FIND YOUR AUTHENTIC

Artistic Style

By SHANNON AMEY

5 STEPS
TO GET STARTED
 WELCOME,
Let's begin

This exercise is helpful if you want:

To make artwork that feels like you.

Your art to be recognizable as your own

personal style.

Your art to be unique and individualistic.

To make authentic work that is the essence of

you and attracts others to it.

To consistently create art that maintains a style

that is noticeable as your own.
 YOUR ARTISTIC STYLE
Finding a style that is authentically you

Welcome Artist Friend,

I believe our art needs to have deep personal significance to
us. This is what makes it authentic. We use symbols to give
our art power and value. I'd like to help you along in your
creative journey of finding your artistic style.
Let's get started.
- Shannon

GET YOUR
SKETCHBOOK
The next 5 steps will help you begin to
discover your Artistic Style. You will
create a vocabulary of your own
personal artistic language.
 DISCOVER
Your Artistic Style

1. Look at your art. Select ten favourite pieces.

Analyze them. What types of marks do you see? Big,
small, skinny, thick, pattern, line, circles, blobs.

2. Record your marks in your sketchbook with

sketches and descriptions.

You are developing an inventory of your marks. These

will be the vocabulary of your art language.

3. Choose your top ten marks/shapes. Create a

simple table with the mark/shape on the left and a
name for this shape on the right. Give them a simple
name you can remember easily.
 CREATE
A simple table

HAND PLANT

TOPO MAP

RAIN SPRAY

MOON & SPOTS

HEAT WAVE
 ANALYZE
What is the volume of each shape?

4. Label your marks into two categories.

INTENSE or SUBTLE. Think about the ways you
use these marks. Which are the loud statement
intense marks and which ones are more quiet,
soft and subtle in your work?

HAND PLANT
intense

TOPO MAP
subtle
RAIN SPRAY
subtle
MOON & SPOTS intense
HEAT WAVE subtle
 PLAY
Sketch a composition

5. Make a simple work in your sketchbook

purposely using some or all of your newly
defined artistic language. Maintain consistency
in what elements are intense and which are
subtle.
 NEXT STEPS
Consistency & Implementation

You have now created your own personal language of

your Artistic Style.

Post the table you made in your studio. Refer to your

Artistic Language chart while you create. When
making your marks, maintain a consistent volume by
keeping the intense marks intense and the subtle
marks subtle. In time, your style will become more
clear and this process more natural. From here you
will begin to expand and explore further.

Be consistent. Use 1-4 of your signature artistic

language marks in each work you create. Can you
see your ARTISTIC STYLE becoming more evident in
your works?

Let me know how it goes.

 HELLO,
I'm Shannon

I am a full time professional

artist and educator from
Canada, living in Finland.

I have a passion for mentoring

and working with artists.

Taking my art business full time

was the best move I have ever
made. I am continuously in awe
of how amazing this career is.

To find out more about what I

do and how I can help you,
please visit:

shannonamey.com