Finding your Artistic Style (How I discover mine)

Since 2020, when I first started making artworks (of which I still didn't consider myself an artist back then), I was so obsessed with getting my own style, going to my particular niche that would make me stand out as an artist. It has been a long 4.5 years of journey for me to this date, and I think I finally have some conclusions about this topic.

Practice, experiment, and copy styles and artwork you love. The only way you can actually test if you like something or not is to undergo the process of creating the artwork. You don't need to know all the techniques needed; heck, I started as a self-taught artist, and back then there were no tutorials on how to do a particular style. I just try to copy the best I can and was able to learn the technique in that process. The best thing to do is just to start making art.
Keep a journal and write about your experience about making the art. I started this practice early on for each artwork I made; I reflected on the following:
1. What went right?
2. What went wrong?
3. What could be done better?
4. What are the things that I enjoyed the most?
5. What am I most proud of?
I read and read all of these entries i had made and along the way, i started to see themes and patterns of style and subject i enjoy the most.
Keep doing the things that work for you and what you enjoy the most, and ask yourself why you like it and what part you enjoy the most. I mostly enjoy using edge quilling as it's like a freestyle form of art. I am not an artist who makes a plan and sketch and then sticks to it; I constantly change the direction of my artwork, and that characteristic that I have is really where edge quilling shines, as it allows flexibility that I can't do, for example, if I do paper cutting in that manner.
Reflect on your mood. Are you procrastinating a lot doing a particular subject or technique? This has been my recent experience with the experiment I am doing using a stained glass style on paper art. I love the first part of it, and then suddenly I lost all the motivation while I was making the second part. It's taking me a lot of energy just to make a small progress, then I decided to remove the layered paper and then use edge quilling, and boom, my motivation is back. Had you had a similar experience? Maybe procrastination is telling you that something is going on. It may not be a similar experience, but reflect on how you are feeling about the piece you are working on. Maybe you are scared of moving on; maybe more than finishing the art, it's your perfectionism that's holding you back.
After examining your progress and journey as an artist, maybe you can see patterns of the things you enjoy and would like to work on. Areas that keep you really passionate and make you want to keep making art stick to those styles or subjects. Or maybe just like me, you're the kind of artist that actually doesn't have any particular niche to stick to. I just want to make paper art, and that's my niche. I want to keep experimenting with different techniques and merge them together, as well as keep on exploring different subjects to see what I like the most, and for me, that's my own "style." It took me 4.5 years to finally be able to see that I'm a paper artist in general, and I do have preferences and biases that I prefer over the other. That's perfectly normal and natural, and I'm proud of myself that way.

In conclusion, finding your own artistic style is a difficult thing to do; maybe you're into realistic or stylistic art. Maybe your medium is leaning towards stylistic, but you keep pushing into realistic style. You may had experiemtned a lot just to find your own artistic style, maybe you are still on your way towards discovering your style. Whatever journey you are right now just remember that this is a journey that each artist will undergo, there is no right or wrong way to do it, you need to trust your gut and listen to your instinct as well as enjoy the journey doing so. Thank you for reading my very first blog post.

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