Signature Style Stories: 5 of 5

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

Hi Reader,

This is the last email in my Signature Style Stories series (catch up here), and I want to end with what I think is both the simplest and the most radical idea I have to share:

Make art you love. That's it. That's the whole strategy.

I know that sounds too easy. But hear me out.

Do you feel pressure to make art that's on trend? Marketable? When you sit down to create, do you find yourself thinking this must be something someone will buy? That kind of pressure is actually one of the things that makes it hardest to find your signature style. And the irony is, having a signature style is exactly what makes your art sell better.

For years, I tried to make the art I thought would sell. At one point, black and white line art was popular and I thought, I'll try to do that! But color always crept in. Bright, playful color. And I kept pushing it back out. I thought, no, I'm going to make something sophisticated like so-and-so.

It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that I loved color. Which seems silly right? How could I not know that I loved color? Don’t you know what you love? Isn’t it obvious?

Not always. There are lots of things clouding our unique creative voices. We see what other people are doing on Instagram and Pinterest. We see what’s popular, on trend. We have all of this information coming at us all the time. And we aren’t always completely in tune with what is truly us. We make art that's okay, but not ours.

And here's the thing about making art that's truly yours: other people can feel it. When you love what you're making, that love is in the work. Art directors feel it. Customers feel it. It's not magic. It's just that a genuine creative voice is recognizable and irresistible in a way that trend-chasing never is.

So that's what finding your signature style is really about. Not becoming more marketable. Not figuring out what sells. It's about figuring out what you love, and trusting that that is your most valuable creative asset.

A lot of people skip this step. They don’t figure out how to make art they love. They just start making stuff they think people will want to buy, and putting it out there, and then wonder why it isn’t selling. Don't skip this step. Figure out exactly what your unique creative voice is and you will stand out.

If you're ready to start uncovering yours, I'd love to have you join me in Signature Style Week — my free 5-day workshop. In it, I'll walk you through the first steps of this process so you can begin seeing the pieces of your creative voice that are already showing up in your work.

​→ Join Signature Style Week here​

I can't wait to make art with you.

With so much joy,
Genna

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