An artist constantly changes and evolves in his/her expression - so to set style as a goal seems rather academic, and downright contrived. But the question isn’t about setting STYLE as a goal - but setting APPEAL as a goal.
Let me explain. An artist can call the crappiest piece of artwork as his/her “style” and can largely get away with it when showing it to cavemen. But illustration today is the wellspring of many a sophisticated art styles, publishers are looking for styles that will appeal. The professional illustrator therefore must educate himself/herself on appeal, and not merely how one style differs from another in terms of technique and the visual language. Think of it, to “master a style” of another artist (usually one that is enjoying much success) on the most shallow level means mimicking the techniques and visual language used by that artist. But one must go deeper than that! The student must ask WHY the master’s style was so compelling to emulate in the first place. “Because he’s successful and gets Googled everday!!!” doesn’t count. Instead, the student has ask what about the style appeals to him/her personally. This process allows students to deconstructs the style, allowing them to reconstruct any number of appealing styles they can call their own.
Studying the masters of painting or your favorite artists is a practice that is encouraged by all art schools. On the surface it’s a study of media & technique, beneath the surface it’s a study on appeal.
The quest for “Appeal” sounds subjective and nebulous, however. Fortunately online resources on appeal exist. I found The Temple of the Seven Camels to be very very informative with regards to appeal in character design.
