The problem with finding your artistic voice is that it requires you to know yourself.
In the introduction to How to Make Watercolor Paint Itself, Nita Engle writes,
What would happen if, with a bolt of lightning, as in the movies, you were suddenly given the ability to pain every watercolor just as you envision it, to make the paint and the drawing and the design all happen exactly as you want? But what is that? You see?
You would still have to know what you want!
Nita Engle, How To Make Watercolor Paint Itself, p. 6
Ay, there’s the rub! The first step toward making art you like is, well, liking art. How can you make art you like when you don’t know what you like?
I don’t know about you, but for me, liking stuff – knowing what I like – isn’t always easy or clear.
In a recent blog post, Lee Muir-Haman writes,
We may not find it easy to express our voice. It may be hidden and buried under the surface by the experience and the noise of life. Why is it so difficult to access? We can be worried about pleasing people. Or perhaps when we were young, others criticized our artistic abilities. Schooling has taught us not to think for ourselves. We may lack confidence and belief in ourselves. We might need to spend time to make a living or care for other people. We want to do the right thing and fear getting it wrong.
Lee Muir-Haman, “Play More!” (blog post, September 23, 2025)
For those of us who are emotionally disconnected from our desires, generally or specifically in the realm of art, how can we dig deep and get in touch with ourselves?
If, like me, you’re not used to identifying your own preferences, it can be hard to start. Luckily, liking stuff, and noticing that you like stuff, is a muscle you can exercise and strengthen.
Finding stuff you like
When it comes to choosing your art style, there are two important considerations:
- Aesthetics: What kind of art you like, as a fan or consumer.
- Process: What you like to do, as a maker.
Both sides are important, and can be considered separately. But the process for finding stuff you like is similar in both cases. I think there are three stages:
- Expand. Add more stuff to your life to potentially like. Take in more inputs. This could mean visiting an art museum, getting art books out of the library, taking an art class, trying a new medium, etc.
- Vibe. Spend time with your art pieces or hobbies. Take it slow and easy. Play in the space. You do not need to evaluate whether the art you are seeing/making is “good” or “bad,” just notice how it makes you feel.
- Tidy. Keep what you like, discard what you don’t. Notice patterns in what you liked/didn’t like for more targeted exploration.
When liking stuff doesn’t come naturally
Captain Awkward advises people who struggle to say “no” to others that they can practice saying “yes” first. “YES, I want Italian tonight!”
In identifying artistic preferences, the more scary thing can be to say “Yes.” Acknowledging you like something can feel strangely vulnerable. So I’ll invert the advice. If “Yes” is too hard, start by saying “No.”
If you don’t tend to experience strong positive feelings toward art pieces (or activities), you may still experience negative ones. Knowing what you don’t like it also information. As you build the preference muscle, you may begin to note things you sorta like, and then eventually things you really like.
You might just like a piece of artwork if…
- You look at it for longer than other pieces
- You want to possess it in some way, e.g. as wall decor, computer/phone background, stickers/merch
- You are curious about it, e.g. how was it done? how did the artist get the idea? why did the artist choose to do x instead of y? what is it exactly? why was this subject chosen? why is this or that detail there? what does it represent? what is beyond the frame? what will happen next?
- The artist causes you to notice new something about the subject
- Your emotional state is affected
- You experience a sense of recognition, even if it depicts something you have never seen before
- It seems “true”
- You just do!
You just might be enjoying your process if…
- You enter a “flow state” and lose track of time.
- You feel curious and exploratory, motivated to ask questions, try stuff and see what happens.
- It feels like a “guilty pleasure.” (For those of us trapped in a cycle of shame, feeling shame may actually be a sign of enjoyment.)
- You feel better after than before – unstressed, relaxed, jaw unclenched.
- You want to keep going, and get back to it the next day.
- It’s fun!
Noticing patterns
Engle advises artists to find their “guiding principle.” She goes onto describe herself as an example: how she gradually discovered, through her own personal experiences and growth, she came to discover that she did not want to be a photorealist or an abstract artist but to fall between the two in a way that “invite[s] the viewer to enter the painting.” Realizing that her favorite thing was to create that suspension of disbelief in the viewer, led her to eliminate certain practices that make the painting look more like a painting, such as mixed media, pop art colors, and visible brushstrokes. It’s not that these things are bad, but they didn’t fit with her guiding principle.
I tried to come up with a “guiding principle” and found it too be too intimidating, but what I can do is notice patterns in what I like and what I don’t like.
For example, here are some vibes that I am repeatedly drawn to:
- Moods: wonder, serenity, ethereal
- Nature juxtaposed with city
- The color pink
- Golden hour
- Mist
- Atmospheric lighting conditions
- Seasons
Interestingly, although I take Engel as a bit of an inspiration when it comes to finding style (and I like her art), in terms of process, she’s an anti-inspiration: I don’t like her process! Engel’s book helped me notice that I dislike processes that are:
- Messy; require lots of tools, space, cleanup
- Time/labor-intensive; involve many steps
- Involve “undoing” (e.g. scraping back paint you put down)
By contrast, I know I prefer art processes that are:
- Casual and portable; can be dropped in and out of, can be carried on travels
- Simple to get started
- Smooth and gentle; motions have pleasurable kinetic feedback
I’m not sure I am ready yet to articulate a definitive guiding principle for my own art, but these are my starting places. More than anything, I think my best first step is to notice what I actually like it, honor it, and follow those threads!