How to Find Your Artistic Voice (When Everything Feels Done Before)
The Problem: “Why Bother?”
Ever sat down to create something and thought, What’s the point? Someone else has already done this—probably better, probably with more skill, more recognition, more originality. That little voice in your head whispers: Your work isn’t unique. Your ideas aren’t new. You’re just repeating what’s already out there.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
In a world flooded with content, finding your artistic voice can feel impossible. But here’s the truth: Your voice isn’t about being first. It’s about being you.
What Is an Artistic Voice, Anyway?
Your artistic voice isn’t just your style. It’s the way you see, interpret, and express the world—through your own lens of experiences, emotions, and obsessions. It’s not something you “find” all at once. It’s something you develop through action, repetition, and trust in yourself.
How to Find Your Artistic Voice
1. Stop Chasing Originality
Originality is overrated. No one creates in a vacuum. Every artist is influenced by others—it’s how you remix, reinterpret, and inject yourself into your work that makes it unique. Instead of avoiding influence, embrace it. Collect inspiration, then filter it through your own perspective.
2. Follow What Obsesses You
Your artistic voice lives in what you care about most. What themes do you keep coming back to? What visuals, sounds, or emotions captivate you? Instead of trying to make what’s popular, make what haunts you. That’s where your real voice is.
3. Make More, Think Less
Your voice won’t emerge by overanalyzing—it comes from doing. Create relentlessly. The more you make, the more patterns emerge. You’ll start to notice, Oh, I always use these colors. Or, I tend to write about this feeling a lot. That’s your voice forming.
4. Let Imperfection Lead You
Your early work will be messy. It might even feel like a bad imitation of the artists you admire. That’s normal. Keep going. Somewhere in the mistakes, the awkwardness, the failed attempts—your real voice is growing.
5. Make It Personal
The best way to develop a distinct voice? Inject yourself into your art. Your experiences, your emotions, your perspective—these are things no one else can copy. Even if the subject has been done before, your version hasn’t.
Your Voice is Already There—You Just Have to Keep Listening
The fear that “everything’s been done” is just a distraction. Because nothing has been done by you, in this moment, with your perspective. The more you create, the more your voice will emerge—organically, naturally, in ways you don’t even expect.
So forget about being completely original. Focus on being honest, obsessive, and relentless in your art. Your voice isn’t something you find. It’s something you become.