My Art Style

An explanation of my current art style.
Published on Nov 21, 2022 · #opinion #monet 

Artists love talking about art styles, and I’m not sure I could relate.

When I first started to take art seriously in Late 2019, I didn’t bother cultivating a style. I focused on getting started and learning the basics of illustration. The result was two years of inconsistent stylistic choices, and arguably it was a good thing.

I experimented a lot in this era, trying different ways to approach a problem, and built up muscle memory. I played around with techniques I don’t usually do anymore, such as heavy cell shading and thick line art.

Around 2022, something changed. I partially reversed my position on art styles. I had become more or less comfortable with the fundamentals. It was natural to want to experiment cultivating a distinctive style. I noticed that a personal style had started to emerge from 2+ years of experimentation. It had traits as follows:

  • Preference for conservative or no amounts of shading and highlights
  • Simple (But not too simple) designs and shapes
  • Contrast between lines and colours
  • Sharp, clear, and thin line art
  • Detail only where it’s necessary

I realized that my style looked more and more like the Northwest European comics (e.g. Tintin) I grew up with as a child.

When I was young, my parents were very strict. They only allowed 2 Hours of internet use (Going as far as banning internet usage completely for the entirety of 2015) and they dislike me watching Television. I also didn’t grow up with my generation’s other common artists’ influence like Flipnote Studio.

What I did have was a lot of books and comics. I got into these printed mediums and read them every day after school during this era. I started to draw a little around then, Yet, I never took it seriously.

But, the impression I got from these comics from thousands of kilometres away seeped deeply into my style preferences. I have subconsciously developed my art style into something that can be seen as inspired by them.

Other inspirations

Of course, Northwest European comics aren’t my only inspirations. Others include:

  • Some artists I follow(ed) online (too many to list)
  • Local Indonesian comic artists
  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Artworks
  • the Bone comic series
  • Raden Saleh
  • Et cetera.

Having a wide range of inspirations is a good idea. To reiterate, I never planned my style to end up looking inspired by Tintin. It kind of happened by itself, and you can still see originality. I didn’t simply make a carbon copy of Hergé’s works but built on top of it with other inspirations.