4. What defines your artistic style?
This is a difficult question. It took me a while to even figure out I have a style, so putting it into words is a bit tricky. I asked my husband “What would you say my style is?” and he shrugged and said “I don’t know. Cartoon, comic book?”
And I guess that’s it. My style was shaped very much by the cartoons of the 90s and early 2000s (especially The Zeta Project), and by the books and comics I borrowed from my Dad and copied. I like bright, solid colours and bold ink lines of varying weight. I like big eyes and flowing hair, throwbacks to my anime phase.
There is a later questions that asks “what are your artspirations?” and I think I can answer that one a lot more easily when the time comes. My style is shaped by the things I like, and it is a thing that keeps evolving. The best answer to this question, I think, is the one my husband gave.
Let me know what you think! It’s often hard for artists to see their own style, so tell me in the comments if there’s anything you can see that sets my art apart as distinctively mine.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been juggling commissions with babysitting and other commitments, and trying to develop some of my personal projects on the side. It’s teaching me a lot about time management, which is one of my weak points that I’m trying to improve. Here’s a quick look at one of the projects I’m developing, based on a story I’ve been thinking about for ages.
This is the ensemble cast. I’m still developing their unique looks, but this is a pretty good start. I think the only one I’m not really happy with is #8. She didn’t come out looking the way she does in my head, and her appearance doesn’t fit her character very much. Number 4 is a bit out of character, but I get tired of drawing her grumpy every time I draw her.
I had another one to show today, but I noticed a mistake in it and I’m not posting it until that’s fixed! I will most likely make another post tomorrow afternoon, since I have a couple more wrestling commissions to show. I probably won’t have any more personal work to show for this week since I’ll be cracking down more on commissions!
Vanessa Ellis 