Every artist has been here. Scrolling Instagram when an illustration catches your eye. You go to the artist’s profile and their whole feed is images of their own unique and established art style.

You start to feel down on your own art. Where is your unique and established art style? Your profile and sketchbook are all over the place.  

You start searching for ways to find your style. You feel pressure to pick a style and stick with it.

I felt like this too. But then I realized something.

This made drawing the opposite of what I wanted it to be. Not fun.

Read More: Participating in My First Instagram Art Challenge and How it Helped Me

I decided to start drawing again to have more joy in my life. I wanted to reconnect with that inner child who just wanted to draw silly pictures for fun again.

Stressing about finding my art style was taking away some of the joy of drawing.

Drawing or painting or ceramics or whatever creative outlet you love, shouldn’t feel like another task you have to accomplish and succeed at.

So instead of worrying about finding my art style, I decided I would focus my attention on becoming a better overall artist and trying lots of different styles of illustrations.

That’s why I love Skillshare. I’m able to take classes on dimension, proportion, color theory, and shading. But I can also take classes just for Procreate, gouache painting, and marker illustrations. I’m able to explore a whole bunch of different styles and mediums.

There are endless options on Skillshare! Each teacher has their own unique style, so I’ve been able to try a little bit of everything. The picture below is from a class I took on Skillshare from Claire Makes Things. 

(This is an illustration I created following a class on Skillshare from Jutta Schneider. See how different the styles are? Both are drawn by me but two completely different styles.)

Read More: Nicole’s Inspiring Story on Chasing Her Passion and Changing Her Career to Pursue Art

And then from trying a little bit of everything I’ve started to notice what I’m more drawn to.

Just recently I’ve discovered I really like outlines. Even when the tutorial I was following didn’t include outlines, I would still outline the elements in my illustration.

Sometimes I take elements from a few different styles and combine them. Sometimes I leave out elements of a certain style. Because I can.

I’m having fun trying different things and discovering what works for me and what doesn’t.

I’ve taken a huge variety of courses on Skillshare. I’ve learned so much already, especially about Procreate. I used to be so intimidated by Procreate, but now it’s my favorite way to draw.

I still haven’t found “my art style”. And that’s okay!

I don’t want to rob myself of this fun phase of exploration. And I won’t rob myself of the joy of drawing.

*If you want to gain more creative confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

Save this article on Pinterest to read later!

Read More: Why I Started Drawing Again at 29 and How it’s Going

If you’ve been worried about not having your own individual art style, try this instead.

Also get yourself a really nice pen because that just makes it even more fun. This is where you’ll write down all your notes during your exploration phase. A great first page exercise is to write down every style and medium you’re interested in.

Save them to your watch later list and write them down in your journal. You could make a list of which ones you want to start with first and what intrigues you about them. 

Read More: Nicole’s Inspiring Story on Chasing Her Passion and Changing Her Career to Pursue Art

Create the art in those unique styles. This is my favorite step! Have fun with this part! Enjoy the process of creating something. 

Be honest if a style you thought you’d like ended up not being enjoyable for you. Or if something really excited you and you can’t wait to try another tutorial in that style.

Write it down! Write down everything you felt and noticed while creating your piece.

Keep playing around and trying different styles. Instead of worrying about finding your style, focus on trying all the styles.

How else will you discover what your unique perspective is unless you try different things?

*If you want to gain more creative confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

I remember when I was in middle school and in one year, I went from dressing athletic to country to semi-emo. I was just trying different styles to see which one fit. None of those particular styles fit me. But I wouldn’t have known unless I tried them on.

I had to be curious and brave enough to try different things. Over time I discovered what my style is. But it took time and I tried on a lot of different outfits before I found the style that fits me.

I promise over time you’ll find your style too. You’ll start to see a pattern on what you connect with. That’s why it’s fantastic to keep an art journal during this exploration phase.

You can go back and read your own thoughts and feelings on different styles and mediums. You’ll see where you kept coming back to one thing and where you discarded another.

And even once you’ve found your style, it will more than likely change over time. With every piece of art you create, you become a better artist. You’ll continue to grow and hopefully continue to explore.

You’re an artist. You don’t need to worry about finding your style. You just need to make art.

Your art style will find you.

I’d love to hear from you about your art exploration phase! Email me at [email protected] and let me know how your exploration is going.