Have you ever HATED your Artstyle?

[Sethstiel]

I think Im in a period where I absolutely hate my own artstyle. I dont even wanna call it my own actually cause,i dont think there is something exclusive about it.. like nothing screams it's mine..
Is this a phase? did anyone go through something like this?

Also what would you suggest me if you could change max 3 things about this?

[FafasMcMelt]

I've never considered the art I create as "my style", obviously it is, but still I don't think of it like that. I don't worry about having a visual "identity" for my art, all I care about is improving, making it look as good as I can. If improving will make it look drastically different, but also better, I don't mind changing at all.

So, if you're not satisfied with how it looks, I think a good way to get rid of that feeling is looking for things to improve. What on your art do you dislike? Attack that first, then, keep looking for things to improve, rinse and repeat for the rest of your life.

[Scarlet_Cryptid]

My understanding of 'style' is that it's simply 'how a particular artist consistently translates a particular thing from reality to image'. I.e. the way you draw a nose, or hair, or whatever. It's a form of problem-solving, a visual short-hand for reality, because drawing everything photorealistic is hard and not what you want anyway.

So my thoughts on being unhappy with your style are that one of two things is going on:

1. You don't like the way you're translating your subject from reality to created image. Sometimes this is due to not having your skills up to task yet. How's your knowledge of anatomy? Linework? Light and shadow? etc. Sometimes improving your knowledge of these things will vastly improve how you translate from reality to image, aka how you draw a nose or whatever. This can go great lengths to improving how someone feels about their 'style'.

2. You have the skills, but you're inconsistent in how you depict things. Have you drawn that character's nose 12 different ways, and it never looks like the same nose twice-- and therefore never the same character? Does everything you draw look like it was drawn by someone else? This is a signal that your style is inconsistent. The noses (or whatever) themselves look fine and perfectly acceptable for whatever sort of art you're doing (cartoony noses for cartoony art, etc), so it's not a lack of skill that's the problem, you just need to commit to a WAY of drawing them. A good character reference sheet can help with this, as can just... drawing the character a LOT over a long period of time.

Me, I've never really hated my style, but I've always been confused by it -- I never tried to imitate another artist's style except for school projects, and my art doesn't really resemble anyone else's I've ever seen. It makes it difficult to evaluate it sometimes.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

In short it is because of this

I wish I could have a popular and trendy art style but I cannot.

[sefra114]

I have never hated my style, but certainly, I have had times where I was not satisfied with it. I agree with another user here who mentioned studying art styles that you really like and see what you can adapt into your own. Your style is also something that will develop over time as you practice and continue learning techniques and strengthening your skills. My best advice is to not be hard on yourself and keep drawing- keep experimenting, and in time you WILL develop an artstyle you like that is truly yours!

[Kaydreamer]

I've never outright 'hated' my style. It's looked very different over the years, but there have always been elements of it I've enjoyed. But for a while last year, I was so frustrated that I was so reliant on lineart. I wanted to ditch lineart so badly, and have my same style, but a fully painted, illustrative version of it. Try as I may, it just never worked for me.

Now that I'm making a comic, I have a newfound appreciation for lineart. I don't wish it gone anymore, and have managed to incorporate it more seamlessly into illustrations as well.

If you're unhappy with your current style, try mimicking the styles of other artists for a while. I changed the way I drew eyes by mimicking the likes of Loish and DestinyBlue. Over time, that settled into my own natural way of drawing, and became part of my style. By copying things for practice, you expand your own visual library, and you practice the muscle movements required to draw things in different ways. You don't want to be a carbon copy of other artists forever, but it's a good way to jump-start the process of stylistic change.

[N1ghtm4r3]

i dislike some of my older stuff as I'm getting much better everyday so some older stuff don;t look as good in comparison

[Caro]

Ultimately a style is the culmination of your visual interests and what your hands and eyes gravitate to. The best thing anybody can do is broaden their visual interests and take in as many different points of reference as possible. Look at fine artists, contemporary artists, alternative comics and alternative manga, french comics, fashion, film, animation, golden age illustration, photos of clowns from the 1800s, etc etc, whatever it is you like. Figure out who influenced your influences.

Save every image you feel a strong aesthetic pull from and look at your collection and see for yourself what it is you keep gravitating to and that is generally (for me at least) a good place to start honing in on what it is you wanna work to achieve. Basically just never limit your input.

[vapidink]

Well, I kinda hate that my style fluctuates? Like, sometimes I'll try to draw in one style and I just can't so I end up trying another style. Which is probably one of the many reasons I'll never commit to drawing a comic, lol.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I draw in multiple styles for different projects so whenever I'm not feeling one, I'll just switch to another. I think the only times I've disliked my style(s) is when I compare them to other people's. But other than that, I pretty content with what I'm able to do.

[Puck]

I always liked my art style, as a kid and today, I don´t like the technical aspects of my drawings,
legs which don´t connect to the pelvis properly, proportions which are not consistent, not being
able to draw poses etc.
The style changed over the years as I had more influences, but the direction stays the same, but
I still like the style of my old drawings. I have my first 24hcd (24 pages in 24 hours) comic, I like
the style of it, I dislike the technique. Just as an example

[DualDragons]

Sometimes, mostly my linework quality at times

[darthmongoose]

Yeah, I'm always swinging between, "yes! I love my style! It's so solid and vibrant and energetic and I love that it's kid friendly and doesn't objectify anyone!" and "UGH my style is so heavy and inelegant and it's not sexy at all, why can't I draw more gracefully?"
Every style has its ups and downs, and the best I can do is to appreciate my strong areas, try to push the range of things I can do well while maintaining consistency and appreciate my friends and peers who have different areas where they excel.

Also what would you suggest me if you could change max 3 things about this?

• The anatomy is inconsistent. The face looks great, the torso shape looks good, but then the neck, shoulders and arms are quite haphazard as though you weren't quite sure how to fit all the parts together and particularly in 3D space. I'd recommend doing plenty of anatomical studies and trying challenging angles and poses to improve your sense of the volumes of the body and how they connect up. Also minor nitpick but generally the middle fingers on a hand are longer than the two at either side.

• The inking looks a bit sloppy in places. It's very nice and tight on the face and bust, but on areas like the sleeve, pants waistband and near the neck it looks rushed. Slow down and try to use your lines to describe volume, tension and flow, not just on sexy bits like the face and boobs, but the whole character.

• The clothing folds need some work. It feels like fold lines are drawn almost at random here rather than describing the way the fabric would twist and form around a person's body. I'd recommend doing some study and looking at tutorials and artwork showing clothing to improve that.

Overall, I wouldn't say your style is bad, but you need to work on your basic anatomy, perspective and understanding of materials to make that style look a bit more polished and get the most out of it. It's a cute style with nice colours and solid appeal.

[Psychobott]

Yeah. But at the same time, no. It's progress, we don't start off to be magically good at it immediately. Even professional artists spent so much time trying to hone and discover their own style. You'll be better, you just need to invest more.

Tbh when I saw your art, I thought it was cool and cute at the same time.

[Cope]

I go through periods of intense hatred for my style, yes. It comes with the territory of being indecisive, I suppose.

[Kelheor]

It just happens once in a while, once every couple of years maybe. Mostly when changed the way I drew something, for some time I like it a lot and after some more time, I look at the result and like... what the hell is this, that's fugly. Usually, it evolves into something new and much better soon after though, because now you see the problem and work with it

[Puck]

I´m not sure what most people mean with artstyle,
do you guys mean the style you draw in or the technical side of it?
That´s a difference in my opinion

[Kelheor]

One doesn't necessarily exclude the other, I think ^^

[Sethstiel]

omg you're so right about the 2nd one.. ive just realised!

[Sethstiel]

THIS.