40 Days of Art: How to Learn a Style

You have an artist you admire and want to learn how they do what they do, but how do you learn to draw like them?

The simple answer is: trace trace trace, copy copy copy. But you can't just blindly duplicate the lines, you have to have your brain turned on while you're doing so or you won't learn anything. Try to think about ( the following things: )

Once you've studied a wide cross-section of the artist's work, try creating your own drawings in that artist's style. Try to make it look like that artist drew it, like you've uncovered a new piece of art by this person that no one had seen before. Forgery is fun, and educational! (Purely for learning purposes, you understand.)

And remember: LEARN FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF ARTISTS. You can be the best Mignola mimic in the world, but the world already has a Mignola! Make your own unique blend of influences!

If you want some informative examples of how other people have dissected artists' styles, the following 'Art of' books have style guides in them, though you may need a jeweler's loupe to read some of the text:
Fantasia 2000 (for Al Hirschfeld)
Hercules (for Gerald Scarfe – 'the swoop with a sudden reversal is a key Scarfe line!')
Mulan
Lilo & Stitch (for Chris Sanders)
I'm pretty sure I've seen Atlantis' somewhere before, but I don't think it was in the art book. Special Edition DVD maybe?