Few people find true happiness in imitating or being a playback singer. Therefore finding your own style is a big ambition of all creatives. So how to find your creative voice?
Your own voice has a unique sound, by which others will recognize you. Your own style is determined by:
- style you see: techniques, in focus or blurred, a big brush or a pen, colour or black and white. What are the visual characteristics of your work?
- style you experience: melancholia or happiness, superficial or deep, light or heavy, introvert or extrovert. How do you feel?
- the style you are: convictions, norms and values, vision. What’s your message?
How important is it to find your own creative voice? It’s very important, because your own style expresses the core of your being. Due to aligning character, expression and emotions of/in your work, coherence, strength and authenticity will develop in your art.
5 tips and tricks to find your creative style:
- Try out using different techniques and find the technique you like most. Practice and study.
- Be vulnerable. Express your true self in your creations and authenticity will be your reward.
- Sometimes you need to eliminate the influences of other artists. When you avoid reading books, looking at photographs or admiring paintings while you’re working on a creative project of your own, it forces you to only trust your own intuition. Also it can also be useful to create in the morning before you do anything else. Morning papers and social media can wait. As a result your mind will be more fresh and focused.
- Take risks. If you tend to repeat the way you do things, it is worth trying to make some small changes. Not repeating yourself will probably be a challenge. When you change things, you will notice that taking these risks will make your work more special and authentic.
- Practice describing your work. Use your creative voice, literally. As a result of describing your work (the way it looks, the theme or subject, which techniques you’ve used), you’ll get clear around the purpose of it and the quality of your work will improve.
Finally: Keep in mind that your style is not static. It will change with the passing of time. Finding your creative voice is an ongoing proces filled with discoveries and inventions. And most of all: you can do it!
Now go make something beautiful.
You’re creative, but sometimes you need some help and support. That’s what I would love to help you with! Click to read all about my mentor sessions.