Studio behind-the-scenes peek

It's smaller than it looks

“Studio space” — the phrase kind of annoys me, lol. I guess because it sounds weirdly fancy and kind of off-putting, but I’m a weirdo about words. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway, I’m lucky to have a studio space, as small as this one is. It’s considered a bedroom (by someone, somewhere, I guess) but I don’t think you could fit more than a child’s bed in here, lol. The windows don’t open, and the closet is half-size with a weird step in it as it’s above the basement stairway. But it’s a space! (Maybe workspace sounds less gross.) And it’s a far cry from working on the floor of a strip kitchen in various crappy apartments in college, lol.

My main work area

My giant white desk is from Ikea, and the drawing board on top adds a lot of flexibility for drawing, painting, and even using a laptop more ergonomically. I use this desk to write manuscripts, do general computer work, draw, and paint.

(Thankfully, I’ve upgraded from this Ikea chair since I took this photo and now use a more ergonomic chair.)

Creative solutions

I have a chronic neck pain and instability issue, and when it bothers me enough, I use this very high-tech solution to turn my drafting board into a standing desk.

Sometimes I even use an easel like a pro but I don’t have a photo of it.

Standing desk

I also have a tabletop standing desk on the other side of the room. (It’s literally four feet away from my main desk—the room is so small.) I use it for general work and writing on my laptop, along with almost all of my digital painting.

I can set up my Wacom tablet lower and keep the monitor higher for better posture. This is the biggest reason I stick with Wacom, which is glitchy and annoying a lot of the time. I can’t physically draw on a screen (like iPad with Procreate), so the tablet works best for me. This desk means I can illustrate picture books with fewer physical problems.

Books and things

I also have two old ship’s ladders stuffed full of my old sketchbooks, zines, and other bits n’ bobs, like the poetry periodicals I was published in when I was younger.

Lots of handmade sketchbooks, along with some store-bought ones

More sketchbooks and a handful of poetry journals

And this shelf houses some of my older art: tons of hand-bound artist books I made in my 20s. Maybe one day I’ll give you a tour inside some of them if there’s any interest. I used to love making little books within books, gatefolds, special drawings, flaps, envelopes, gold leafed things, and other elements in these unique books.

Hand-bound artist books from the good old days

In that last photo, you can see a few copies of my first two picture books there at the bottom. I’ll have to rearrange my space soon to make room for new books! 👀

But for now, that’s a quick look at my space. What do you have in your workspace that you can’t live (or work) without?