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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 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 hello, it’s great to be speaking to you all through this mic again. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me. I’ve recently started working with my first round of coaching students, and it has honestly been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done in a while. I am currently working with 4 amazing students to help them find and hone in on their unique character Illustration style. It has just been incredible to speak with them each week and guide their progress. This is the beta round of the coaching program, so I’m furiously working on improving and tweaking the program in response to all the amazing feedback. If you’re interested in becoming a coaching student yourself, I’ll leave a link in the episode description where you can put your name down on the waitlist. 

“You don’t find your personal style, your personal style finds you”

But enough of that, that’s not what we’re here for today… today I want to bring you the third part in my illustration Myth series, and the myth we’re going to be busting in this episode is “You don’t find your personal style, your personal style finds you”. Now this one is a controversial one, I’m going to venture to guess that you’ve heard artists and illustrators that you follow and admire say something along these lines… there is this idea that your style will come to you after years and years of illustrating, practicing, and working in the industry… And yes I agree this is true, it’s inevitable, that after a decade of illustrating, some sort of style is going to emerge naturally. BUT I full-heartedly believe that it does not need to take anywhere near this amount of time.

What is illustration style?

Firstly, Let’s take a moment to reflect on what “style” means. A style isn’t random, it doesn’t come out of thin air. Your style is a mixture of your individual influences, background,  upbringing, inspirations, and taste. A lot of these things are already in you, it’s just a matter of unearthing them, bringing them to the surface, and understanding how they can be applied to an illustration style. Once you do this hard work of figuring out the underlying elements of your style, you will be able to develop an illustration style that is so much more unique to who you are as an individual, which will ultimately make your work more recognizable and one-of-a-kind.

The big issue that I see with this Myth is that people start to create randomly. They’ll pick a style they want to try out, and basically, just try and create work in that style. Then they jump to another style and another trend. All the while they’re creating a portfolio and feed that isn’t at all unique to them, waiting for the day that their style will magically come to them. 

When should you find your style?

I am a strong believer that it’s never too early to uncover and define your personal style. A lot of people wonder if they are too early in their illustration journey to try and define their style. I really and truly honestly believe that it is never too early. Think of your style and as the foundations that underpin your whole illustration practice. If you don’t start off with the right foundations, you will basically just be shooting in the dark. But if you start with a strong understanding of your style, you can create with more clarity and intention… 

It’s also important to note, that your style can and should evolve over time. As you create, you will get better, your skills will improve, and so will the quality of your work. This is another reason why I feel like it’s not in our best interest to wait for our styles to come to us… if we’re proactive in defining our style, we are able to work on perfecting, improving, and developing our own styles. Spending our time improving our work, vs trying to master a style that isn’t true to who we are.

As of the time of this recording, I’ve been creating illustrations in my own style for almost a year now. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the act of finding, working in this style for a year, has helped me grow so so much, in terms of opportunities, followers, and engagement with my work. After a year, I see so much improvement, and I can’t wait to see how my style continues to evolve.

Illustration Style Academy

If you’re interested in diving into this world of style, I have put together a course called Illustration Style Academy. I teach the formula that I used to find and develop my own Illustration Style. I will also note the link in the episode description. 

Outro

Alrighty, 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 to make it and thrive 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 Natasha, that’s 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.

March 22, 2021

009. Myths standing between you and your personal illustration style | Part 3

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