Q&A for How to Develop Your Own Drawing Style

If you don't have tracing paper you can transfer your image with the following options: 1) Use the light from your window. Place the printout on a window that receives lots of light. Take out masking tape and tape the corners of the printout onto the window. Place the paper you’ll use for your drawing over it and tape the corners. Transfer the image using H or HB pencil—make sure to use light pressure. 2) Use the “method of squares.” Divide your reference image and the paper you’ll use to draw on into equal squares both horizontally and vertically, and transfer the image by focusing your attention on the information you see in each square. Copy the exact position of lines in every square, starting from left and going to right.

Look on Google, YouTube, Instagram, or any other place where you can find pictures or videos of drawings. You can even look in nature or outside to find inspiration.

This is likely because you're not observing your selected work properly. Go back and have a better look at how it is structured, studying the direction of the lines more carefully.

It's okay if your pictures vary from piece to piece as long as you're satisfied by the end result. If you want a more cohesive looking collection of drawings, just concentrate using similar techniques throughout the sketchbook.

A lot of anatomy is about shapes and proportion. Usually a chibi has exaggerated features and proportions (for example, the head usually being larger than the body). Play around a bit with your chibi style and look at other artists.

Try to balance the anatomy. The length of both their arms extended to their sides should be almost the same as their height. If you don't want to alter the way they look, you can try to work around the problem. You could get other characters to help them or even make it a bit comedic when they are trying to complete certain actions.

Simple. Change the style just enough for it to be noticeable. For example, make the eyes bigger, the face shape a bit different. And so on.

"Good" is always subjective, but drawing everyday to develop your style will certainly help you feel more confident in the work you do.

It really depends on the person. It could take 2-3 years of consistent practice to get really good, but you should steadily see incremental progress, even within a few months. Be sure to draw mindfully, set goals, and think about what you'd like to work on improving in the near future.

Use other cartoons as inspiration but don't copy them exactly. Try to modify and enhance the things you like about Steven Universe and make them your own.

Possibly. You could be a landscape or still-life artist, or you could try abstract art. You should continue practicing though, your skills will improve.

Yes. Many artists didn't go to some sort of art school, but their drawings are incredibly amazing. You can still learn on your own and from others without attending a 'proper' school.

Work on changing or altering it to something that you find pleasing. Even though you may not be good at a certain style at first, practicing in another style will make you better drawing using different techniques.

Vary eye shape, size, and line width, try rounded triangles, small dots, and big eyes that are mostly filled in. There are many ways to mix and match. Find what works best for your characters.

Girl eyes are usually more rounded and detailed. Focus on drawing sharper corners and putting a little less emotion in male eyes.

Study proportions. Also, work on each detail little by little. Don't rush. Also, not every drawing is detailed. Starting off simple is better.

Yes. You should always keep doing your own thing. No matter what anyone else says, it's your style and as long as you're satisfied with it, that's all that counts.

Take care of the really important things immediately (like school work and chores). If you work hard and don't procrastinate, you should be able to find margins in your day to draw.

You aren't really "stealing" anything, but you're not being very creative if you're just copying someone else's style. People will like your art better if it's unique, and you'll feel better about it too, because you'll know you worked hard to make something that's just yours.

Just try it out and see if it looks good. If you don't like it, try something different but don't throw away the previous drawings. They can help you develop as well.

Keep practicing! If you can't do it, go for rounder hairstyles and maybe layer them more.

If you either mean by what to draw or how to begin your drawing of something, then there are two methods. 1) If you don't know what you want to draw, try thinking of what you like (like favorite things). 2) If you want to begin drawing something, using references makes it easy to draw what you want to draw. Make sure you use basic shapes first so you can get a good design going. Take an eye, for example. Use a seed shape, then put in a circle inside the seed shape, and then put in detail. You can use the basic shapes method for whatever else you're drawing at the moment as well. As long as you study references and use basic shapes, you'll be fine. Make sure you draw lightly for basic shapes.

Yes. Try studying real references or photos of celebrities. If you're making up your own celebrity, then using references can help.

It's always a good idea to reference off of real life. Check out websites like Bodies in Motion to study anatomy and how the body moves. Try drawing realistically, then redraw the same thing, but in your style, based off of the reference photo.

If they are not good at drawing, they will need to practice. You can give them tips (respectfully and without being bossy), and if they can't develop a style, show them examples of styles you think they might like to inspire them.

Many art styles are similar to others. Add something different to your style to make it unique and stand out.

Try not to copy, but incorporate some parts of the style that you like. If you want to be unique, just take subtle ideas like shape of character, lines and appearance.

You can have a variety of styles, as long as there are certain characteristics that tend to appear in most of your work that makes it identifiable as yours. Most artists find their styles change throughout their career anyway, so that their early work looks quite different from their later work.

Start adding small details that are you. Experiment with different things to draw: People, animals, still life, abstract, etc. You can find which one you like the most, and work hard on that skill. You will eventually develop your own technique and style, and be sure to practice a range of styles until you form your own unique style.

Try slightly changing things in the style. Take what you like best about artists you want to draw like, and mush them all together in your drawings. Your art style is always growing and adapting, so never throw your art away, and date the art so you can see how you grow with your style.