Art is a limitless field, full of opportunities for expression. While some days you might know exactly where to take a project, other days you might feel stumped on where to even start. To help get your creative juices flowing as you plan your next masterpiece, consider experimenting with one of the following art styles.
Pop Art
Bold colors, larger-than-life scales, and elements of humor characterize the field of pop art. It’s a style that easily translates into any medium, from painting to glass-blowing to sculpting. From fashionista portraits in the style of Ashley Longshore to phantasmagoric rooms and sculptures in the style of Yayoi Kusama, pop art is an approachable style that lends itself well to modern, adventurous pieces. This vibrant art form is sure to make your work stand out and help you escape any art rut you might find yourself in.
Hyperrealism
Extremely realistic art (hyperrealism) is a style that has been gaining popularity worldwide throughout the twenty-first century. Though the term was coined all the way back in 1973, hyperrealism didn’t get as much attention until more recent years. Now, it’s a clever style that translates just as well to painting as it does to sculpture, chalk art, and edible art (such as the ever-popular “illusion cakes”). This art form might simply take shape in lifelike pieces that mimic photographs, clever uses of an unexpected medium to create realistic interpretations of objects, or detail-oriented works which play with the edges of reality to create imaginative extensions of the existing world. In any case, this style of artwork is certainly reserved for those with a high level of perseverance, as creating effective works in this way demands many more hours than other styles might require.
Digital Art
As more and more of our world goes digital, it’s no surprise that digital art has begun to take the limelight. Free, open-source graphics software like Inkscape and inexpensive digital illustration apps like Procreate make it easier than ever for curious artists to dabble in these mediums. A growing library of tutorials, digital tools, and templates make using these programs even simpler for beginners too. Digital art has the advantage of allowing pieces to be more fluid than their physical counterparts, making it convenient for you to modify, share, and collaborate on projects with other artists on a global scale.
Pointillism
An art style reserved only for the hyper-patient, pointillism involves stippling hundreds or thousands of dots to create an image. This tedious technique, made famous by the post-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat, is not just a test in endurance: it’s also an opportunity to experiment with shading and light in a brand new way. The style draws inspiration from the Impressionist style made popular by artists like Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, but pointillism results in an even more dramatic effect. The wow-factor of these pieces is a real draw; since the dots are often formed so tiny, many viewers may not even notice that the image is composed of dots until they look at it up close — but when they do notice it, they’ll be in for a surprise. Though pointillism was originally established with tiny dots of oil paint, this method can also be done with watercolor, ink, colored pencil, or offbeat materials (such as wooden pegs or even jelly beans).
Fluid Art
While most artists seek to avoid paint drips at all costs, fluid art instead embraces the free-flowing properties of paint and plays up the motion it captures. Most commonly, fluid art is done with a combination of acrylic paint, water, and an acrylic medium. This mixture is drizzled, poured, or brushed onto a flat art surface (along with other paint colors or special elements such as glitter or silicone). Usually, the art surface is a canvas, but fluid art can also be done on nontraditional surfaces, including pottery, records, and furniture. The ever-changing nature of this art is precisely what draws artists to it. The medium welcomes experimentation and play, providing a rewarding, joy-filled experience for any artist, novice or professional. Each piece is virtually guaranteed to be one of a kind, which keeps artists coming back for more just to see what unique works the art form will create next.
Art is a motivating, rich arena to participate in. Whether you specialize in one medium or you experiment with the whole gamut, it can be exciting to delve into a fun new style to spice things up. By getting a little bit outside of your element, you can effectively change your mindset and activate different parts of your brain to help dust off the artistic cobwebs. Perhaps a change of pace experimenting with a new style will be exactly what you need to spark your artistic genius and propel you to create the next Mona Lisa.
