Style is important to an artist. It can decide upon success or failure of an art career. But should artists stick to one art style in order to find success? Or are they just limiting their creative potential by not allowing themselves to work in two art styles or more? Let’s take a look at artistic styles from different perspectives and see what is more likely to make an artist successful!
When an artist has a particular style, their work is immediately recognizable. Because your art style determines the way your artwork looks and how you express your creative vision.
Your artistic style is characterized by the colors and techniques you use, by composition, subject matter, and others.
Most artists dream of developing a unique art style, and there’s a lot of advice out there for artists on how to go about it.
You’ll also find advice saying that you should stick to one art style. But is that really recommendable?
Should artists stick to one art style to be successful? Or is it ok to have two art styles or more?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in ONE style only? Does it help you attract collectors and make more sales? Or do you only restrict your creativity when you force yourself to stick to one art style?
That’s what we’re going to talk about in today’s blog post. So let’s get into it!
Do artists need a style?
Artists don’t need a style. You could be an artist without a style. But the truth is you cannot be an artist without a style…
I’m not kidding. When I spoke about how long it takes to find your own art style, I already mentioned that you have your unique artistic style right from the minute you start creating art.
Why? Because you are a unique human being, no one is like you. So even when you place your first awkward strokes on the canvas, you are doing it uniquely.
Even when you are a beginner artist, you have your own art style. You might just not be aware of it.
However, as you grow and progress as an artist, your art style evolves, too. You begin to niche down your art, focusing on what you enjoy the most. This is how you start to develop a distinctive artistic style.
You become more skilled within your chosen media and subject matter and it gets easier for you to convey your message to your audience. In other words, you are finding your voice as an artist.
Why should you stick to one art style at all?
Where is all that talk coming from, that artists should stick to one art style?
Why do you hear so often that having one art style is better—or even a must—to attract buyers and make sales? Who says that you can only have one art style in order to make it as an artist?
Well, to understand where those notions come from, we need to look at it from a gallery owner’s perspective.
The ultimate goal of a gallery owner is to promote an artist’s work and create a base of collectors who take a long-term interest in purchasing pieces of that artist.
Consistency in an artist’s body of work helps a lot to achieve that goal.
It is much easier to sell an artist’s work if there’s a common thread running through all the works of that artist.
From a gallery owner’s perspective it is best when visitors are able to instantly distinguish all of the works that have been created by one artist. When they take a liking in that artist’s style, they are more likely to come back time and time again to collect a piece.
If the artist dabbles in multiple styles, it is hard to build a base of collectors for that artist’s work. Sudden and drastic changes in an art style may repel customers—and result in financial losses for the gallery owner.
This basically explains in a nutshell where the premise artists should stick to one art style to be successful comes from.
I’m in no way an example of a consistent art style. I’m still growing as an artist and my style keeps evolving. I like to create surreal photo manipulations, lip art, and surreal portraits, and I even have a portfolio category for monochrome shots and nature & macro photography. However, over time, I’ve been seeing recurring themes in my artwork, like elements of nature or insects such as the wasps in ‘Piercing‘ (on the left) and ‘Faithful Bunny‘ (on the right). Apart from my taste for creating a bizarre and sometimes unsettling atmosphere in my artwork, those objects tie together the works across my Surreal Stories, Lip Service and Headshots Collections.
Is it ok to have two art styles?
A lot of people assume that the great artists in history had only one art style because they are famous for a particular style of work. But that doesn’t mean that they stuck to one art style throughout the entirety of their artistic career!
Michelangelo is a great example of how an artist can have multiple artistic styles and still be highly recognized. Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, and a leading figure of the High Renaissance movement.
He is widely known for his sculptures, such as the Pietà and David. But he didn’t stop there. Besides architectural achievements, he is also famous for decorating the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
Michelangelo is just one example. It’s a fact that many of the great past and contemporary artists don’t worry about confining themselves to one style of art. For them, it’s ok to have two art styles or more.
But let’s quickly come back to the gallery owner. Would a gallery exhibit your work if you choose to work in two art styles or more?
Well, generally speaking, you do have some wiggle room to vary your work, if there’s a consistent thread that ties all of your pieces together.
For example, your works of art can display different subject matters as long as long as the visual presentation is somewhat consistent across the works. Or, you can even work with different media, if there’s a common element of style that unites all of the creations.
Apart from that, artists nowadays don’t depend on gallery representation anymore to showcase and sell their art. The internet has opened up so many possibilities for creatives to get eyeballs on their work.
So, if you are an artist with two or more art styles (or even only with one), you don’t need to worry that no one might like your art and would want to buy it. It has never been easier to take control of your art career and start promoting your work yourself! There are even ways to promote your art without social media.
Nowadays artists don't need gallery representation anymore to promote and sell their work.
Luckily, there are plenty of options to get your art noticed by art lovers, buyers, and collectors you. It’s all up to you. Here are 12 sure-fire ways to create exposure for your art—both online and offline.
In conclusion, should artists stick to one art style?
At the end of the day, you are the only one to decide whether you want to stick to one art style or work in multiple styles. It’s all about how you feel comfortable as an artist.
And while I encourage artists to leave their comfort zone from time to time, your artistic success is not determined by the number of styles you work in.
After all, art is free and there are no set rules that define who is an artist and who is not.
Even though gallery owners consider it rather a disadvantage, working in more than one art style can even have some benefits:
- Artistic freedom — You can enjoy the full range of artistic expression by giving yourself the freedom to experiment with different media, subject matters, color palettes, and more.
- Larger audience — A diverse body of work is likely to appeal to more people than an extremely niched down style of art. With a varied portfolio, your chances are higher to attract a variety of art lovers!
- More sales opportunities — Along with a larger audience come more opportunities to sell your artwork. You can enter different market niches and profit from a wider array of possibilities to make money selling your art.
When you subscribe to the notion that artists should stick to one art style, the biggest problem that I see in the long run is that you deprive yourself of all the artistic diversity you could experience.
Creating art should be free and dynamic. Just like life itself. It should be about having fun with what you are doing and not about focusing on pointless shoulds and should nots.
Imagine what a pity it would be to limit your creative potential because of a preconceived idea of what you “should” be doing with your art.
Then, on the other hand, imagine how freeing it will feel to give yourself the permission to follow your intuition, experiment and explore.
But you don't only need to listen to me when it comes to deciding whether you want to work in one art style or more.
Artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon, for example, writes in her bestselling book Find Your Artistic Voice:
Experimentation and failure are part of the creative process for everyone.
It’s also true that you may, like many artists, have more than one style.
Having one style is not important. What is important is that you use the elements of style consistently within each of your artistic styles.
Consistency is another way of saying that you repeat elements within and among your works: similar subject matter, the same media, and elements of style like colour, pattern, lines, and markings. As such, your work is identifiably yours.
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To cut a long story short, my advice is to stop trying to confine your artistic expression. Follow your heart to whatever style it takes you. And if you feel the spark to try something new and different, go for it! That’s the only way to fully make your artistic voice heard.
What are you thinking? Should artists stick to one art style or is it ok to have two art styles or more, in your opinion? Let me know what you are thinking in the comments. I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
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Great post! I’ve discovered that sometimes I like to paint realistically and other times more loosely. I also like watercolor, colored pencil, multi-media collage, etc. I’ve even tried digital art using Procreate, and although I’m not very good at it, I can see how art transcends. By trying multiple mediums, I’ve learned more about color, shapes, shadows, and I find I’m more creative.
Hi Lynne,
happy that you found the post helpful! I think you are doing everything right 😉
I tend to be a little perfectionist as well, but one thing I’ve realized is that you don’t always need to be “good at it.” What matters the most is that you enjoy what you are doing. Happy art making!
I agree that the advice to have only one/medium style comes from the gallery system. They want a consistent body of work that they can sell as investments to collectors. It does appear that the people buying online are less concerned about the consistency of style bugaboo. Your style should evolve if you’re a living, thinking, creating, being….
Hi Anna-Marie! Yes, it’s definitely a gallery thing. When you promote your work online yourself, you can still find buyers for your art, but you have much more creative freedom when it comes to experimenting with your art style and letting it evolve naturally 🙂
This was just what I needed to hear, thank you Angie. I have been exploring different subjects, mediums, styles, colours and just having fun. Knowing this is all part of the process and a good thing to do makes me feel much better. I think I had been a bit focussed on ‘finding my style/voice’. Now I shall just continue to play and see where it takes me and not worry about it and all the artworks I’ve produced that are just experiments.
Hey Marion, I think the most important thing on every creative’s journey is to keep an open mind and enjoy creating. Because if you don’t have fun making art anymore–then what’s the point of doing it at all? I wish you all the best on your creative path!