If you’re tired of an old art style or want to try a new one right now, you’ve come to the right place. Art styles are essential to be recognized as an artist, but they take time to develop.
Here you can find several different simple art styles for beginner artists! So let’s jump right onto the list.
- Chibi
- Modern Cartoon
- Minimalist
- Abstract Art
- Comic Art
- Pixel Art
- Doodle Art
- Geometric Art
- Pointillism
So let’s review each art style and check some examples of these simple art styles to try out!
Table Of Contents
1. Chibi Art Style
The Chibi art style can be one of the most accessible art styles to try for beginner artists.
This art style focuses on simple (and cute) shapes.
In this art style, you’ll primarily draw very round shapes for your characters’ bodies and use very soft colors.
There are many ways to draw in a Chibi art style. You can draw them in different proportions such as:
- 2 heads
- 2.5 heads
- 3 heads
And more!
I really enjoy working in this art style, which is why you can sometimes see a few chibi drawings in my articles. This is just one of many anime art styles you can try!
You can find some examples of a chibi art style on:
- One Piece: Straw Hat Theater
- Lucky Star
- Sword Art Online: Sword Art Offline
- Himouto! Umaru-chan
This simple chibi art style is for you if you like to draw cute things with simple shapes and colors.
2. Modern Cartoon Style
Modern cartoons usually have a very geometric and almost plain art style.
Unlike the Chibi art style where you see many round shapes, you can find both round and squarer shapes in the modern cartoon art style.
For colors, modern cartoon styles tend to use strong basic colors such as red, green and blue. In fact, you’ll see that most main characters in modern cartoons tend to use one of these colors.
I talk more in-depth about 25 Types of Cartoon Drawing Styles that you might want to try here!
For some examples of this simple modern cartoon art style, you can find it on:
- Teen Titans Go!
- Over The Garden Wall
- Steven Universe
- Rick And Morty
The modern cartoon art style is for you if you’re looking to try a simple art style with strong colors and modern shapes!
3. Minimalist Art Style
Minimalist art is based on showing the essentials of art. It strips down every extra detail and complexity in art, and focuses instead of showing the bare minimum (that’s why it’s a minimalist art style!)
There are many different styles of minimalist art. From simple paintings, to sculpture, photography, and much more.
Some examples of minimalist art style artists are:
- Donald Judd
- Agnes Martin
- Robert Morris
- Frank Stella
You can find more about these artists and their work on wikiart.
The minimalist art style is for you if you enjoy focusing on simplifying your artwork and conveying a message with fewer lines and colors.
4. Abstract Art Style
Abstract art style focuses on shapes and colors, and not much else. It’s made to be seen with independence from visual references in the world.
This somewhat simple art style can be referenced back to Prehistoric times with cave paintings and marks on rocks.
Some examples of abstract artists are:
- Jackson Pollock
- Kazimir Malevich
- Agnes Martin
- Christopher Wool
The abstract art style is for you if you’re looking for an expressive art style that doesn’t focus too much on rules.
5. Comic Art Style
The comic art style has many different eras with different art styles in each.
With that said, the general comic art style has always been (kind of) the same!
Strong shapes and shading, and very easy to recognize every element visually.
And of course, text balloons! Or rectangles in some cases.
You can find some examples of comic art styles in these comics:
- Batman
- Harley Quinn
- Watchmen
- Sandman
With that said, there are many different art styles on comics that you can take inspiration from! So do check a few authors and artists out and see what’s your favorite art style from the bunch.
We talk more about how to try new art styles further down this article.
This comic art style is a great match for artists looking to create narratives in their drawings.
6. Pixel Art
While not exactly an art style (it’s basically a whole sub-medium in digital art!), pixel art is great for beginner artists.
Pixel art focuses on simplifying drawings into a few pixels, which is something that can be quite tough to do.
With that said, it’s still a pretty simple art style to try! Especially if you focus on drawing smaller and easier things at the beginning.
Some examples of pixel artists to check out are:
- Glauber Kotaki
- NOP_Pixels
- LumpyTouch
- Thomas Feichtmeir
- Paul Robertson
- WANEELLA
There are many different styles inside pixel art, but this selection should you get you started so you can find one or two that you want to try!
Pixel Art style is for you if you like a “less is more” approach to drawing and want to focus on what’s most important in a drawing.
7. Doodle Art Style
If you’ve ever doodled while drawing on the phone, you already know what a doodle art style is!
Doodle art style is a fun way of expressing yourself by doodling (usually with a simple pen or pencil).
While doodling, artists focus more on very simple shapes and a flow in their art. These are usually done in black and white, but this is not a requirement. You can use color as much as you want while doodling.
Some examples of artists that have a doodle art style are:
- Jim Bradshaw
- Mr Doodle
- Penny Raile
- Filippo
- Dave Bollinger
The Doodle art style is for you if you like to mindlessly go with the flow with your art, instead of following strict rules.
8. Geometric Art Style
A geometric art style focuses on drawing everything… well, geometric!
Squares, rectangles, circles, everything is fair game.
It can be quite abstract if you like, but it doesn’t have to be. You can also draw characters, people, and objects in a geometric style.
This style was mostly done initially to draw on vases, but is now a much more widespread art style that many artists use.
Some examples of artists that draw in a geometric art style are:
- Victor Vasarely
- Virginia Garcia Costa
- Georgia Nassikas
- Kazimir Malevich
This simple geometric art style is for you if you enjoy drawing with basic shapes such as circles, rectangles and squares.
9. Pointillism Art Style
Pointillism might be the most challenging art style on this list. But it might also be the easiest for some of you artists!
Let me explain.
Pointillism is a quite simple art style. You “just” need to draw dot after dot until you make a whole drawing. Easy right?
You just need a whole lot of patience! This makes it quite a simple and somewhat easy art style for some people, while it can be quite a difficult one for others who lack patience.
With all of that out of the way, this can be a quite fun art style if you can forget everything around you and just focus on the piece of paper in front of you.
Some examples of pointillism artists are:
- Georges Seurat
- Vincent van Gogh
- Maximilien Luce
- Leon Viorescu
The pointillism art style is for you if you have a lot of patience and enjoy taking your time with each art piece.
How Do You Try New Art Styles?
One of the best ways to try new art styles is to study professional artists.
To do this, I recommend you to:
- Find a professional artist that draws in the style you want to try
- Pick their work that you love the most
- Copy the artwork (for practice purposes only!)
By mimicking their art style, you’ll learn better their process and how certain parts of the drawing should look like.
I would even recommend you to draw on top of their drawing and find the main shapes that those artists draw!
This will help you break down the details of their work and you’ll learn an entire new art style in the process.
I would also recommend you not just learn from 1 professional artist who works in the style you want to try. Check out other artists in that style as well.
If you just focus on one particular artist, you’ll become a copy of them, and that’s no good.
Instead, focus on learning the most you can from different professional artists that you love.
Trust me, you’ll develop your unique art style much faster this way.
What Is The Easiest Art Style To Try?
One of the easiest art styles to try is the Chibi Drawing style.
As we mentioned before, this style focuses primarily on cute and simple shapes. Making it a perfect art style to try for beginners.
With that said, there’s a lot to go through in the chibi art style if you want to take it up a notch!
You can always improve your chibi art style by adding more emotion to your characters, adding hair and icon details, and much more.
I have a whole course on drawing in a Chibi Art Style, which you can get at a discount with this link!
It covers drawing bodies, poses, hairstyles, coloring and much more. Everything step by step, so I highly recommend you to check it out if you’re interested in drawing in a chibi art style.
If not, that’s alright as well! I hope you’ve enjoyed this article on simple art styles to try for beginner artists.
And once you’ve picked an Art Style, grab one of these 23 Easy Drawing Ideas For Beginners and start drawing, have fun!
Or check out 13 other Illustration styles to try!
Patricia Caldeira is the main writer here at Don Corgi. She's an art teacher with over 20.000 happy students across many platforms and courses!
Enjoy your stay and as always:
Keep on drawing!
