What is artistic style? Why is it important? And how can you develop your own unique style of painting?

Someone once wrote that style combines an artist's choices of medium, technique and subject matter. That's true, but more importantly, style should convey your own unique attitudes and feelings about your subject matter and about the world around you. Here's what some well-known artists have said on the topic:

"Paint a little less of the facts and a little more of the spirit. Paint more with feeling than with thought [because] when intellect comes in, art goes out."
–Harvey Dunn (American; 1884–1952)

"With a paintbrush, I could make the whole world feel what I have seen."
–Eugene Delacroix (French; 1798–1863)

"I long ago came to the conclusion that, even if I could put down accurately [in paint] the thing I saw and enjoyed, it would not give the observer the kind of feeling it gave me. I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at, not copy it."
–Georgia O'Keeffe (American; 1887–1986)

How can you develop your own individual style? One way is to expose your mind to a great variety of styles by looking at paintings in books, magazines, galleries and museums, decide what type(s) of paintings you like the most, and then consider why they appeal to you.

Next, select two to three of those paintings and, from a photo or from Internet images, take the time to paint them yourself. This will give you a much better sense of how it feels to paint like that. Do you like the sensation? Does it feel like you? If so, then you are on the right track toward developing your own variation of that style of painting.
And remember: you don't have to stick with just one style of painting. Your style can and probably will change. In fact, almost all famous painters altered their artistic styles as they matured as individuals.

Following are some examples of various artistic styles.