I know what you’re thinking… but Brad… why would you risk angering a group of people with so much power and control over every day life in America? Is chasing this joke really worth it? I mean, think of the consequences that could come from it! But it’s ok… take a breath. I feel pretty confident in potentially offending this group because, I have a confession to make. Not a lot of people know this about me but…
I, too, used to be…
A Pontiac Aztek owner.
Yep, it’s true. And all I can say is, I’m ok with the risk.
Oh, also, we should disband the FBI.
About Style…
So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking… sketching… doodling… and journaling about this. A lot of young artists and cartoonists have questions about developing their style.
But what is “style”?
Artistic style means a lot of different things to different people. I have a hot take that I’ve come to after a lot of years where I’ve looked at different artists that I admire. I’ve studied them and, either consciously or not, techniques of theirs would creep into what I was doing at the time.
Not gonna lie, there were times where I would outright steal a technique… I mean, what’s a hand here or an ear there? I’d be into an over-rendered comic book style one week. The next I would watch Samurai Jack and completely change to a simplified style. I’d read Calvin and Hobbes and decide I need to draw gag comics only. I’d find some new artist on Instagram and spend hours scrolling through years of their work. After going on the rollercoaster of jealousy, looking up alpaca farms for sale in my area, then eventually deciding not to quit - I’d see what it was about their art that drew me to them and try to incorporate something into my “style”. Which brings me to my hot take…
Style doesn’t matter.
Style is what we decide to draw on any given day. Usually our style is just an applied combination of different interests we have and experiments we’ve tried with our art. Personally, I don’t want a “style”. I like that I draw my comic strips one way and my long form comics almost completely differently. I have ideas for projects with a completely different, ultra-simplified design. That variety is what keeps me excited about the different projects I’m working on.
Each different “style” I use influences my other “styles” or techniques. But, if I ever get to a point where I’ve stopped evolving the way I draw, and everything looks consistent all the time, that’ll be the day I’m done. I hope that day never comes.
Thanks for reading and if you want to support me please consider buying something from my store - don’t forget to use the discount code SUBSTACK (or my old store which is still up until I get everything moved over). Also if you could hit the like button on this newsletter, it would help me out as well. And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Have a great week!
-Brad