I've been getting emails from jewelers and artists, asking for advice on how to find a unique style. I don't think that style is something that is adopted or decided. Rather, it's the result of a series of choices we make as we create something. We all have preferences and inclinations, the more we are aware of them, the clearer our voice will be.
Below is a list of pointers I've found helpful in my path towards owning my work. I hope they are also useful to you.
Below is a list of pointers I've found helpful in my path towards owning my work. I hope they are also useful to you.
Use Limited Resources / Apply restrictions
The less elements you have to work with, the greater creative freedom you will have; and the clearer and more specific choices you will make. It is through each decision, that you find your voice as an artist. Having too many choices can be overwhelming.
Explore variations on a same theme
How many different fish can I draw? How can I combine basic geometric shapes in new ways? What forms in nature inspire me? How many styles of shoes can I imagine? In how many ways can I create texture or volume? How do I integrate text into a piece?
Discover your medium
Are you a carver? A builder? A lover of line? Do your senses awaken when you add layers of paint and combine colors? Do you like to meticulously construct something by hand, or would you rather develop as many ideas as you can digitally?
If you find a blank canvas intimidating, make a collage of existing images and shapes. If you prefer to create an image or an object by removing elements, try etching or carving. If you'd rather work with an additive process, sculpt with clay. If you prefer soft materials, you can knit or crochet. If you like harder surfaces, learn to forge metal. Try as many mediums as you can. You will know which is your medium when ideas of what to make flow easily.
The less elements you have to work with, the greater creative freedom you will have; and the clearer and more specific choices you will make. It is through each decision, that you find your voice as an artist. Having too many choices can be overwhelming.
Explore variations on a same theme
How many different fish can I draw? How can I combine basic geometric shapes in new ways? What forms in nature inspire me? How many styles of shoes can I imagine? In how many ways can I create texture or volume? How do I integrate text into a piece?
Discover your medium
Are you a carver? A builder? A lover of line? Do your senses awaken when you add layers of paint and combine colors? Do you like to meticulously construct something by hand, or would you rather develop as many ideas as you can digitally?
If you find a blank canvas intimidating, make a collage of existing images and shapes. If you prefer to create an image or an object by removing elements, try etching or carving. If you'd rather work with an additive process, sculpt with clay. If you prefer soft materials, you can knit or crochet. If you like harder surfaces, learn to forge metal. Try as many mediums as you can. You will know which is your medium when ideas of what to make flow easily.
Find your favorite techniques / tools
Once you've found your medium, it helps to discover what tools and techniques work best for you. If it drives you crazy to cut metal sheet with a fine saw, use pliers. If you are too impatient to embroider by hand, use a sewing machine. If your designs feel too simple, use an elaborate method to construct them that will make them layered and interesting. If you are a perfectionist and everything you make feels sterile and machine made, use rough tools to enliven your work.
Find the technique that feels right to create a specific idea. Discover your favorite tools and use them until they become an extension of yourself. Do things your way. Find the finish you like, not the one everyone else suggests. Combine mediums if a single one bores you.
Fill your well of ideas
Just like writers need words, artists need images. Walk, touch, observe, annotate, draw, film, photograph. Go out. Think variety. Learn to see and make it a daily task. How many different shaped trees or clouds can you observe? How many faces? Shapes of rocks or leaves? Visit an aquarium or a botanical garden and feast your eyes.
Get visually educated
Study all the artists, writers, architects, poets (creators) you can. Find what moves you and study it. Then see who influenced the artist you like, and study her too. Then continue to investigate other artists. Read Steal like an Artist, by Austin Kleon. If you are obsessed with only one artist, you will find it hard to find your own voice and you will copy. You are a combination of all of your influences, so have many. Wilson Mizner once said: if you steal from one author it's plagiarism, if you steal from many it's research. Study other mediums and other disciplines. You will make a much more interesting jeweler if you combine architecture, poetry and biology into your work, than if you only study other jewelers. Everything informs your work.
Once you've found your medium, it helps to discover what tools and techniques work best for you. If it drives you crazy to cut metal sheet with a fine saw, use pliers. If you are too impatient to embroider by hand, use a sewing machine. If your designs feel too simple, use an elaborate method to construct them that will make them layered and interesting. If you are a perfectionist and everything you make feels sterile and machine made, use rough tools to enliven your work.
Find the technique that feels right to create a specific idea. Discover your favorite tools and use them until they become an extension of yourself. Do things your way. Find the finish you like, not the one everyone else suggests. Combine mediums if a single one bores you.
Fill your well of ideas
Just like writers need words, artists need images. Walk, touch, observe, annotate, draw, film, photograph. Go out. Think variety. Learn to see and make it a daily task. How many different shaped trees or clouds can you observe? How many faces? Shapes of rocks or leaves? Visit an aquarium or a botanical garden and feast your eyes.
Get visually educated
Study all the artists, writers, architects, poets (creators) you can. Find what moves you and study it. Then see who influenced the artist you like, and study her too. Then continue to investigate other artists. Read Steal like an Artist, by Austin Kleon. If you are obsessed with only one artist, you will find it hard to find your own voice and you will copy. You are a combination of all of your influences, so have many. Wilson Mizner once said: if you steal from one author it's plagiarism, if you steal from many it's research. Study other mediums and other disciplines. You will make a much more interesting jeweler if you combine architecture, poetry and biology into your work, than if you only study other jewelers. Everything informs your work.
What are you attracted to?
Use Pinterest or Tumblr to find images that excite you: clothes, decoration, places, objects, postures, faces, etc. Carry a camera and shoot whatever catches your eye. Then look at what you’ve selected on the web, and what you've photographed. Are there visual elements that repeat themselves? Styles you are jealous of? Eras you are obsessed by? Are you a minimalist, or do you love baroque? Are you into bright coors, or muted tones? What stories turn you on? What books do you read most? What subjects fascinate you: science, psychology, politics, literature, music, religion, etc.?
Make work for yourself
Make the clothes or accessories you would wear. Write the music you want to hear. Decorate a space you would love to inhabit. There will always be others like you who will find your work appealing. The more specific you are in your tastes, the more unique your vocabulary and vision will be.
Use Pinterest or Tumblr to find images that excite you: clothes, decoration, places, objects, postures, faces, etc. Carry a camera and shoot whatever catches your eye. Then look at what you’ve selected on the web, and what you've photographed. Are there visual elements that repeat themselves? Styles you are jealous of? Eras you are obsessed by? Are you a minimalist, or do you love baroque? Are you into bright coors, or muted tones? What stories turn you on? What books do you read most? What subjects fascinate you: science, psychology, politics, literature, music, religion, etc.?
Make work for yourself
Make the clothes or accessories you would wear. Write the music you want to hear. Decorate a space you would love to inhabit. There will always be others like you who will find your work appealing. The more specific you are in your tastes, the more unique your vocabulary and vision will be.
