Every brief tries to pull my style somewhere it does not naturally go.One client wants it softer, another wants it bolder, a third wants it to look like an artist they saw last week. The hard part of doing custom illustration for a living is staying recognizably myself while still serving the work. I have lost my voice on jobs before, and getting it back taught me how to hold onto it.
My personal work sets the anchor
The reason clients hire my style is that I keep making it on my own time. Personal projects are where my visual language stays sharp and confident, and they are the portfolio that wins the right briefs. People genuinely do not know what you can do until you show them, so I show them constantly. When a job tries to drag me off course, the personal work is the true north I steer back toward.
I work in a few varitaions, not one rigid look
Range inside a style is not the same as abandoning it. I keep a handful of variations on my own approach, so I can lean warmer or graphic depending on the brief without becoming someone else. When a project comes in, I sketch a couple of directions that all still read as mine. The client gets adaptation. I get to stay recognizable. Nobody has to lose.
I sketch in my own voice before I read the brief twice
When a job tries to drag me toward another artist's look, I go back to my sketchbook and draw the subject the way I would draw it for myself. That first pass is my baseline, the version that is unmistakably mine. Then I bend it toward what the client needs, never the other way around. Starting from someone else's style is how I used to lose myself, and the order matters more than I expected.
How I protect the voice on every job
- Sketch in my own style first, then bend it toward the brief
- Name my non-negotiables, the line quality and palette habits I will not drop
- Make personal work between commissions to rebuild confidence
- Say no when a brief only wants a copy of someone else
Why consistency is the actual asset
A clear, consistent voice is what lets a client place me at all. The same principle held when I started blending new tools into my process, which I unpacked in how I mix Procreate and AI without losing my style. tools shift, briefs shift, but the through-line has to be mine. That through-line is the whole reason anyone comes to me instead of the next portfolio.
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