I have always been fascinated when offered a peek into another artist's workspace. I imagine the space to be an extension of that artist's creative self and that it might even offer clues into understanding their creative process. For example, a cluttered studio might suggest a busy mind which finds inspiration in chaos, while a tidy space could suggest a laser-focused creative energy. I am not sure what my workspace says about my own creative process, but I am sharing it with you nonetheless. If it appears uncluttered, please note I cleaned it up before taking any pictures. Regardless, you get the basic idea!
My workspace occupies an office in my home. There is plenty of sunshine during the day which is wonderful on the weekends but not so handy on weekdays when I am working as a graphic artist for an ad agency in an entirely different location! I spend most evenings here, however, sketching, drawing, painting, googling for reference & snickering at Facebook posts and Youtube videos. I listen to music while I work, shuffling tunes by my favorite artists. My wife and I share the office and she keeps me company between catching up on her work emails. She has a brilliant eye for color and even advises me on my palette from time to time.
The tools of my trade are very basic. I sketch and draw with Primacolor Turquoise HB pencils (I prefer a hard lead for crisp, non-smudging lines!) on a Canson 65 lb 9 x 12 sketch pad. I use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet for any digital coloring, usually for my color studies before I actually paint with water colors.
I paint using water color from Windsor & Newton tubes and wet my brushes in an old spaghetti sauce jar I've been using for 15 years. I use round sable brushes, also by Windsor & Newton, mixing my colors in a Japanese-style flower-shaped palette. I paint on Bainbridge 2200 cold-press illustration boards and I finish my illustrations with black Prismacolor Verithin colored pencils.
For reference, I rely heavily on the wonderful world of Google Images. Once I have a few thumbnails and have an idea of what sorts of characters, animals and environments I will be drawing, I go to the Google machine and search for relevant images and squirrel them away in folders on my iMac. I also find endless inspiration in my beloved library of picture books and children's literature. These books are my art school and I learn so much from studying past and present masters of the picture book genre. The middle grade books, as well as containing some amazing illustrations themselves, are full of characters and stories that keep my imagination firing on all cylinders.
All these features aside, I suppose what makes my work space special to me is that it is a comfortable and familiar sanctuary where I can retreat to and fully inhabit the most important area for an artist: that creative space that resides inside of them.
Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my work space with you, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments!
Josh
