Recently I posted a look at my new studio. My friend and fellow artist Tom Bancroft asked me to elaborate on some of the art hanging on the walls and the stories behind them. Since I always do everything Tom tells me to, here we go…Read More
My New Studio
I’ve spent most of this week painting, packing, and moving into my new studio. With the recent birth of our second child my wife and I decided it would be best to swap a couple of rooms in our house. My old studio is now our master bedroom and our old bedroom is now my studio.
I’m still tidying up and reorganizing a bit, but here’s some photos of what I’ve done so far. (This is also probably the cleanest it will ever look):
Here’s where all the magic happens. I bought a Cintiq over a year ago and have been working all-digital ever since. I haven’t used my drawing table in over a year so it’s stored away in the garage.
Having a Cintiq with a second monitor is a really nice setup. When researching a project I can grab reference images from the internet and spread them all over the top monitor and do all my drawing/painting on the Cintiq. In Photoshop I can also have my illustration open twice with two windows (Window > Arrange > New window…). On the Cintiq I’ll zoom in and do detail work while the window on the upper monitor stays zoomed out. Simply by glancing up I can see how the detailed work looks in context with the larger image.
To the left of my desk is my “library corner” and next to it a treadmill. Everyone tells me the recliner looks like a “granny chair”, and they’re right. It used to belong to my Grandma, and it’s super comfortable so I keep it around.
Both the chair and the treadmill are pointed towards my computer monitor in the corner so that I can watch DVD’s and even TV shows. A while back I bought an EyeTV unit which turns my computer into a DVR. Nice!
Here’s another view of the treadmill. I used to be a runner and in my mid-twenties I regularly ran seven miles at a time. Oh how the mighty have fallen! Over the years I’ve put on a lot of weight and degraded into a marshmallow schlump. Its high time I started losing the weight. I try to walk/run for at least twenty minutes every day (except Sunday) and for the most part I stick to it. It’s also a nice way to take a quick break and re-energize during a midnight stretch on a tight deadline. There’s also a couple of barbells on the floor that I’m getting back into using (baby steps). My job is very sedentary so any exercise I can get is a good thing.
The Batman standee was a gag gift given to me by some friends when I moved to the Minneapolis area back in 2003. He stares down on me to make sure I meet my deadlines.
That’s the nickel tour. If anyone’s interested here’s what my old studio looked like, and here’s some links to the studios of a few other freelancers.
Check Out These Art Blogs
Need some inspiration? Check out these amazing art blogs I just came across:
This and That
Happy New Year everyone! Here’s a few misc. items of interest I’ve stumbled upon recently. If you follow me on Twitter you’ve likely seen them all already, but since many of you don’t here they are:
8 Ways Twitter can help grow your freelance business. I used to dismiss Twitter as a massive waste of time used primarily by members of the Cult of the Self-Absorbed. I’ve done a total 180. In fact, I’m now ready to admit publicly that I’m addicted to Twitter, checking it several times a day. I primarily follow other artists on Twitter making it a sort of virtual water cooler where I can hang out and chat with other freelancers like me. For me Twitter is a fun middle ground between Facebook and blogging. This article sums up some of the many benefits of Twitter.
I Yam What I Yam (But Not For Long). It appears the character of Popeye is about to lose his legal spinach: the rights to the character are about to expire. As I understand it, the various comic strips and cartoons in which Popeye has appeared are still fully protected by copyright but Popeye himself is about to enter into the public domain. That would mean that anyone will be able to legally do anything they want with Popeye. He could shill products, be printed on t-shirts, even endorse a presidential candidate, and no one would have to pay Popeye’s owners a dime for the privilege. I would never underestimate the power of a team of high-priced lawyers to somehow stop this from happening, but things are moving in that direction.
Facebook vs. Twittter: Which sends more traffic to your website? Facebook and Twitter can both be leveredged to point potential clients your way, but Facebook appears to be the clear winner between the two. At leaset according to this article, which also lists some helpful tips for making the most of your exposure on both.
Bristol Paper, Canvas, iPhone. Artist Stef Kardos has been using his iPhone to create sketches and paintings (thanks to a nifty piece of software called Brushes). It’s pretty amazing stuff.
Blogging Break
I’m afraid I’m going to have to go light on the blogging for a while. My wife is very pregnant with our second baby, so much so that she has been put on strict bed rest (doctor’s orders). In other words she’s supposed to stay in bed 24-7 for the next few weeks until the baby comes (mid-January, maybe sooner). It’s not too serious—more of a precaution than anything—but it means in addition to working full-time I’ll be handling our toddler, doing all the house work, running all the errands, and helping my wife to keep from going crazy from boredom lying in bed all day. With the Christmas season kicking into high gear that’s going to make things extra-crazy. And those of you who are parents know that once a new baby comes the craziness doesn’t immediately go away.
I may do some blogging here and there if for no other reason than to take a break and attempt to connect with the outside world. However, the posts will probably be few and far between for the next few weeks. Once life stabilizes for us I look forward to things getting back to normal. Until then, thanks for your patience.
Even More John K on Character Design
A while back I posted several links to artist John K’s observations on character design (here and here). Yesterday Mr. K posted even more thoughts on the topic, complete as always with many examples. This time he tries to analyze that elusive and magical quality called “appeal”:
John gives a lot of thought to the topics he posts about and his blog is always great reading.