Jan 2024
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Jan 2024
Apr 2024
ThunderChicken
Jan '24

My art style has changed many times over the many, many years.

Back in the late 80's/early 90's, when I used to draw my Sam the Shark comic, it looked like this:

When I drew people they tended to look like characters from The Simpsons:

So did my animals:

Eventually I switched up my style to something a little less Simpson-esque (please forgive the water damage, these drawings are 30 years old and stuff happened):

Then I stopped drawing for nearly three decades. I decided to pick it up again during the COVID pandemic, so I bought a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and got down to it. I wanted to reboot my Wild Nights, Hot and Crazy Days story, and this was my first character concept (first row). I hated it, so I redid the characters (second row):

As time progressed I learned the art program better and refined my style:

And refined some more:

Eventually I figured out shading, lighting, and transparencies:

...And started paying attention to backgrounds:

When I started my new story I wanted more realistic characters (no "cartoon eyes") and really got into backgrounds:

But the problem with drawing like this is that I cannot draw a straight line. It's a medical thing. My hands have always been really shaky. I have carpal tunnel syndrome and Parkinson's runs in my family. I forced myself to try, but it took a lot of effort and I wasn't really liking the results, so recently I decided to switch styles again to a rougher, "sketched" look. I still spend way too much time on shading, but I like the new look:


...And am now applying it to new updates of my first story as well (this is the most recent, just finished yesterday):

Leyelle
Jan '24

It's interesting to me how different styles will rise or adapt from different peoples struggles, tastes, and even when we have to adjust to the way our minds and bodies work. I remember hearing about a blind artist who worked with oil pastels because it allowed her to feel what she was doing since she could no longer see it. I'm currently working on a story about an autistic artist who works in monochrome because the color blue is one of the things he uses to stay calm. I'm glad you decided to stick to art and not give up because of your medical struggles.

infjdany
Jan '24

well here goes my newest header for my novel!!

honestly, my style now is just influenced by styles with big bold lines and saturated colors <3 like in my comics there's now a lot of little details that make it much more ... pop art, so to speak !! your style is super cute !!

https://tapas.io/series/intangible-sins-143

Leyelle
Jan '24

i like the character in the front the best. They're really cute

Umber
Jan '24

I have like, 2 completely different art styles, but here's the one I use in my comic.

The way I do colors/textures are inspired by It's Kind of a Funny Story. I noticed how, instead of using a shadow for texture, there are alternate colors underneath the main ones. I decided to implement that into my comic, and here we are!
I don't really know what inspired the way I do colors and lines, though. It's all just what came naturally to me I guess, lol

Lensing
Jan '24

I fell in love with everything from the 1950s at an early age.
IMO it´s the best era in terms of style and design. Everything looked beautiful, there are
no ugly car desgins (example). The list of beautiful designed 1950s things is endless.

I was born in the 1970s in europe and read a lot of european comics (Asterix, Lucky Luke etc) + the MAD magazine.
I started reading adult comic noir later and that influenced me too.

I think my influences show when you look at my instagram page

Glofernwolfe
Jan '24

I'm currently struggling with two different art styles. I used to have a very painterly style, but I ended up hating the blurry, swathy brush strokes. I perfected some bit of it and made it neat but I was never happy with it.

So lately I've been practicing a more cleaner comic-style art where I select and colour. So my focus is more on lineart, and values, rather than light and colour.

Here is an example of the same character in the two different art styles:

miyaskya
Jan '24

My art style is influenced by anime and manga (major influences are CLAMP, Hayao Miyazaki, and Yoshitaka Amano) and I used to do most of my drawings on paper with pens or mechanical pencils but am getting more into digital art since I started my webcomic.

I prefer to draw in B&W (it saves time :slight_smile: and I'm not that great at coloring)

Some artwork in color

TheArtistMinty
Feb '24

I enjoy DemizuPosuka's work. He worked on stuff like, "From the Abyss", "Promised Neverland". I highly recommend checking out his stuff. https://www.instagram.com/demizuposuka?hl=en

I like the simplicity of stuff like "Star VS Forces of Evil", "Gravity Falls", etc too. I want kind of like a blend I suppose.



Below are some of my own mess.

dayworks
Feb '24

My style is heavily influenced by a more old school style of comics, (seems like there's an awful lot on Anime/ Manga style on Tapas) largely early 80's stuff. Influences would be Frank Miller, Howard Chaykin, Michael Golden, Steve Bissette, Alex Nino. However, that being said, while I do look to those artists for inspiration I think I've gotten comfortable with my own ticks. I developed a pretty rigid formula for the current graphic novel I'm doing. The goal was to have a style I could keep up for over 200 plus pages and keep it looking consistent over time. I work in black in white because I've always had an affection for black and white comics and, again, it's some I can produce over time without burning myself out. I do the bulk of the work by hand with pen and brush. Although I do drop the work into Photoshop for the shading and the lettering. In this sample page I used a different shading brush for the flash back portion of the page and then a more flat 3 tone grey for the present time in the story.

Leyelle
Feb '24

i've legit never heard of any of the artists you mentioned

KevinReijnders
Feb '24

As some here have already mentioned, my style is very reminiscent of early 2000's cartoons, notably the works of Genndy Tartakovsky having a big subconscious influence on me. Further I'd list shows like Ben 10 (the original series) and Danny Phantom as big influences for the angularity with which I draw.

Later I'd start to develop a more stylized realism, drawing inspiration from shows like Avatar TLA and anime such as Fullmetal Alchemist. The odd on out here might be the works of Joe Madureira, whose style I never explicitly tried to emulate, but rather his dynamism and use of form are things that stuck with me.

And lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention Star Wars, whose overall aesthetic has left an enormous impact on me, that I'm actually trying to actively move away from it. Or at least, try to dilute it with new sources of inspiration. (Recently been incorporating the fashion style 'techwear' into my design language)

Leyelle
Feb '24

Ooh, I love techwear, but unfortunately at the moment it's too extreme for my series, maybe someday in future. I gave one of the leads street wear fashion instead

JoshRaed
Feb '24

I don't really know what to call my style or it's inspiration I guess I learned from anime to an extent.

Jugg4n4ut
Feb '24

My style is very much inspired by late 80s to mid 90s cartoons. Think Ed Edd and Eddy, Invader Zim, Ren and Stimpy, with a lil touch of anime sprinkled in every now and then.

Leyelle
Feb '24

well for super hero or fantasy worlds, i think it would be fine. just maybe not for a support role in a modern romance

KevinReijnders
Feb '24

Oh yeah definitely, but it still has to work in the established aesthetic of my world :relieved:

As for you, you could have a quirky friend who's way into that subculture