Unleash your Creative Voice

For aspiring illustrators, one of the biggest worries is often how to find a distinctive creative voice.

The first step to building an authentic visual language, and this may seem counterintuitive, is to actually stop trying to find one. The word find suggests that it is something outside of yourself, that you have to go searching for. In reality, it's something already inside of you that needs to unfold organically, through a conscious process of experimentation.

A creative voice is a made up of two distinct elements. The first is the physical media and processes you use. The second, more intangible element, is your unique interests, experiences and passions.

So first let’s look at the more obvious part of this puzzle - media and processes. The crux of this piece is finding out what your ‘handwriting’ is, e.g., how you would typically draw something, and what is second nature to you. As a child, my favourite tool to draw with was an Edding 55 fine liner (the black and white stripy ones that look like humbug sweets). As a result, I now find that when I draw something, line is always my starting point..

Following my natural love of drawing with fine liners also led to a commission to write and illustrate a book ‘Pick up a Pen’, a how-to guide on drawing with pens. However, I still experiment with different mediums and formats to shake things up, like getting the easel out and painting with a thick brush and ink on A1 paper or creating Risograph prints of my drawings. This experimentation then naturally feeds into my professional work, keeping it fresh and evolving.

Also look at the artists who inspire you and break down and analyse what it is about their artwork that you like. What this doesn’t mean is copying elements of their visual language (e.g., how they draw noses) but rather looking at how they handle formal elements – line, shape, colour, texture and space. So, you might like the way that they use flat, opaque blocks of colour with sharply defined edges, or how they use a dip pen and ink to draw a line than has a variable thickness.

You can then experiment with these approaches, combining them with your existing natural ‘handwriting’ to create something new. This is called synthesis, and this process will enable you to master your chosen mediums and develop your own distinctive illustrative style

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Now let’s look at the second puzzle piece - your interests, experiences, and passions. When I was studying for my MA, I received an excellent piece of advice from my tutor. This was that whatever work you have in your portfolio, that’s what clients will commission more of. It sounds very obvious but I hadn’t really considered this before! Therefore, it’s important to like what you’ve got in there. If you’re going to be drawing for a living, being interested in what you are drawing makes it a lot easier to stay enthusiastic and motivated throughout even the most demanding projects.