Ricardo Besssa answered a really interesting question on tumblr that is relevant to how I feel about my work:
Ricardo, I am having trouble figuring out what my "voice" is. I notice my Style sort of wavers whn I am using different media, and have different ideas. What do you think of multidiscipline portfolios, like Melinda Beck? And how do you approach art directors if this is the case, that you have multiple "drawing voices"?
I’ve had a half-baked reply sitting on my computer for weeks - I’m not sure I’m the best person to answer this because I don’t think I’ve truly been in this position myself.
Not sure if this what’s happening, but a “wavering style” is different than having entirely separate voices. Most artist go through a stage in which they don’t know what their “style” is and feel they produce inconsistent work. Some times this is true, but often this is actually something that most people can’t really see if you ask. For obvious reasons, we’re a lot more aware of the nuances in our own body of work than everyone else.
This might not be the case with you though; and if you really feel like you have a different voices, I don’t see anything wrong with exploring all of them. Melinda Beck seems to do that pretty well, and it works for many illustrators. From a commercial point of view, as long as you separate them so it’s as simple as possible for hypothetical clients you should be okay. Some people even create a pseudonym and an entirely different portfolio/website (in addition to their “regular” portfolio). If that’s the case, you’ll just have to do a little extra work and make sure you target the right audience with each different portfolio.
I've recently felt like I've not been developing a tone of voice, and therefore find this quite encouraging. I've always been aware of the way people have separate pseudonyms, etc. for different kinds of work, but the idea has never really been something I wanted to do. I think while I'm here on this course I'll try and just explore all the different voices as Bessa advises and see what happens next.
Bessa's work
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