific art styles over others, but I also think that sometimes we as artists confuse style for quality. Some people will even hide behind the wall of supposed quality they believe they're bringing, when in fact, they aren't bringing a lot of quality at all.

For example, in your gatchgirl drawing, your anatomy is fine, the pose is alright, and the color is fine as well. It's just okay. I'd even say that your sketch lines are alright too, though some people would argue that leaving sketch lines brings down the value of the art. In any case, it's not bad. But it could be better. You could have taken further liberties in the anatomy, the color, the posing, or the details of the costume. Or you could have tried better to realize the anatomy, shadows, and proportions.

You might say that you decided to be somewhere in the middle because that's your style. But you can't forget that you are in control over the style. If you choose to get more dynamic or more detailed, more realistic, it becomes a part of the style. So when you decide not to go that extra mile, is it really because of style, or is it because you want things to be easier? If it's because you want things to be easier, then you probably aren't putting in as much quality as you think you are. And when you don't put in more quality, more effort, people can pick up on that. They can sense it; they can literally see it.

Would it have broken your style to draw in the rest of her fingers on the hand that's resting on the ground? Would it have broken the style to choose a more dynamic pose rather than something where her body is scrunched up almost into a ball? Would it have broken the style to work with the colors more so they pop? Would it have broken the style to clean up the sketch lines further? These are things you could have done to make that one image stand out without so much as even having to redraw anatomy to make it more cartoonish or realistic.

No one style is better than another, but just because you use a different style doesn't mean you can get out of doing the same amount of detail. In some cases, you have to do more detail work if you want a specific style to have quality.

And I feel like I should say these things because you literally said your top priority has always been to do less effort and have more fun. If you want to be noticed, if you want to be seen, if you want to come out from under the shuffle, you have to put in more effort than the people you're competing against. You can't hide behind "style." It's up to you to make your art style strong enough to compete, and to do that, you have to give it more time and effort.

We as artists and creators may fawn over individual styles, but ordinary people who don't create content only see what's in front of them. They pick up on how much effort went into things faster than anything else. And effort isn't just anatomy or how realistic a drawing is. Effort is how well you thought out color choices, how characters are posed, shading, how many shortcuts you take, how well the different elements in your drawing work together. It's not always about rendering or being realistic. It's always a matter of effort.

(By the way, I'm writing all of this after just waking up, so I may not be explaining this particular concept to the best of my ability. Still, I hope not to offend anyone, but I do hope you get my general idea.)

[PapaDom]

We don't live forever, so no need to cry over spilled milk and just try to have fun.¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Darth_Biomech]

The issue with that picture is that there are not two cakes. You are in the huge warehouse filled with hundreds of thousands of cakes, some are better than the others, some are sitting right in the center under the spotlight, while others are stuck in the dark corner behind a support pillar, and this doesn't depend on the cake's quality, it's all random.
And you can eat only 10 cakes at best.
The only saving throw for the creators is that there's also thousands of you's.

[R.n.P]