Something I posted on my dA, but thought some people here might enjoy as well.
So I've been feeling bummed about never really liking the type of art I make. I don't know if that is really ever possible. But I did take some time today to look through my favorites on various pages to see what are the common denominators in them. I didn't just pick any pieces. Because I like art that I wouldn't want to make myself quite often. So I made sure to pick things that I would want to see in my own gallery. And there are some clear patterns. Patterns that I don't follow myself. I can highly recommend doing something similar yourself, because even if I don't do much to change my style to fit this it's still nice to see how much it differs. And I'll probably make some changes, but I need to be realistic about it as well. I have my own style and way of doing things, so I will never really reach this "result". But, like I said, it's a very valuable insight.
LINK FOR LARGE VERSION OF THE IMAGE
Great idea and something I may try myself - although with 3D work instead of 2D.
It seems to me that your existing work is very colourful and bright , whilst you seem to favour more darker work, with less saturated colours and interesting lighting.
I hope you manage to make the necessary adjustments to realise the style that will give you most self appreciation of your work. Good luck!
Hi! I was wondering what type of program you used to do this? I think this is a brilliant idea and way of figuring out what's appealing to oneself and would therefore want to try it out myself :)
I used photoshop to make it. All the "measurements" are me placing the lines manually based on what I see.
I haven't tried putting together a bunch of artwork or other images in an organized fashion like you have! Nope, it's like I just dropped a bunch of pages on the floor of my living room. I should try your way, iamknot! So, where did you get, or, how did you make that chart up? It looks interesting, I've never seen such a chart before. :D
I made it myself. It's not very scientific, I just placed the lines on the scales based on what I thought of it myself. It's quite helpful to concretize it like this. I'm almost done with my first piece to use this as my guide. But for some reason I didn't follow it to the letter.
The result (so far) of my style exploring. I'm happy about some aspects and still need to figure out other aspects. But it's fun exploring this. And I feel like I'm on the right path at least.
That's amazing! It's so realistic I almost took it for a picture at a first glance!
Hey Knot, thank you so much for sharing this with us. I definitely struggle with the same things as you. I have a hard time liking my finished work and feel like everything I do lacks coherence. My art teacher tells me that we as artists have our whole life to find our style, (and I agree) but I do not think it’s too early to start exploring if it means we will feel more fulfilled and happy about ourselves and our work.
It seems like a super helpful exercise to do, will definitely try it out sometime J
as long as you understand you will find your style and not cause it to come into being by your exploration...
sometimes the dissatisfaction comes from worrying over style or the lack thereof...
Not sure I understood you. But if I did, I would have to disagree. Of course I can cause it. If I draw a lot of colorful pieces I can cause a change by exploring black and white pictures.
Now I'm not trying to pick a fight about viewpoints. Everyone is free to their opinion. But I'd argue that it's a lot easier to find something you are actively looking for (i.e exploring).
I don't disagree about influencing things by exploration...
if style is defined by my own unique way of doing things, I agree with the teacher who said you have your whole life to investigate and find that...
my point to starting artist would be don't worry too much over style, when you first get going there is too much to explore and find to worry over whether or not this is my style...
I don't disagree with intentionally looking for something...
It's funny I was in the process of doing the exact same thing! (but on a lesser scale). I looked through my instagram and pinterest and assembled images of art that I loved, that most closely resembled my strengths and goals in one way or another. I didn't go into all the graphing you did, or assembling and analyzing all of my work, but I think that might be my next step.
It feels like your Battered Bunny and Pokemon piece are closest to what your goals are. In such that they display a more dramatic/contrasted lighting and the Pokemon piece has more texture. It seems like your example images all have a larger display of texture and texture variety. And I agree with Mark Fricker in that the goal pieces also appear darker in mood and subject than your own example. It's really clear zlready how big of a jump you've taken with you're new piece! I dig it.
If I posted here, or in my sketchbook thread, would you be willing to take a look and see what jumps out at you from my own "collection of goals" as being consistent between them? Another viewpoint is always helpful
Sure thing you can just post it here if you want. I can't promise when I'll have time to reply, but I'll do my best.
Single dominant color.
Pale / light value range.
No or simple background.
Surrealistic implementation to the character of the image.
But unlike me I feel like you are already doing mush of your goal. So, if I were you, I would just continue in the path you are on.
