Struggling to change my art style

I don't like my art style.

I've done the usual of "studying artists I like" and trying to pick up elements from them, but no matter what I do, I eventually fall back into old habits. It's very frustrating. Nothing seems to stick. I have specific goals and artists I like, even! And I can recognize an issue.

I know "style" is a bit misleading, but I do mean it in the sense of "I hate the stylistic choices I make". I'm aware of this, but everything I draw feels like it ends up with those choices no matter how much I'm trying to avoid them or trying to pick up something new or even just studying. How do I get out of the hole?

Please don't suggest changing medium! I don't have a laptop still, so I've already been forced to do that.

Hmm what kind of stylistic choices are you talking about? Like, are we on the level of "I draw nose wrong" or like "I always do this type of composition"? (Like there's such a huge range of things this can cover)



I feel like copying stylistic choices often doesn't stick because... Well, they're fueled by your entire mindset, but on paper it's just This One Small Thing that you're copying. Reaching in and "understanding everything that resulted in that stylistic choice to come naturally to the artist" is very difficult, so don't feel too bad for not being able to make it stick.





ETA: I think this is a difficult one, and it seems unlikely there's gonna be a direct answer to your question, but I'm interested in this discussion!

Yes!

I mostly mean in terms of character art - I essentially went anime -> semi-realistic -> back to anime and am struggling to fully return to "anime"; the way I've studied is very rooted in say, realistic fundamentals and while I have never really gone full realism, I'm having issues simplifying and stylizing in ways that would be back to "full anime". Someone on here a while back (though I've deleted the thread since iirc) compared my current style to Marc Brunet and that's a good baseline for what I don't really want.

Aaat the same time, a lot of my more anime influences still have semi-detailed features (Shigenori Soejima, Yusuke Kozaki, etc). Simplifying too much looks "flat" and kind of amateurish, but I'm not happy with my current habits either, which feel awkward / stiff; too much detail for some things, but not enough for others. I can try to draw some quick examples, but I'm actually still stuck on mobile right now.

I'm also having issues with just drawing more attractive characters, lol. Eyes in particular are a nightmare, and the faces never look quite "right" to me.

I realize this looks very self-deprecating so small clarification- I think there's probably fairly easy fixes here, but I'm having a hard time applying them. I tend to shift to something new for 1-2 sketches and then it's like I forget how to, or I have to force it.

Ahh, yeah that makes sense.

Hmmm, I feel like simplifying too much isn't really related to something looking amateurish? There are styles that are extremely simple, that still look professional. It's often polish, composition and confidence that make them succesful - like a little dot for a nose doesn't HAVE to mean someone has no anatomical knowledge of noses, etc.

Maybe if wanting to simplify (to an extent) and getting that ingrained in your system is your goal, then it could work to make it so you don't have time to draw all those details? Or maybe time isn't even the word, like what if you draw a comic pages and force yourself to pare things down just because you don't want to draw a certain amount of detail ten times over?
Like uh, these aren't hard suggestions, I guess it's more of a "Is there a way you can force your own hand here" type of thought. (Which of course... Whatever forces your hand is something you're more likely to know than I am)

No I completely agree! That's how it looks when I do it, but there's a huge degree of skill needed to simplify effectively. They just announced a new gundam series with designs by take, whose work is ultra-stylized and fairly simple, and whose art I also really like (you've seen their designs if you've played any Pokémon since Sun and Moon).

I try to do all those things, but it still feels like I end up back where I was before. I'm not necessarily pursuing consistency so much as a need to not have to think that hard about it, but when I try not to think that hard or gp faster, I slip into the habits I'm trying to escape. Like, I've tried actually using timers, but I hate the results because they're actually moving away from my goals.