Find Your Artistic Style Naturally with These 3 Tips

I used to think finding my art style would feel like a moment.

Like arriving. (Spoiler alert, I felt this way about my first licensing deal too, we never "arrive" because the impotant part is the journey and continuing to be inspired and grow.)

Like one day I would sit down to paint and suddenly everything would click.
The colors. The motifs. The way things came together on the page and in my pattern design.

Instead, it showed up slowly.

It showed up in the margins of school pickup lines, laundry piles and unread emails.
In scuffed up sketchbooks tucked in my vehicle, beside my bed, or inside a canvas tote I grab to head out to the backyard with our kids. In artwork that felt just a little more like me than the last. In patterns I almost did not share because they felt too simple or too familiar.

If you have ever felt stuck wondering why your work does not feel like “you” yet, I want you to hear this:

Your art style is not something you decide.
It is something that develops from creating again and again.

And here is the part most artists do not expect
Other people will often notice your style before you do.

Your past experiences, interests, seasons of life and skills are already shaping your work intuitively. Your style begins to appear when you give yourself the time and space it needs to grow.

Three Ways to Find Your Artistic Voice Naturally and With Intention

1. Look for patterns in your own work

Pull your last ten pieces or more. Finished or unfinished. Shared or private.

Ask yourself:

What colors keep showing up
What subjects do I return to without trying
What kinds of marks feel most natural in my hand
What mediums, tools, or programs do I feel most at home using

Your style is already leaving clues.
Your job is not to force it, but to notice it.

2. Stay with one idea longer than feels comfortable

Most artists move on right before something starts to deepen.

Instead of starting something new, try this:

Take one motif or theme and explore it five different ways.
Change the scale.
Change the repeat.
Change the medium.
Change the mood.

Depth creates clarity.
Style comes from staying in it, not switching constantly.

3. Borrow structure, not personality

It is normal to be inspired by other artists. The shift happens when you stop copying the work itself and start learning the why behind it.

Ask:

How do they create balance and movement
How do they use space
How do they build collections
How do they choose color palettes
What feeling does their work create
What is their preferred medium and process

Then apply those ideas to your own subject matter and voice.

Over time, your work begins to sound like you, even after the inspiration fades.

Finding your art style is not about arriving somewhere new.
It is about noticing what has been quietly forming all along.

And the more you create, the clearer it becomes.

p.s. Want weekly encouragement, creative tips and resources like a custom monthly mockups? Join Studio Notes Here🤎