long writeup so that hopefully i'm not misunderstood as "copying" other people's artstyles.
Yes, I have been studying NishikujiC's art a lot, and I really adore their artstyle and admire them for their skills. I have a whole folder of their art besides another folder of LC/LoR art that I saved, and I refer to both to study to pick up tips on color and form whenever I decide to draw. I do look at multiple artists whenever I decide to draw something.
My art never used to look like this months ago - it was because of what I learned from studying NishikujiC's art that today I've slowly changed my artstyle to what it is today, and objectively if you ask me it is far more visually appealing than the LC art I used to draw.
NishikujiC's art was and is an inspiration to me in many ways, and studying their work helped me to strengthen my art foundations as I transitioned from drawing more western-style to more asian-style, and now slowly I'm trying to deviate away to something more unique.
People who study art know that artstyles are things we pick up from everything that we see around us - when we aren't on the professional level, we pick a range of artists we want to learn from, and we study how they construct and present their art. Such is not deemed copying, but learning. It is only much later that professional artists prioritise creating their own unique artstyle after they are set in their foundations and after years of learning from other artists.
I am a hobbyist who's given up my childish dream of studying art professionally, which will explain some the possibly odd and unconventional habits I have which understandably fall short of professional expectations. Unfortunately, no, I do not base my studies on 10 or so artists; two or so stood out to me and I decided I would study how they did things. I did not copy NishikujiC - I was inspired by them and it happened that as I was transitioning between fandoms and changing my artstyle to cater more for the LC style, NishikujiC's art stood out to me the most, and therefore I learned the most from them. I am not drawing professionally or even intend to earn money through commissions, hence I find that it is my liberty that I can express what I learned in my art as and how I like hoping that maybe, someone out there liked what I did.
A wip from May 2020 versus a wip from September 2019 and a more rendered image from January 2020 respectively to reinforce my second point. One of the main transitions I've made is moving away from lineart to directly favour painting over sketches to avoid tunnel-visioning on small details, as well as less use of "effect" layers such as multiply and overlay. And my sleeves disobeyed gravity goodness gracious thank you Min for pointing it out when you did
There are hobbyist artists who do choose one artist to have their works largely inspired by, if I may name examples olddivan on tumblr (whom back in my tf2 days I also looked up to a lot, and I still follow them) has their works largely inspired by wachtelspinat; skunkyfly on deviantart has their works largely inspired by kawacy. Both have stated their art inspirations, have reached great heights based on what they have learned from their role models in art, and (correct me if I'm wrong) they are not making money from their art in any way - they are learning and creating art as how and they want to enjoy it.
If I may be so bold to make a statement to all my fellow hobbyist artists - referencing is not copying, choosing to learn mainly from one or two artists is not copying. In the art world, there is a whole debate on what is original and what is not, and so far I have not heard of any definite conclusion. Learn how you want, and make those who have inspired you be proud. Do not be afraid of learning, and do not be afraid of sharing and expressing what you have learned, and may others learn from you and, possibly, be inspired as well.
Side note don't do things like trace art and post it and say it's your work that's outright wrong, I've seen it happen to my artist friends and I absolutely disapprove of it and there are many other examples but you get my point.