As a beginner drawing artist trying to find his style, I needed some inspiration. So I wondered, how many drawing styles exist today? And after hours of research and listing each drawing style, this is what I found:
There are 22 main drawing styles, ranging from realism and pop art to technical drawing and cubism, from which many other drawing sub-styles emerge. Because all drawing artists are different and there are many drawing tools, drawing sub-styles are countless. New drawing styles are born every day.
Now you know the number, but not the drawing styles. If you would like to see the list of all main drawing styles, you can find it below!
List Of All Main Drawing Styles
Here’s the list of the main drawing styles, including the century they started to appear and the country they were born.
If you want to see pictures of each style, you can find them below the list!
| Drawing Style | First Appearance | Country |
| 1. Academic/Classical | 16th Century | Italy |
| 2. Cartoon | 19th Century | United Kingdom |
| 3. Manga | 19th Century | Japan |
| 4. Comic | 19th Century | Switzerland |
| 5. Sketching | 73,000 years ago | South Africa |
| 6. Doodling | 40,000 years ago | France |
| 7. Gestural | 20th Century | United States |
| 8. Technical Drawing | 15th Century | Italy |
| 9. Realism | 19th Century | France |
| 10. Hyperrealism | 20th Century | United States |
| 11. Line Drawing | 73,000 years ago | South Africa |
| 12. Pointillism | 19th Century | France |
| 13. Anamorphic | 15th Century | Italy |
| 14. Fashion | 16th Century | France |
| 15. Abstraction | 12th Century | China |
| 16. Nouveau | 19th Century | France |
| 17. Impressionism | 19th Century | France |
| 18. Surrealism | 20th Century | France |
| 19. Modernism | 20th Century | France |
| 20. Pop Art | 20th Century | United Kingdom |
| 21. Cubism | 20th Century | France |
| 22. Art Deco | 20th Century | France |
1. Academic Drawing
The academic drawing style is somewhat easy to identify once you see an example. Artists in the 15th century and beyond used this drawing style a lot. But this drawing style started to be more prevalent when art universities implemented this style to teach new artists at the beginning of the 16th century during the renaissance. It is a very realistic drawing style.
2. Cartoon Style
Cartoons. Everyone knows cartoons. This great drawing style was first introduced in the United Kingdom, using very realistic images, but then changed through time to what we know now. Cartoonists explain that to create cartoon characters, you begin from the character’s personality and emotions and then make a drawing representing those vividly. This drawing style doesn’t have many strict rules, which is why almost every cartoon you see is wholly different and unique, but you still understand it is a cartoon.
3. Anime / Manga Style
The magical world of the manga drawing style started in Japan, increasing its popularity around the globe, among other reasons. This drawing style is used to tell stories of any type, and if the story gets popular, an animation studio creates an anime of it. An anime is to Japan what a cartoon is for The United States.
Manga is my favorite drawing style!
4. Comic Style
The fantastic comic universe started in Switzerland and quickly became very popular globally. Just as manga, the comic drawing style is also used to tell stories. Comics’ reach is immense, and we can see how these old stories are still very relevant on the big screens. Comics are usually drawn section by section, accompanied by texts.
5. Sketching
Sketching is usually how every drawing artist would start a drawing. It focuses on drawing shapes and guidelines without adding much detail. Once the sketch is ready, the artist defines every line and adds every necessary element to the drawing. Although this is more of a drawing process than a style, many artists prefer leaving their creations as sketches.
6. Doodling
Doodling is a style that represents the unconscious creativity of an artist. Unlike sketches, doodlings are usually a finished drawing. The creation of a doodle requires a task occupying your mind. If your attention shifts to the drawing process, then you are not doodling. One great way to practice doodling is to listen to a podcast, talk, or audiobook and start doodling while you are still focused on what you’re listening, and not what you’re doing.
7. Gestural Drawing
The gestural drawing style consists of drawing poses from a person or a figure. Drawing artists use this style to improve their understanding of the human body or any other study object they want to learn. Typically, artists finish a gestural drawing in as short as 10 seconds and as long as 5 minutes.
8. Technical Drawing
Technical drawing is one the most precise and accurate styles, and it helps significantly in the architectural and engineering industries. This drawing style is a great way to learn about perspective.
9. Realism
Keeping drawing into the real world is also another style. Here we want to focus on precisely what’s in front of us and make a drawing representing the person, animal, or object as accurately as possible.
10.Hyperrealism
You thought realism was enough for artists? Well, it isn’t. After realism, there is hyperrealism. This style focuses on drawing almost like a printer or a camera and draw even the smallest details. Here, artists study how our eyes conceive reality.
11. Line Drawing
The line art style is very self-explanatory. It refers to drawings made with lines only. Here, the focus is to use a line with the same length and tone and form a figure with it. Most line drawings are usually monochromatic, but you can use lines of different colors as well.
12. Pointillism
Pointillism is a painting/drawing technique in which artists form images using only dots. These dots can be in any color or pattern but must ideally resemble a real figure.
An interesting fact about this technique’s name is that when it was first presented, the art critics of the time called it Pointillism to make fun of the method. Still, it ended up being an exceptionally respected art movement.
13. Anamorphic Drawing
Anamorphosis illustrations are drawings that can only be well-seen from a specific angle. If you see them from the incorrect angle, you will only see an unproportionate drawing. Leonardo da Vinci drew an anamorphic eye using this technique; you can see it in the 8-seconds video below!
14. Fashion Drawing
Before everyone had a camera, people needed a way to represent how clothing would look like on them, so the fashion drawing style was born. The main focus here is the clothing, and bodies are usually elongated.
15. Abstract Drawing
Abstract art represents something that may exist but is not completely real—the logic behind it’s to attempt to produce a visual illusion of reality.
Of course, art itself is a representation of how one sees the world, so abstract art has no limits and can be entirely different from artist to artist.
16. Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau was an artistic movement that focused on shapes and movement. To draw using this technique, the artist gathers forms of natural objects like plants and flowers and applies them throughout the drawing. Asymmetry is usual in this drawing style.
17. Impressionism
Although this is more of a painting style than a drawing style, impressionism couldn’t be taken away from this list. Its primary focus was to focus on light and its changing qualities and make the piece feel like it has movement.
18. Surrealism
Surrealism is a form of art that combines different objects from the real world to create something that is not conceivable. A surrealist drawing has the purpose of evoking one’s imagination and make you go to another reality, called by André Breton as a “superreality”.
19. Modernism
Modernism indeed was almost a combination of everything, in a reaction to realism and its teachings. Modernism focused on creating something new all the time, so nearly anything that presented something new at the time could have been considered modernism. Most of the paintings and drawings of this movement were abstract.
20. Pop Art
Pop Art, then, was the reaction to modernism and post-modernism. It aimed to exploit popular images and mass produce them as marketing or comic books. It wanted to be entirely away from the elitist art, which was only enjoyed by a few, and create art that the masses would like.
21. Cubism
Cubism is very interesting, and how to create a drawing using the cubist style is kind of easy to follow. The focus of cubism is to take an object, analyze and then broke it into pieces. Once you do that, abstractly reassemble everything. Why see an object from a single perspective if you can see in all of them at once? That was cubism.
22. Art Deco
Did you ever watch the last version of The Great Gatsby? That movie is a full representation of art deco. This drawing style is a combination of modern styles and rich materials. Its main goal is to illustrate glamour, luxury, exuberance, and faith in technological and social progress.
Did you find any drawing style that you liked?
Share it in the comments, I’d love to hear it. Also, if you would like me to add information or pictures of other drawings styles, let me know!