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The 3 big myths standing between you and your personal illustration style | Episode Transcript

Intro

Welcome to the Self-taught Illustrator podcast. My name is Natasha Polozenko, and I am here to prove that you do not need a formal training or background in art or illustration to make it as an illustrator. So listen up and get ready to be inspired, encouraged, and uplifted in your illustration journey.

Let’s do this!

Hello everyone, it’s great to have you back with me. I am again recording on a Saturday evening. It feels like the month of March of 2021 has been so busy, with so many projects that I’m wrapping up, and new ones that I’m starting. It’s just been all-around craziness, but I am super happy to be able to sit down and have a chat with you. 

This episode we are going to be continuing from where we left off in the last episode. So this will be part two of the myth series. So last week I talked about the first myth, which was the myth of needing 10,000 hours of practice to master your craft. If you’re interested in listening to that I would recommend that you go back and listen to Episode Seven. 

But today we’re going to be busting the next myth. And just as a reminder, these are all laid out in a lot of detail in my free masterclass, which I will paste in the episode description.

“Stay in your lane, keep your blinders on”

Okay, So let’s talk about the next myth. So this is a big one. “Stay in your lane and keep your blinders on”. How many times have you had this as an illustrator or a creative say this? I still hear it being taught to creatives who are just starting out and I think that this advice if it’s taken the wrong way it can be quite harmful. 

The illustration comparison trap

A lot of people do fall into the comparison trap, especially when they’re starting out. It’s so hard to grow on Instagram these days and if you’re a creative who has, 100 or fewer followers, it can be so easy to compare yourself with someone who has 100,000 followers. It’s so easy to compare yourself and it can be very discouraging to see other people killing it while you’re still just starting out, trying to make a name for yourself, and trying to develop your practice. 

So, a lot of people will see creatives struggling with this and will say “Stay in your own lane keep your blinders on, don’t, don’t look at what other people are doing.” And so, yes, on one hand, I think that we should all focus on ourselves. I think there needs to be a healthy balance between production and consumption. These days with social media and the internet at our fingertips, all we see is beautiful artwork by accomplished people. There are a lot of people who are too heavy on the consumption side when they should be maybe focusing more inwards and working on production, a little more. 

That being said I do still think we need to reframe this idea. Let’s embrace the fact that we all should be looking at each other’s work. We should be studying our illustration heroes. Looking at what the greats throughout history did. Studying movements, studying styles. 

It’s super important to understand what other artists have been doing throughout history, and what they’re doing now, in order to inform and shape our own art and expression. 

“Steal like an artist”

Austin Kleon said it really well in his book “Steal like an artist”. He states that “every new idea is just a mash-up or remix of one or more previous ideas”. This could not be more true. A lot of the time when we try and remove ourselves, try to go inwards and develop work within this black box,  without even knowing, or without even trying, we are still drawing from previous ideas, illustrations, and pieces of art that we’ve seen before. Nothing comes out of a vacuum. 

So, Instead of trying to isolate ourselves and not let ourselves be influenced, why can’t we accept and celebrate the fact that everyone’s work everyone’s illustrations are connected. They all exist within this larger ecosystem of art and creativity. If we are able to acknowledge this fact, then maybe we can be a little bit more purposeful. When it comes to expressing ourselves. There is a lot of “ego” and “self” in the art world. A lot of artists won’t fully explain or admit to their influences. We need to normalize that it’s okay to be influenced by others. If we’re able to talk about it more openly, without the shame, or the idea that it diminishes our own work in some way, I feel like it can make for a lot more of an interesting conversation in our industry. 

Illustration Copyright

This all being said, I do know that it’s a slippery slope. A lot of illustrators I’ve seen on Instagram are unable to find the distinction between inspiration and copying. A lot of the time they’ll hide behind attribution, so they may note in the caption that this piece is inspired by “so and so” and it’s just a blatant copy of that artist’s style. This is definitely not OK! There are many instances where people aren’t fully grasping the difference between copying and inspiration. That’s not even to mention the issues that come with copying.

You could fall into legal trouble, it could hurt your reputation, you might get called out for it. Especially if you are copying an artist that is quite known or prominent. If that artist’s, followers find out, then it is quite possible that they’ll come for you. As much as it can feel tempting to copy someone’s illustration style, tweak a few things here and there. Just know that there’s a big difference between copying and inspiration. 

Inspiration vs. copying in illustration

I want to lay out what inspiration is and how you can ethically and properly use inspiration to inform your work. An exercise that I like to go through with a lot of my students is to understand what you are drawn to, and what are you inspired by as a whole. This comes down to making a series of mood boards. This is a simplified version of the exercise that I teach. Go ahead and make a Pinterest board or any kind of mood board that features your favorite illustration pieces. Pick 20-30 images that excited you, and just make your heart sing.

After you’re done, take a step back, and look at everything you have on the board. Look at the illustrations, I want you to do an analysis of what you’re seeing and start to see the similarities across all of the illustrations with the different artists, different styles. What are the similarities? So, for example, you might see that in a lot of your images that you have a lot of really gritty grainy texture. So if you notice that just write it down. You may notice that a lot of the illustrations that you’re seeing have green tones. So write that down.

Dawing out the similarities

You’ve got gritty textures green tones and just keep on going with that process. Evaluate, have a look at everything, and really pull apart, pull out the elements, which repeat themselves across all the different illustrations. You may also notice that all of the illustrations really simple facial features like dots as eyes lines as mouths. If you notice that write it down. And then, once you’re done with that look at your list. You’ll have a list that is basically a reflection of what it is about your favorite illustrators that you like. Use this to start to inform the way that you create. 

So do you see what I’m saying? Whereas I don’t want you to look at a specific artist’s work or illustrations, and copy that the way that they draw their characters. Rather, I want you to look at everything you like as a whole, pull out those different elements and figure out how to make them your own, and apply them to your own style. Does that make sense? And so when someone asks you about your illustration inspirations, you can confidently tell people who your influenced and inspired by. And when people look at your work, they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, I can definitely see elements of that artist/ style”. You won’t get people giving you the side-eye, thinking, “Ah, yeah, I can see how you’re sort of ripping that off that illustrator”. There is a big difference and I hope that that makes the distinction, a lot clearer for you. 

Staying open to inspiration 

Another facet to this argument of not “staying in your lane and keeping your blinders on” is that if you are solely focused on what it is that is right in front of you and not opening your eyes to the world around you, you’re going to miss so much. One of the most amazing ways to grow as an artist and as an illustrator is to do out and get new inspiration… I love going to art galleries and museums. After I leave one, I just feel recharged with this new energy and creativity that I’ve soaked in from some of the greatest artists in the world. It would be a shame to miss out on this if you’re concerned about not consuming other people’s work.

I do recommend going to art galleries, museums, any kind of art event that you are drawn to. Even outside of the world of visual art. We all draw inspiration and creativity from different sources. Figure out what that is for you. Maybe it’s even nature. Go out there and try and soak in as many experiences and inspiration, as you possibly can. It’s going to build up your creative reserve but also it’s a form of rest. At the top of this episode, I was talking about the balance between consumption and production and I really think that if we can, as a society and as creatives move away from consumption of social media and the internet. And instead try to consume things in the world around us, experiencing them firsthand. That will ultimately make us better in the long run. 

Outro

Alright, to sum up, my argument, you don’t need to keep your blinders on and stay in your own lane. Don’t feel bad about looking to other artists in the past and present. Try and consume as much creativity and inspiration as you can, out in the real world. 

So that’s it for now. Thank you for tuning into the Self-taught Illustrator Podcast, where we prove that you do not need a formal training or background in art or illustration to make it as an illustrator. I hope this episode was helpful to you. Let me know if you liked this episode and if dispelling this myth has been helpful to you at all. Drop me a DM at Nataszko on TikTok or Instagram to let me know. I look forward to bringing you more illustration tips tricks and nuggets of wisdom. So, until next time. Bye for now.