Finding Your Voice

“Don't wait until you know who you are to get started. If I'd waited to know who I was or what I was about before I started "being creative," well, I'd be sitting around trying to figure myself out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are. You're ready. Start making stuff.”  ―  Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist

I often read articles on finding your voice as an artist, and they all basically point to doing a lot of work.  That often means drawing and drawing some more.  Stop taking workshops (if that's what you do) and sit down daily with a sketchbook and draw what you see around you.  It doesn't need to be a perfect or life-like representation of the object but you do need to draw a lot. 

I have always kept a small sketchbook in my purse along with a pen or mechanical pencil and have found that my voice finds me.  The things I am drawn to just show up and beg to become a series of paintings.  The way I draw hasn't changed much from when I began drawing in school at a very young age and though that may seem disappointing, I think it's a good thing.  It means that we all have our unique style within us.  Plus, as a bonus, when we draw over and over and over again, we get better at it, seeing the shapes that make up each object, noticing distances between the objects, and setting up a composition on our page.  I agree with Austin Kleon, that in doing the work we find ourselves.