How To Find Your Style
Last year, I produced Jeremiah Davis’ online course, Full-Time Creator Class. I outlined the content, produced the shoot, managed post production, led the brand build, and created additional downloadable PDF resources for the students. (This project was a beast, by the way, with 71 videos, over 14 hours of content, and 20 downloadable resources).
One of the resources I wrote was a PDF called the Style Development Worksheet. This worksheet helped students understand the elements that come together to create an original artistic style, and helped them see that they had an original style within them.
Here’s the breakdown of that worksheet.
There are two things that come together when developing your original style. First, you need to take inspiration from the style of others. Who are some artists that move you? What art captures you? When you have a list of pieces you love, you need to start breaking them down into their smallest possible elements. I’ll use music as an example. If I were to break down a few of the rock bands I’m listening to right now (Knuckle Puck and The Wrecks), I would say they use heavy distortion on their guitars, big, complex drums, understated, low bass lines, and angry, sarcastic sounding vocals. If I wanted to create something similar, I would start there.
Second, you need to combine your style with a specific niche. A niche is simply the topic you create about and the people you create for. If you don’t have a niche, you’ll create work without a strong perspective, or clear lane. Most travel content is just that. An oversaturated market without a strong perspective, aiming to be simply “inspirational.” But travel content on a shoestring budget? Or travel content for women who want to travel alone and stay safe? Or travel content focused on the global influence of Indian food? Those have a style and a specific niche, and become immediately more compelling.
The main pitfall that I see creators find is making things that are popular at the moment, without any thought to whether or not they really like creating that thing. Often, people think that where they come from, and what they enjoy, and who they are isn’t cool enough for other people. They’re afraid that people won’t care, so they don’t inject it into their work. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The combination of what you enjoy, and where you come from, mixed with a specific style is what creates something truly original. This is the secret sauce mixed in with every piece of compelling work. It’s not disconnected from one’s experiences, but deeply connected to them.
So, how do you find your style? Take inspiration from your favorite artists. Break down their work into the most basic building blocks. Start working with those. Choose a community you’ll create for. Speak their language, and connect it to your experiences.
This is the way to create a style that can’t be imitated, because it’s even more unique than all the experiences that came together to make you who you are.
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