What Do Fine Artists Think About Cal Arts Style

The Style Trouble for Artists

Why variety is the spice of my professional life.

I have been fortunate enough to support my family as a freelance illustrator for the past decade and I have seen my business grow with each passing year. But when I stop to remember virtually one of the biggest secrets for my staying power in a famously shaky business, I am frequently wary of sharing it with students or new artists in my profession. Why? Because it goes confronting what nearly every working artist or instructor advises immature artists to do, if they want to be 'successful.' I'chiliad talking about manner consistency.

I strongly believe that my analogy business thrives on offering clients a range of visual styles in which I tin can piece of work confidently. In school, through books, and at analogy conferences, I was instructed to create a portfolio in a singular style and with a consequent "voice" so that art directors could easily sympathise how I would approach an assignment. This makes perfect sense, and I see the logic in this instruction. Withal, I was never happy drawing only one manner, and I suspect most artists feel the same. Sometimes you lot want to be quick and messy, and sometimes you desire to be slow and steady. Sometimes it's all almost shapes, and other times, it's near line, or perhaps texture or color. Or sometimes, and perhaps most importantly, you lot only get incredibly bored with the same old thing.

Then when I was prepare to start my own business organisation, I created a website for my analogy work and put stylistically varied images in the gallery, against the communication of peers and instructors. At first, there were but three distinctly different looks to the samples of work I shared. However, given what I had been told nigh the importance of style consistency, this already felt daring and unsafe. Would fine art directors make up one's mind that I was reckless and non undecayed? Or fickle? Flighty?

No. Calls and emails came in from new clients and information technology was never a trouble. Not once. These clients simply referenced whichever piece(south) they liked in my portfolio and asked for something similar. And that was that.

Emboldened, I started adding everything I liked to the gallery, whether or not it bared whatsoever resemblance to my other work. At present, I sometimes recollect my portfolio reads similar that of an illustration agency that represents a dozen artists. And though some might disagree, I retrieve this is a actually good thing.

So, why all the hubbub about manner? It could be that we are confusing information technology with quality. Certainly, if you work well in one style, but are not as confident working in another, then information technology makes sense to leave that less confident work out of your portfolio. Showing good work is, without a uncertainty, a acme priority. But many artists I know do many things well; some ping pong comfortably dorsum and forth between completely different techniques with ease. And yet, they only focus on presenting one of these techniques to the masses. This is a tragic missed opportunity. If the potential is at that place to take twice as many commissions, then why not take reward of this? Last yr, I illustrated three advertising campaigns (with first-class budgets, information technology should be mentioned) in iii completely different styles. Had I but presented i style on my website, I would have only had the opportunity to produce 1 of these campaigns. The other two would have gone to unlike artists.

I am well aware that many commercial artists accept built strong, lasting careers on a single style of working. This model is proven and information technology can certainly be washed. I merely don't call back information technology's the only manner, and I think educators and institutions do aspiring artists a disservice by insisting that it is.

Three benefits of working in more than ane style:
ane. More than jobs. If an art director works on several different magazines and knows you work comfortably in different styles, then you lot take just made their job easier by allowing them, in a pinch, to assign multiple jobs to you lot in a single week for different titles. Additionally, y'all increment the chances of an fine art director liking your work by giving them a menu, rather than a single dish. Not everybody likes beef.
ii. New markets. Is your current style working well for spot illustrations in magazines, but useless for book covers? Create some new fine art samples in a completely new style and bust downwardly the doors of the illustrated book embrace market. Or, how about opening upwardly some passive revenue streams with the fine art that just doesn't "fit" into your portfolio? Brand prints, make shirts, make comics, brand wallpaper, make stickers …
3. Play. Allowing yourself the freedom to attempt new mediums and approaches will non only open up up new business opportunities, just it will allow you to grow faster equally an creative person and accept a lot more fun in the studio.

If information technology were not for the enjoyment I get out of experimenting with new looks and new means of making marks, I never would have created my Photoshop castor concern. Information technology was built-in out of my love of mixing media, but having little time to break out the paints, especially with deadlines looming. At present, that business accounts for a considerable portion of my annual income. I think this case alone is a testament to the value of playing with manner.

Artists: take a expect around your studio. Are in that location sketches or experiments that you lot dear madly, but have never thought nearly sharing publicly because they are and so inconsistent with the work yous are known for, as a professional? Have a leap and share them now. Somewhere out there is a person who wants to pay you for information technology. And if your regular clients don't like information technology, what damage can come of this? They already know you can piece of work beautifully in a style they like, and they volition yet rent you.

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Source: https://medium.com/astro-hq/the-style-problem-for-artists-bb4c79f2582e