Finding Your Artistic Voice: Insights from My December 2023 Class
As artists, we have the incredible opportunity to create our own unique influence on the world. This is what I call your artistic voice—a beautiful mixture of narrative, style, and technique. In December 2023, I taught a class on this topic inside my painting membership, and it was an inspiring experience watching members connect with their inner creativity. Drawing from that slideshow and the discussions we had, this blog post explores what an artistic voice is, how to find it, and how to stay true to it. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting out, remember: developing your voice is a lifelong journey of growth and adaptation.
What Is Your Artistic Voice?
Your artistic voice is the authentic expression that makes your work uniquely yours. It's not something you invent overnight; it's a blend of three key components:
Your Story: This is the narrative you apply to your life—the messages, experiences, and ideas you want to share through your art. It's what you say when you create.
Your Style: The distinctive appearance of your work, shaped by design principles like composition, color, and form, as well as the materials you choose. Think of it as the visual signature that viewers recognize as yours.
Your Technique: The specific way you execute your creations, combining your skills, abilities, and tools. It's how you bring your ideas to life on the canvas.
What if finding your artistic voice is easier than you think? It's already within you, waiting to be uncovered through self-reflection and practice.
How to Find Your Artistic Voice
To create great work, you must first know yourself. The most authentic art comes from honest self-expression. Spend time understanding your loves, desires, and even dislikes. Here are some prompting questions from the class to guide you:
Why do you create?
What do you want to say through your art?
What emotions do you want to share?
When do you feel the most alive while creating?
Why do you spend your precious time on art?
Identify your dislikes—explore what doesn't draw you in and why. Is it the messaging, style, or technique?
Additional questions to deepen your insight:
How do you want viewers to feel when they see your work?
What inspires you at unexpected times?
What do you want to be known for next year? In three years? In ten years?
By answering these, you'll gain clarity on how to express yourself authentically. In the class, members found that journaling these responses helped reveal patterns in their creative motivations.
How to Stay True to Your Artistic Voice
You get to decide your path. I believe the best way to stay true is by intentionally choosing your voice—it's part of you and can't be lost. As Robert Henri wisely said:
“The man who has honesty, integrity, the love of inquiry, the desire to see beyond, is ready to appreciate good art. He needs no one to give him an art education; he is already qualified. He needs but to see pictures with his active mind, look into them for the things that belong to him… Art is the inevitable consequence of growth and is the manifestation of the principles of its origin [you the artist].”
Staying true means making decisions about how you create and sticking to them, even when doubts creep in. Your brain might throw out thoughts like "This won't work" or "Give up." You might feel fear of missing out or question if another path is easier. Or you might doubt your own enoughness—time, ability, or follow-through.
Push through by trusting yourself. Every artwork goes through an "ugly" phase; accept it and keep going. The creative process is like a U-curve: it starts exciting, dips into roughness, and rises to a finished piece.
Build trust like this:
Support yesterday's decisions by executing them today.
Make today's decisions from a place of confidence for tomorrow.
When tomorrow comes, create again.
Acknowledge doubts as natural, especially with new endeavors, but don't let them sabotage your goals.
Handling Multiple Areas of Interest
A common stumbling block: What if you have too many interests? Flip the script—ask, "What if my art journey needs all my areas of interest?" Avoid self-judgment in the question. Instead:
Find positive evidence in your life that supports exploring multiple areas.
List reasons why you want to focus on these genres.
Imagine your future in 3-5 years: How does it feel to work across interests? How does it feel to constrain to one?
Decide which life you want and explore how to create it.
I think of my own art journey in seasons—some activities get focused attention for a while, others are constant, and some ebb and flow based on desire.
Homework to Get Started
To wrap up, here's the homework I assigned in the class:
Go back and look at three of your paintings. Write a list of specific things you did while creating them and why you love them.
Imagine your artistic life three years from now. What will you focus on? How will your creative week look? Where will you spend your time? Then, incorporate one of those activities into your life this week or next month.
Finding and nurturing your artistic voice is about connection— to yourself, your motivations, and the art you create. If you're part of my membership or interested in joining, let's discuss this further. What's one question from above that resonates with you?
© 2023 Elizabeth Floyd Fine Art LLC