5 thoughts on finding your own illustration style.

A style for an illustrator is like a voice for a singer. Ideally, you want your illustration style to be unique, commercial and recognisable. Nurturing one’s style is an illustrator’s life’s work. For some, finding their own style comes easily while others are forever searching for “the one”.

I am definitely the second type.

There are two approaches to finding style in the art colleges today.
One is to instil in students what a “good” (meaning popular, commercial) illustration style is. Then all students’ work is judged according to how close they get to a particular “look”. The big benefit of this approach is that most students will find themselves commissioned immediately after graduation. The drawbacks: oversaturation of illustrators working within a particular style, and, consequently, that style going out of fashion.

The second approach is to give the students a totally free reign — let them work without any restrictions or demands while they (hopefully) figure it out themselves. That was the attitude during my BA. When I was studying illustration at Central Saint Martins, “a style” was a dirty word. It implied becoming a one-trick pony, repetitively manufacturing one similar image after another. The benefit of this approach is that the individual gets to explore different…