Signature Style Stories: 4 of 5

​(Click here to listen to an audio version of this email).​

Hi Reader,

In my last email, I talked about why now is the best time in history to make money from your art. If you missed it, catch up here.

Today I want to talk about why you might have a hard time taking advantage of all the opportunities we discussed in our last email.

Have you ever made something that you thought was SO good, and you worried you’d never make anything that good again? So then you keep this piece really close to you, because if you put it on Society6 and then it turns out Hallmark would've liked to license it, you'll be really bummed. So you don't do anything with it. And you're worried you might not make anything that good again, so this one piece has to accomplish amazing things.

The thing is, when you haven’t developed your signature style yet, you don’t have a repeatable process in place for making art. So you don’t have confidence that there is more awesome artwork waiting to come out of you. When you do create something you love, it can feel like a fluke.

Here's what I've come to understand after years of making art and then in more recent years, helping other artists: there are really two ways of working. In the first, every great piece feels like a fluke. You hold onto those pieces tightly because you're not sure you can repeat them. In the second way of working, you trust that there are more ideas inside you. You know what makes your work yours, so you can keep creating from that place with confidence.

The difference between those two ways of working isn't talent or luck. It's understanding your creative voice.

Once you've honed in on your signature style, separated what you like from what you love and started making art from that place, the worry that your art is a fluke starts to dissolve. You can put your work on Spoonflower and keep pieces for your portfolio. You can license to one client and still have work to show the next one. You can share freely, because you know you can make more. You know there are more treasures waiting to come out of you.

Nothing feels precious anymore.

That shift — from worrying about never making anything good ever again to realizing I have one good idea after the other inside of me — is one of the most freeing things I've ever experienced as an artist. And watching it happen for other artists? That never gets old.

One more email coming, and it's about the thing I think matters most of all.

xoxo,
Genna

P.S. Signature Style Week, my free 5-day workshop, starts April 13. Don't forget to grab your spot here.

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