art style

YouTube will be the death of me. Either because I starve from watching too much or because I literally die of failure-at-life syndrome.

There are many YouTube videos out there from artists who talk about "finding your style" as an artist. None of them have been helpful to me so far because they tell me to just keep on creating and my style will come. That's not helpful when I don't know where to start with the actual creating. Being creative means feeling an urge or desire to create. I wanted to know what "style" was because from there I could go on to define my own and have a starting point for my creativity.

Here is what I've come up with: Artistic style is the sum total of all the rules you make up for your own creative process. The rules you make up are a combination of things you like, and things you can do, which is why style is still a very organic thing that changes and morphs over time. Things you like change. Ways you create change depending on things you learn or new things that inspire you.

Examples:
Thick lines versus thin versus variable.
Black on white.
Perfect repeating symmetry versus balanced asymmetry versus complete randomness.
Curvy women versus wisps.
Always drawing feet with no toes.
Hyper-realism versus abstract versus a combination of each.
White on black.
People versus animals versus plants.
Cartoons with big ears or big feet.
Realistic animals in unrealistic situations.
Choice of medium: endless variations and combinations.
Super size versus notepad versus miniature and everything in between.
3D versus flat
Photo reference versus making it up.
Monochromatic.
Bring in the metallic colors.
Stick figures with hilarious speech bubbles.
Slam poetry versus orchestra music.
Get messy during the process versus cleanliness.
Wear cozy clothes versus wear no clothes.
Storm clouds versus sunshine on dew drops.
Peppermint versus cherry.
Bold colors versus soft
Convenient versus time consuming.

I love lists. I could probably go on all day. Have fun discovering your own style.