What Does Our Handwriting and Our Artistic Style Have In Common?

Ah, artistic style—that intangible, elusive, magical thing many artists fret over. At one time, I was at the top of that list. But now, after years of working as a full time surface pattern designer and watercolorist, I finally found a way to recognize and delight in my own style. The first step is to truly understand where our style comes from.

 

Do you remember learning to write your name for the first time? It was a proud moment, albeit a bit awkward. And then, with practice, it got better. Then came cursive writing. That is when, if you were like me, the experimenting began. I must have written my name a hundred ways looking for the one that felt right, the one that felt like—me. Some were curly, some were bold, some were overly slanted, and some were just clunky; but eventually, one worked, for a while at least. Entering the teenage years meant I needed a signature that matched my growing independence. High school brought other changes. In fact, my signature went through at least six or seven revisions before I settled on my current. And now, lining them up beside each other, even though they are all vastly different, there is something oddly similar about them. It is as if they all have the same personality with different physical qualities. If we combined them with a thousand others, I could sort through them and tell you which were mine. The angle of the slant, size of the loops, thickness of the lines, or a combination of other naturally occurring characteristics makes each of our signatures, as well as our handwriting in general, uniquely us. By comparing our past penmanship, we can see how our current writing evolved from learned skills, conscious choices, and innate tendencies.

 

Our artistic style develops in exactly the same way. So what does that mean? It means we don’t have to agonize over our artistic style. We can change it whenever we want. And no matter how many times we change it, there will always be an underlying tone that is uniquely us that will inevitably shine through without any extra effort.

           

It is worth noting that it is possible to hide that uniquely us quality. That usually happens when we imitate someone else’s work. That is where many new artists get confused. In order to learn, we mimic our teachers. It is a necessary step. It’s the lucky ones who have a strong sense of self-artistic style from the very beginning that never bother to question its validity. Others, like me, want to do it all. We flood ourselves with mediums, techniques, tools, and styles. We try to master a large variety, causing an overload that makes it difficult for our own personality to come through.

           

How do we coax our style to resurface when this happens?

1) Remember that your style (artistic or otherwise) is part of you. It is always with you. Even when it is in hiding, it is not lost. It is you.

 

2) Keep producing work. Once you have gathered enough information, spent enough time practicing, and made enough choices (even if they are temporary), your style will show up.

 

3) Don’t be afraid to make choices. Decisions don’t have to be forever and they don’t have to be mainstream. In fact, expect your style to change and grow over time. Making choices gives your artistic style a voice. Embrace where you are right now because your now is creating your tomorrow.

 

Sometimes we can’t see our own style. That’s ok. Maybe we can’t see it because we are either still allowing our tastes to be heavily influenced by others or because what we see in our head is our desired style, and what we are actually creating does not yet match that image. That can lead to frustration and confusion. That was me! There is a great short video by Daniel Sax with the voice of Ira Glass talking about this idea called The Gap. It was eye opening for me.

 

Rest assured, just like with your handwriting, you will fine-tune your skills over time. For now, enjoy experimenting with the possibilities without the pressure to proclaim a style to the world and before you know it, your style will speak for itself.