Ideas can come from anywhere, and you have to pay attention to what keeps popping up. Often the same idea, notion, or inkling hits from several different places, often in a short period of time. If something keeps coming up again and again, it might just be the thing that you need to focus on, and that is what happened to me this week as serendipity and synchronicity kept leading me to the idea of style.
First, it was a topic broached as I revisited an episode of the “You Are A Storyteller” podcast, where host Brian McDonald interviewed artist Claire Keane, and then I encountered it while reading Chase Jarvis’ book Creative Calling. I realized that it’s not a topic that I’ve really gotten into before, but I know that it’s an area of concern for a lot of creators. So, I want to take some time and reflect on style and how creatives can approach the topic.
External vs. Internal
Many makers and creators want to develop their own distinguishable style that will set them apart from others. They see the work of established creators, and they want to have a distinctive style like these creative heroes. Unfortunately they often look at style as an exterior thing — the work physically looks or sounds a certain way, but from what I’ve learned through experience, and what I’ve heard from others is that style comes from within. It’s not an external thing. McDonald says in the interview with Keane that style is the thing that emerges as a result of how you solve problems. He attributed the saying to comics legend Will Eisner, and it’s a great way of thinking about style. It’s not something external that you impose on your work, it grows out of how you approach and solve problems.