How to Study an Artist’s Style

How do you study an art style? How do you learn a specific art style? How do you analyze art styles? How do you find your own unique style?

In this Style Study Session, we’ll use the six qualities of style to better understand J.M.W. Turner’s work, and more importantly, how you can apply these insights to your own art.

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What Defines an Artist’s Style?

Style is the unique way an artist shares their voice through their work. People often recognize an artist’s work at first glance because of their distinct style, but what exactly makes up that style?

There are six key qualities of style:

• Elements & Principles of Art
• Medium & Materials
• Genre
• Theme
• Influence
• Personal Experience

By analyzing these six qualities, we can uncover what makes an artist’s work unique, and use this knowledge to develop our own artistic voice.

Let’s dive into Turner’s work through this lens.

Elements & Principles of Art

Turner’s style is immediately recognizable for its dramatic, atmospheric compositions:

• Light and Color: Turner revolutionized the use of light, often using glowing yellows, fiery oranges, and soft blues to capture the fleeting moments of sunrise, sunset, or storms at sea.
• Movement: His brushwork often conveys the energy of wind, waves, or smoke, creating a sense of life and motion in every scene.
• Contrast and Atmosphere: Turner frequently juxtaposed dark storm clouds with bright patches of light, creating a sublime effect that emphasizes nature’s power.
• Abstraction of Form: Especially in his later works, Turner let color and light dominate over precise outlines, allowing landscapes and seascapes to dissolve into luminous, almost abstract forms.

Medium & Materials

Turner was a master of both watercolor and oil painting, using them to achieve vastly different effects:

• Watercolor: He began his career with watercolors, exploiting their transparency to capture subtle light effects and atmospheric haze.
• Oil Paints: In oil, he layered thick, impasto strokes with delicate washes to create depth and texture.
• Unconventional Tools: Turner sometimes used palette knives or even his fingers to manipulate paint, enhancing the sense of immediacy and energy.
• Paper & Canvas: He experimented with different supports, often allowing the texture of the surface to interact with his pigments.

Genre

Turner’s work spans multiple genres, but he is best known for:

• Seascapes: Depicting the raw energy of the ocean, ships in storms, and the chaos of natural events.
  Landscapes: From calm countrysides to dramatic mountains and waterfalls, he captured the sublime beauty of nature.
• Historical and Architectural Scenes: Early in his career, Turner painted topographical views and architectural studies, which honed his observational skills.

Theme

Turner’s paintings explore recurring themes that reflect his fascination with nature, time, and human vulnerability:

• The Sublime: Nature’s grandeur and terrifying power dominate many of his works.
• Humanity and Nature: Humans are often small, vulnerable figures amid overwhelming landscapes or seascapes.
• Ephemeral Light: His work often celebrates fleeting atmospheric phenomena, from mist and rain to sunrise and storm clouds.
• Emotion Through Nature: Turner’s compositions convey not just what he saw, but how it made him feel, linking natural spectacle with personal emotion.

When studying an artist, remember to analyze not only their technical choices but also the themes and influences that shape their vision. Use the 6 qualities of style as a guide to discover how your own experiences and values can inform your creative practice.

This is the kind of thing I do inside Self-Taught to Self-Confident, where I guide people through filling in any gaps in their skill so they confidently express themselves through unique, original art. We have an entire section dedicated to developing an understanding of our own influences and how to make choices moving forward that reflect our unique vision and voice for our art.

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Now let’s discuss Turner’s influences.

Influence

• Science and Travel: Turner’s interest in meteorology, naval technology, and travel informed his realistic yet expressive depictions of the natural world.
• Contemporary Observation: He pushed boundaries of representation, exploring how perception and memory shape visual experience.

Personal Experience

Turner’s life and experiences shaped his art profoundly:

• Extensive Travel: He traveled across Europe, sketching rivers, mountains, and coastlines, which fed his imaginative and observational skills.
• Witnessing Natural and Man-Made Events: He painted real events, such as storms at sea or the burning of Parliament in 1834, blending observation with imagination.
• Early Training and Longevity: Turner’s disciplined study of architecture and classical landscapes gave him a strong foundation to experiment later in life.
• Passion for the Sublime: Personal fascination with nature’s beauty and power drove him to continuously innovate his approach to light, color, and composition.

How to Apply Turner’s Style to Your Own Art

Studying an artist like Turner isn’t just about imitation, it’s about understanding the choices behind the style and finding ways to incorporate similar approaches into your own work. Here are some ideas:

• Observe Nature Closely: Pay attention to light, color, and weather patterns. Capture the emotion of the moment.
• Experiment with Brushwork: Let your brushstrokes reflect movement and energy, even if it sacrifices precise realism.
• Layer and Manipulate Mediums: Combine transparent washes with thick paint or experiment with unconventional tools for texture.
• Use Color to Convey Mood: Bright, contrasting, or muted tones can express emotion as strongly as subject matter.
• Merge Observation with Imagination: Like Turner, allow your personal experience and interpretation to influence the scene.

By studying Turner, artists can learn to balance observation with expression, creating works that are both visually stunning and emotionally resonant.

Summary

J.M.W. Turner’s art is a masterclass in capturing the sublime power of nature. His work blends observation, emotion, and technical innovation, offering lessons in light, color, and expressive brushwork. By analyzing the six qualities of style, we see not only how Turner created his unique artistic voice, but also how any artist can harness similar principles to develop their own style.

Turner reminds us that style evolves over time, and that the personal, the experimental, and the emotional are all key to leaving a lasting impact with your work.

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Sources

• The Art Story: J.M.W. Turner
• J.M.W. Turner – Tate
• J.M.W. Turner Paintings & Biography – Britannica
• J.M.W. Turner: Paintings, Light & Landscapes – Russell Collection
• Turner’s Influence on Impressionism – The Guardian
• Images from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._W._Turner