“A style is the consequence of recurrent habits, restraints, or rules invented or inherited, written or overheard, intuitive or preconceived.”
– Paul Rand
Ever heard the phrase; "Just practice before?"
If you’re an artist like me (in any field or medium really) does that saying give you the Aha Feeling you were looking for?
Or is it more like an oh…sure okay?
Every professional artist usually tells other artists and fans of their artwork to “just practice” to get better and improve. I get it, not all of time on their hands to just give out real advice or even want to share their hard-earned secrets but that’s a very ill-advised blanket phrase that can just feel dismissive and void of any real answers.
There are so many layers to the question that even prompted that reply to
begin with. How do I…get…better? How do I improve?
The short answer? Master Studies.
Master studies?
Yes – Master studies is the secret to unlocking your own art superpowers. But not just blind master studies. That’s just the same advice given with “Just Practice”. No, we are talking about deliberate intentional master studies and creating new routines and mental habits that will unlock your potential. Curious? Confused?
Fear not! Let’s deep dive into this PDF and work on helping you bridge that gap of knowledge and give you a leg up on leveling up your art skills!
Let’s GO!
But what exactly is Style?
Style to me and Paul Rand (Famous Graphic Designer (Dates -1970- 1999)
Is the culmination of our favorite things and personal influences from when we first discovered them and what we hope to discover and learn in the near future.
Its your favorite piece of music. The tempo, beat and the lyrics.
It’s that famous illustration that you keep coming back to for years and years.
Noticing something exciting and new each time.
The colors, the line art the subject matter and concepts. Its that plus so much more.
Your style as it is, is ever evolving as your taste changes and your life circumstances introduces new
experiences into your life. Positive or negative. Take stock in those things.
Their what make you in some sense… you.
Take me for example. I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s.
So my experiences may differ from yours but we could find some commonalities. I often took family trips yearly with my mom to see my distant relatives. That experience taught me about traveling, and my interpretation was that it was a big yearly adventure we took. To see new places, meet new people, connect with family and try new fun things.
Like my first time on a Go-kart with my cousin at age 8. I had a blast!
But what exactly is Style?
Style to me and Paul Rand (Famous Graphic Designer (Dates -1970- 1999)
Is the culmination of our favorite things and personal influences from when we first discovered them and what we hope to discover and learn in the near future.
Its your favorite piece of music. The tempo, beat and the lyrics.
It’s that famous illustration that you keep coming back to for years and years.
Noticing something exciting and new each time.
The colors, the line art the subject matter and concepts. Its that plus so much more.
Your style as it is, is ever evolving as your taste changes and your life circumstances introduces new
experiences into your life. Positive or negative. Take stock in those things.
Their what make you in some sense… you.
Take me for example. I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s.
So my experiences may differ from yours but we could find some commonalities. I often took family trips yearly with my mom to see my distant relatives. That experience taught me about traveling, and my interpretation was that it was a big yearly adventure we took. To see new places, meet new people, connect with family and try new fun things.
Like my first time on a Go-kart with my cousin at age 8. I had a blast!
Master Studies With Deliberate Practice
“Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, and Add what is uniquely your own.”
-Bruce Lee
Next Post: Master Studies - The Process of Finding your Style
We are told early on that we shouldn’t copy others. It’s cheating and wrong. We are in some way supposed to magically create the universe by nothing more than our whit and whims and with a swipe of our brush or a stroke of the pen and pencil create wondrous things, and in some odd cases, we can.
But art, like every other skilled trade; we learn a lot from others as well as our own personal experiences. We learn that we can’t always create just in a vacuum. We need others and they need us as co-collaborators. We are all in this together anyway.
Therein lies the focus. Studying those that came before us, those next to us, and those that will come after….