The SECRET to finding your art style

I see a lot of artists worrying about art style, and it's definitely something I used to worry about as well. I thought I needed one to improve and get better at drawing -- but as you will see in the video, that isn't necessarily the case.

00:00 - Intro
00:33 - What I thought art style was
01:13 - Studying Zero808w's art
04:28 - The SECRET
05:49 - Everyone has a style
07:11 - How to do a master study
08:03 - Developing your own unique style

Edited by @chashuu0

BGM 2:23AM by Sharou

[JoCat]

you don't have to know how to draw realistically before you can draw anime
but learning how to draw realistically will help you draw anime BETTER

[spiritus]

You don't just find your style, your style will find YOU. I drew for a long long time thinking "I wonder when I'm going to find my style..." when one day my fiancée told me that something I had drawn felt very fitting to my style. I asked her what she had meant and if she was saying I had some kind of style, and she said as if it were completely obvious that I clearly had one. Starting to look back, I could see bits and pieces in retrospect that really were like little fingerprints of things I had done that she mentioned. Sometimes you really need another set of eyes, because you're probably not going to notice you've developed one until someone points it out to you.

[kohakustella]

Maybe I'm a heathen, but I noticed that artstyle is like handwriting. Once you learn to write, it eventually evolves in a direction, and that's it. You could force yourself to write another way, but your handwriting is your style.

[virtmarshall]

I just don’t get the obsession with “having a style”, just draw and steal what you think looks good. When you have stolen from a lot of artists, you’ll have a “style”.

[thesunthrone]

You can looks at any veteran manga artist to see how their styles constantly change and shift over time to suit their aesthetic, preferences and sometimes even just their age. Older manga artists tend to get more conservative with intricate linework, whereas in their youth, they might have gone absolutely nuts over it - and that shows a skill in choosing what to emphasize that only develops with time.

When Hirohiko Araki was asked why he doesn't draw his old characters in the style that manga was at the time, he just said simply - "I forgot how to draw like that". That's just it, because it's also a fascination and inspiration with certain kind of works also popular at the time. Trying to see style influences (and influences in general) is something that I really enjoy about art, because it also helps me understand how these great artists and writers think, what they feel free to experiment with, what they feel okay to include in their works and it can just feel very playful and fun.

So in essence, just draw what you like and get tired with trying to perfectly replicate it/get pressured for time/get a little bit lazy over time/ just have fun! That's where your style will be!

[juanignacioaguero]

says "dots" draws lines
says "triangle" draws squares

pd: love your videos asdhbgh

[bruisewort]

i think "what's my art style?" is an artist's version of the question, "who am i?"
and always our identities are shaped by the people who have the most influence to us, but at the same time whether we're aware of this or not, everyone writes in their own font anyway

[unubilegbaasanjav]

Pikat's channel is growing SO fast i swear it was JUST 30k subs. So deserved cuz these videos are so entertaining and very helpful. Thank you lawd pikat

[Onthegoart]

This drove me crazy for years! I've tried drawing on so many different styles. I've been influenced and inspired by so many different artists. I'd copy their character or their style, then I'll try to draw out on my own, and it'll look horrible lol! My style now is pretty much 90's cartoony style, and I've embraced it. I mean, it only took me like over 20 years to figure this out, but I'm happy now lol! Great topic!

[Ultra_Frost]

I only started drawing about a month ago and I’d say I’ve finally reached my first plateau. It’s somewhat discouraging but when I watch your videos and see how much fun it can be if you just do it in the right state of mind, it encourages me to keep pushing.

[Lessulie]

Copying a style without learning fundamentals is like copying some else's homework without understanding their solution. Sure it gives u a nice picture at that moment but u learn nothing useful and can't improve beyond a certain point. Learned that the hard way myself 😢 so keep drawing those boxes 😂

[PorValis]

You are so right with people being obsessed with finding an artstyle and hyper-fixating on it. I think im still on that boat in which i feel like i studied art to the point where i wanted to at least try and find my own style. But no matter how i drew things after the people I admired, they would never be close to their quality. Many people just dont realize the years of work and practice the artists we admire put in.

[tcg]

Well, I think you've pretty much hit the nail in the head with regards to this topic without being contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian, so good on you for that! Your videos have been quite informative and well put together, so you've earned a sub!

[entitysfiles]

One thing I have been learning and reminding myself about art is that there are no rules.

For a while I thought that, by exactly imitating other artists’ styles and processes in my own pieces, I would eventually learn some secret art rules that I could then follow to make art exactly how I wanted it. I became so fixated on perfecting every detail and exactly following the processes I saw other artists do that I barely finished/did any art. I kept trying to overhaul my work mid-process because the pieces weren’t fitting together “properly.” It was only when I faced a deadline that I let go of all those rules I made up and just made sh*t. And that’s when some of it started looking good, and art became fun again.

[pampamtamtam]

I've been loving your videos. You put into words what a lot of learning artists need to hear.

[tankerguy]

I've been getting semi-inspired to pick up drawing again. Although, for me, since I have a problem with perfectionism, I've been discouraged to for a while. A problem I have with anything is that I know I'm not going to be very good at it when I start, so I don't start. But I've been watching your videos for a little while now, and the casualness of them is really helping me want to get back into drawing. I'm probably gonna go pick up a few how-to-draw books from a library soon, so hopefully I'll start making progress soon.

[Topcatyo.]

I heard this a long time ago and I still consider it true.
Calling it an art style is a bit inaccurate. Think of it as your voice. It's just naturally the way your art comes out because of your unique intersection of taste, knowledge, and life experience.
Thinking of it that way takes the pressure off of trying to find it and can help you focus more on just learning how you like to do things.

[cinnamonn]

the fixation with "art style consistency" was a huge thing that plagued my earlier work, eventually i got over myself and just let myself draw whatever i wanted. funnily enough, this actually led to my work becoming way more visually consistent since i've worked out how i do linework and coloring in the way that's the most fun for me personally. i think anyone trying to develop a style should focus on what they like (neat vs messy lineart, simple vs detailed coloring, soft vs angular shapes, etc.) and not try to force themselves into artstyles they don't have fun drawing. well-put video! you've earned a subscribe from me :)

[WizbizMcBrix]

@4:39 This reminded me of an explanation an English teacher I had in school gave when talking about grammar and why there are so many examples of these giants among writers breaking the rules of grammar. "They know the rules and are breaking them to get exactly where they want to go." The thing about rules in creative fields isn't knowing them and staying staunchly beholden to them at all times, but instead to allow you know know the basic forms and shapes that they can take on, and then break the rules to bend the language to assist in putting your ideas into another persons head.

If you break rules without knowing them, it won't help you do that. It just comes out a mess of broken thoughts, few of which even indicate toward the idea you wanted to get across.

But if you know the rules, you can break intentionally them in order to better communicate ideas. Intentionality is the important thing.

[michaelkaruza]

Found your channel last night and have really enjoyed it! Right now I'm trying to get back into art with a pewdiepie-esque "draw for 100 days" challenge and your videos are giving me all the inspiration I need to crank out the next few days of drawings. I definitely can't hope to be as good as you by the end of the 100 days, but I hope I can at least learn a thing or two from you by then