Cultivate Your Own Artistic Voice in 5 steps, and find you own style. Many artists, drawn to acrylic painting or abstract art, struggle to find their own unique style. They spend hours searching for inspiration online, feeling overwhelmed by the vast array of artistic approaches. But what if the answer isn't out there, but within you?
This is the message The Old Guy (artist Henrik Skorá) delivers in this encouraging video. Instead of desperately hunting for a style, you should focus on cultivating the artistic style you already possess.It's a personal journey, and this video offers a 5-step approach to guide you:
1. Paint as much as possible. Consistent practice is the cornerstone of artistic development. Think of it as an artistic marathon, not a sprint. Don't overthink every stroke. Trust your gut and paint freely. This initial effort becomes stepping stones in your artistic evolution, helping you discover your natural preferences for subjects, colors, and techniques. Acrylic painting, with its vibrant colors and fast-drying nature, is a great medium to experiment with. 2. Master the Craft: This involves learning the fundamentals of composition, which helps arrange elements in a visually pleasing way. Understanding color theory, how colors interact and mix, unlocks a vast palette of possibilities. Additionally, exploring various painting techniques, like those used in abstract art, expands your artistic toolkit. 3. Develop your process: Every artist develops a personal approach to their work, a painting process that hugely influences their style. Some say that your process is your style. Experiment until you find a workflow that feels natural for you. Basically you must develop a plan on how to approach the painting process in practice. 4. Seek Inspiration: You can do this in many ways. (I made a video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6J6-UFvTA) Study the work of other artists, both within acrylic painting and other styles. Let their work inspire you, but avoid simply copying it. Instead, identify elements you admire and incorporate them into your own work, creating a unique blend of influences. 5. Courage: Mistakes are inevitable, and they are valuable learning experiences. Don't get discouraged by a misstep – view it as an opportunity to refine your skills. As you gain experience, these mistakes will become less frequent.
Index 0:00 Intro – 5 key steps to develop a personal style 0:57 What is style? 01:42 Handwriting and style 02:40 Your style evolves all the time 03:35 1. step - Paint as much as possible – develop a taste. 04:45 Painting Flowers? 05:48 Paint what you like to paint, not what you like to look at 06:30 2. Step – Master the craft of painting 07:28 Paint for fun like kids do – Klara is painting 08:35 3. Step - Develop a process 09:34 4. Step – Inspiration – how to find it and how to use it 10:20 The issue of copying 10:39 Thinking outside the box? 12:15 The cave painter 15:29 5. Step – Courage – to make mistakes 17:05 Form an opinion on your own work 17:55 The trick – creativity and the “not so good paintings” 19:07 The mindset of a professional painter – good or bad? 19:50 Thank you for watching
Remember, your artistic style is a unique fingerprint, a combination of your personality, the choices you make in your artwork, and your life experiences. It will naturally evolve over time as you refine your skills and explore new ideas. Focus on enjoying the process of discovery and cultivating your artistic voice.
With dedication and these helpful steps, you'll be well on your way to developing a distinctive style that reflects you, and your unique artistic vision.
Why are so many artists talking about finding their own personal style?
It seems like many of us are struggling how to find our own unique artistic voice.
In today's video I'm going to talk about what style really is.
And I will share five key steps that will help you cultivate your artistic identity.
But what if I told you that you don't have to find your personal style?
You already got one.
And you got it the moment you picked up the brush for the very first time.
My name is Henrik Skoa.
Let's get started.
So the real issue here is that you probably are a little bit dissatisfied with your current style.
You want to improve it.
You want to be better.
I use these five steps myself on a daily basis.
But what is style anyway?
Basically your style is situated between your ears.
It's in here.
It's an integrated part of your personality.
So the simple answer to the question is your style is you.
It is a unique aspect of your work that makes you different from anyone else.
You can identify this in many ways.
It can be your choice of subject matter, your technique,
the way you mix your colors, the way you use your brush,
your composition and a lot of other aesthetic choices you make.
Although you cannot completely change yourself and who you are,
you have a lot of opportunities to change what you do not like.
Just like your handwriting is a personal thing and says a lot about who you are,
you can potentially train it and change it from chaos to elegance and beauty.
In the same way, you can also shape and cultivate your artistic style
in order to bring it in the direction that you want it to go.
And actually finding out what you want can be a big hurdle.
At least it was to me.
The five focus areas I set out in this video will, in my opinion,
help you find out what it is you really want.
And it will help you to change your attitudes and taste and ultimately your style.
And to illustrate this, I will show you some of my earlier work
and discuss how they helped me to develop my painting vocabulary and develop my style.
When you paint, your style will evolve constantly.
It will go on, however, in painfully small steps.
And you will not be able to see changes from day to day.
But if you look back on longer periods,
you will see significant changes in your work and style.
I have been painting as a professional artist for many years now.
I have done other things in between, but my main focus has always been on painting.
And to date, I have painted approximately 2000 paintings.
And here are some of my very first creations.
I remember being very proud and satisfied when I finished them,
telling my wife that from now on the money would start rolling in.
Unfortunately, they didn't.
But my style evolved.
Back to the five steps.
The first and perhaps the most important step is obviously to paint as much as possible.
I cannot stress this enough.
Just paint.
Consistent practice allows you to improve throughout all your life.
Consider it to be a marathon, not a sprint.
Since you will not be able to see changes from day to day,
you will have to rely on your creative instincts.
Don't overthink what you're doing and follow your gut.
Then hang your paintings on your wall and be proud and say,
This is me for now.
Through many hours and days of painting, you will develop some kind of taste.
You will find out what you like and what you dislike,
and what kind of painter you want to be,
what road you would like to take and where you want to go as a painter.
Be aware that there might be a difference between which paintings you like to look at
and which painting you want to create yourself.
For example, I had this thing with flowers.
I thought that painting flowers were less important than painting other motifs.
It was okay to paint flowers, but if I wanted to be a serious artist,
I couldn't paint flowers.
After a while, I noticed that they kept on showing up on my canvas,
and I spoke to some of my fellow artists about that.
Many of them advised me not to paint flowers and to use other motifs,
and the reason why is that historically,
floral motifs have been considered less prestigious.
So I removed them for many years, until I realized how stupid that really was.
Flowers are fantastic motifs.
They are beautiful and challenging to paint.
When I gave in, I felt liberated,
and today I paint them with great joy,
often revisiting flowers in my work.
Just because you love Renoir's paintings,
you do not necessarily want to paint like him.
Renoir already did it.
So discover what it is you like,
and find out a way to incorporate this in your own work.
Even if you are painting just for the fun,
you want to get better.
We all want to improve.
The downside of being an artist is that you probably always will be dissatisfied
a little bit with your work,
which is frustrating and at times even depressing.
However, frustration will drive you to make changes.
And changes are good.
Step number two.
Master the craft.
Develop taste is the soft side of developing your style.
The second step is about the hard side.
The craft.
It's craftsmanship, knowledge, techniques and skills.
You must, so to say, know your instrument.
Just like a pianist needs to know something about music theory,
about notes and pauses and rhythm,
you need to acquire knowledge on color theory,
composition and how colors mix and what to do in certain situations.
Essentially, learning the craft is how to approach the painting process in practice.
You don't need to know everything.
And if you're just starting, you don't need to know anything at all.
Just start and learn as you go.
Kids are painting all the time without worrying if a painting is good or bad.
They do not think that way.
They don't think about style, color theory or composition.
They just have fun.
They use the painting process to live out their thoughts and fantasies.
I envy their direct access to the painting process.
Normally, communication involves a sender and a receiver.
But in this case, the child is both.
They paint for fun and they do that until an adult starts rating their drawings,
which ruins the playful and immediate approach to painting.
The ambition to be good or even good enough gets in the way of joy.
So please be careful what you say when a child shows you a drawing.
The third step is develop a process.
The importance of the process cannot be overstated.
Your style will depend almost entirely on this.
The way you paint today is a little bit different than the way you painted yesterday.
And hopefully tomorrow it will be a little bit different as well.
And it's completely the same when we speak about style.
Your process and style will evolve continuously as you work.
A good process makes everything easier.
Because you do not all the time have to think about what to do next.
You will just do it.
The fourth step is inspiration.
In order to develop your own style, you will need to study what other artists are doing.
I know this can sound a little bit strange and as a contradiction.
But it is not.
Of course you can find inspiration in many ways.
I have made a whole video on this.
And I will link to that in the text below or maybe on the screen right now.
But looking at what other artists are doing,
in my opinion, is by far the most powerful way of developing your style.
And there is an issue here of copying.
I know.
When you find inspiration in works of other artists,
in one way or another you are copying what this artist is doing.
My advice here is don't go for the copy.
But don't be scared of it either.
Today many people are talking about thinking outside the box.
This means that you will have to think from a new perspective.
You will have to be different and you will have to be unconventional.
In other words, you need to be original.
I would like to set a small question mark to this ambition.
I don't believe it's possible for the vast majority of us.
And I think that the only chance you have to get outside your own artistic box
is to study and look at what other artists are doing.
When I started many years ago,
I was very afraid of not accidentally getting to copy another artist's work and style.
I aimed to rely solely on my own thoughts and instincts.
And after a while I realized that striving to obtain originality all by myself was holding me back.
After all, there is nothing new under the sun.
We all use the same materials and share the same tradition and history.
We all build on experiences and results from others.
And we are, figuratively speaking, standing on each other's shoulders.
And if you imagine this huge pyramid of thousands of people
at the very bottom of this reversed pyramid stands.
The very first cave painter.
This guy is perhaps the only truly original painter.
He was the first one.
He had no one to support him.
He had no one to look at because he was the first.
He couldn't even say to himself, I am the first painter.
And wow, I just made a painting.
After some years, I decided that my paintings should not look like anyone else's.
I didn't make huge changes in my life just to paint like somebody else was already doing.
And to say something that somebody else already had said years ago.
I spent a lot of time worrying how I could become an original painter.
I wanted this original style immediately.
This took out the joy of painting for me for a while.
Until I realized that the main thing was painting.
Not how or what I painted in a specific way.
To regain some of the playful aspects of painting,
I rethought my ambition on how to develop my personal style.
This helped me rediscover the joy of painting.
Being something extraordinary and wonderful.
So a good advice from me is,
don't let your ambition overshadow the joy and the fun of painting.
That should always remain the main thing.
Exposing yourself to great art will inspire you.
It is important to absorb, process and make these inputs your own.
Because the main goal is not to become the next Picasso.
The goal is to become the first you.
And no one can become a better you than you.
So when you're new to painting, don't waste energy on originality.
Focus on learning and acquiring the skills needed to paint one piece at a time.
And let your style grow from there.
Visiting galleries and museums is ideal ways to gain inspiration.
But the internet makes it very easy to see art from different eras and style.
I use the app Pinterest on a daily basis.
And I very much enjoy that.
It is relaxing and very inspiring.
This kind of inspiration is crucial for me to develop my own style.
And I'm sure yours as well.
So I find that the key to become the best you
lies in the ability to get inspired by other artists.
Picasso said good artists borrow, great artists steal.
Last but not least, the fifth step.
Courage.
You need to have the courage to fail.
To make mistakes.
If you don't make mistakes, you will get nowhere.
Mistake is the magic of changes.
When I started, I taught classes in art.
And my students often said,
Oh no, I will not touch this painting anymore.
I don't dare.
And then this opportunity of getting a painting extraordinary good was lost.
And that's really, really sad.
Because maybe, yes, maybe you will ruin it.
But maybe you will make it better.
And getting better is all that matters.
Improve all the time.
So embrace mistakes.
They are welcome.
Because they will make you better.
The fact that you are able to recognize a mistake is a first step towards improvement.
The whole creative process is more or less tied to the willingness to fail and make mistakes.
So don't give up.
Don't get frustrated.
Mistakes are part of the process.
And believe me, they will diminish as you get more experience.
Nothing truly great comes easy.
And your partner in this struggle is courage.
And maybe a touch of patience.
At start, it might be a little bit difficult to form an opinion on what you're doing yourself.
Your own work.
But it's easier to form an opinion on what somebody else is doing.
And then eventually you will get back to your opinion on your own work.
Which is very important to develop over time.
The game changer to me became that I started focusing less on my painting.
Are they good or bad?
And more on how can I make this painting better.
If you are diligent, you will paint a lot of paintings.
And statistically, some of them will be very good.
Some of them will be not so good.
And maybe some of them will be even bad.
But love them all.
They are all your children.
And you can trick yourself sometimes with this thought.
If you're not able to paint a good painting today or whenever, think this way.
Okay, today I will paint one of the not so good ones.
And let this work guide you to something which actually can be very good.
The great architect Nils van der Rohe said,
Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together.
And it's the same way when you paint.
Painting starts when you carefully put two colors next to each other.
In this video I have showed you a lot of my works.
From the very beginning of my journey and up till now.
It's fascinating for me.
And I hope for you as well to follow the development that has taken place over time.
These paintings span approximately over 25 years.
While there has been significant growth, I can still recognize my style in these early works.
Things changed for me when I started to pursue a career as a full-time artist.
Mentally it was a big leap to me to adapt the mindset of a professional painter.
Was it good for my feeling of joy while I was painting?
Yes, it was.
Was it fun and joyful all the time?
No, it was not.
Sometimes it was quite hard and sucked.
Here are my latest works.
I'm very satisfied.
But I'm also sure that I can do even better in my next painting.
So I wish you good luck with your next painting.
And your process of developing your own personal style.
Thank you for watching.
If you like the video, please leave a comment.
Like.
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See you next time.
Bye for now.
