You can always spot an artist by the led particles inscribed on the side of their crumpled up math homework lying under their desks. The way one stroke interacts with another, and when thousands of dots, strokes, blur marks and frustrated sighs resulting from a serious case of artists block collide, a piece of the artists’ mind has been displayed on one piece of paper. Just like in a human body, thousands of molecules, brain cells and proteins, our human version strokes and blur marks, build who we are, and those are controlled by are our genes.

Those genes that control where the molecules and proteins go, where the strokes and dots are placed, are equivalent to an artist’s style. What they draw, paint, build, how their final project turns out and all their techniques are determined by an artists style. That’s the basic idea, how specific and unique it is. But how does an artist find their style. Do all artists have styles? How does one become content with their style, or their lack thereof? That is a question I as an artist has been struggling to figure out.

      Reaching for other artists to seek out I came across Cameron Reimers ‘22, shes been doing all sorts of art since the 2nd grade and primarily focuses on drawing and painting.  

“I was like that one kid who had the 216 box of crayons” Reimers ‘22 said, which is something lots of artists can relate to. Cameron describes her style as precise. Everything is neat and put together, allowing any error to be recognized and fixed immediately.“I think it really follows who I am” stated Reimers ‘22. She described herself as someone who’s very organized. “I know exactly what i want to do when i graduate, I have always had a plan, I have a very structured life,” She said. From another person’s point of view, Cameron’s preferred art style looks like an exact picture replica, almost identical to its inspiration. But to Cameron the process goes much deeper.
“I go into it with the intent that i want this to look exactly like the picture.” “I do a lot of like measuring and practicing,” Reimers ‘22 explained. Her art style is specific, defined, and correctable. She measures out what shes drawing and goes for exact perfection, which anyone can tell she achieves. The highlights are in just the right places, the pigment of the paint matching perfectly to the screen or object she’s looking at. People who don’t know much about art might not value her work as highly because its not coming directly from her imagination, when in reality, its her style and amazing technique that makes her art truly great.

Even though she doesn’t pull something from thin air, art comes in many different forms, and any style is art if it chooses so. “I don’t like that people have an expectation of what they want my art to look like” Reimers ’22 expressed thoroughly. Her art style is unique and technical, and she came to it through years of practice. It evolved and changed into something that best fits her. “There’s just something daunting about a white piece of paper for me.” Cameron enjoys drawing and painting everyday and her style defines her as an artist.

But not all styles are so rigid.

        Presenting Erin-Leigh Moses ‘20. She is planing on going to south Dakota state to major in psychology but is also attending for their incredible, brand new theater program. Erin believes that style for an artist is fluid, with nothing set, always changing. 

  “I think a lot of beginning artists have this idea that that they have to have a style” “And i wasted so much time trying to figure out what my style was, i didn’t really realize that its something like a friend, you both grow together over time” Moses said. 

      To her styles are like a teenagers phases, circulating in a love-hate relationship. “Some last longer than others” Moses described.

       Her styles aren’t as much styles as they are beautiful pieces of her mind coming through at different times, released by different experiences and emotions. “Its just kind of like a mish mash of things that you like”

Erin’s latest inspiration and style has come from ink and watercolor materials and she says that her upcoming prompt for her AP work is going to be themed around tragedy and tragic human flaws and what is beautiful about it. 

Right now her style has been more along those lines, but when you break it down to the basics, an artist always goes to a comfort zone when in artists block or needing an immediate sketch. 

“My first instinct is people” Moses ’20 said, describing her people art as having photo-realistic proportions, in comparison to her other work. Erin’s art is a variety of beautiful creations that represent her, and not only is her mindset of an evolving style unique, her physical technique is as well.

Artists have all types of styles, whether it be strict or fluid or even the lack of one, it still makes an artist who they are. Many artists believe that style is whatever the artist is feeling at the moment, standing with Erin on her basis that style is a fluid, stretchable putty of talent, the artists mood and inspiration, while some other artists are more defined in what they are good at. Erin-leigh Moses ’20 and Cameron Reimers ’22 are two examples of this.