Do you NEED a signature style?

There are a lot of different opinions on this floating around on the internet. And I'm 'bout to chime in with mine. 😂

If you're like, "wait, what even is a signature style and why should I care?" Let's back up for a sec. A signature style is when your artwork has a consistency to it that allows people to identify it as yours without seeing your name attached to it. This comes across in colors, line work, subject matter, etc. I would define my style as colorful, playful, flat (no texture or shading), graphic, and I tend to draw a lot of animals.

Okay, so now that we're on the same page, here's my opinion.

You don’t NEED a signature style. You do you! I'm all about following your intuition and just making the art that wants to come out of you.

But I love having one, and here's why:

1) It makes your work look really nice on Instagram, on your website and in your portfolio. It's consistent and that is extremely pleasing to the eye.

2) It shows that you've put the time in (because a signature style only comes after making lots of work) and the perception of your work is elevated because of that.

3) Because of #1 and #2, once I established a consistency to my work, my Instagram following and engagement went way up, and art directors started becoming more interested in me than ever before.

4) If you have a style people know what to expect from you so you tend to attract the right clients more often, instead of ones that want you to create something you don’t want to create.

5) AND, last but not least, it makes creating lots of artwork easier because you have less decisions to make, and you can get into a groove with your process. (More on this in an upcoming email.)

If you have multiple styles, I believe it’s either A) because you aren’t drawn to having a signature style, which is totally fine. Or B) because you are still in the experimentation phase and eventually you will see one style start to excite you more, and then at some point you have to just decide to lean into that style.