Where do you artists work at home?

edited in Questions and Answers
I know that the "trick" to getting better at art is practice, practice, practice; but where do you artists practice? What is your home workstation like?

My coding nook is, I've found, not conducive to working with a stylus. I'm looking for ideas to improve my place of work to practice more art.

Comments

  • I recently upgraded the whole set up, there's now a clean desk with 2 monitors, keyboard, mouse and tablet, while CPU has it's own table, which is fantastic and wonderful.
    BUT i started with my own knee and a sketch book, and i think the rest of us did too...

    it doesn't really start with a good workstation, it's just well... practice practice practice and not taking workspace as an excuse for distraction
    Thanked by 2garethf Tuism
  • I second what @Steamhat is saying. Up until a year ago I had the most cramped up desk. If I wanted to draw on my PC I had to move my keyboard, if I wanted to draw on paper I had to stack my tablet on top of some notes. Having a big clean desk is nice, but you find ways to fill it up until you have just as little space as you did before :D

    The hardest part (as with any creative process) it to just get started, the rest is easy.
    Thanked by 2garethf Boysano
  • I have a small cramped desk and I installed a sliding tray underneath it for the tablet. Found it helped a bit with productivity.Before if I wanted to use it I'd have to clear the desk and get it out. So sometimes when I just quickly wanted to try or do something, I'd be to lazy to clear the desk. Now I just pull it out and I'm ready to go.
  • I just have a normal desk. I push my keyboard back and put the tablet where it would normally be, but with the keyboard still in reach for shortcut keypresses etc.
  • Any surface really, a normal desk and my moleskine is how I normally scribble. If I'm drawing on my computer I move my keyboard out of the way for my Bamboo. Hardly the "professional" setup I've heard other people blow tons of money on. The fact is that it barely matters when you're starting. It only matters when you start to really realise that you're being limited by what you have - which is a long, long long way away (even for me).

    What I'm saying is, don't buy a Cintiq :P
  • Eh. My workspace has undergone years of upgrades. I've got a DAS mechanical keyboard, G502 (good mouse, crap scroll wheel), Cintiq+Intuos4, two additional monitors, super comfy office chair, giant table, a whoooole bunch of software and plugins, etc.

    I don't think it's something to copy though, and I've spent way more money on it than is necessary for mixed gains in productivity. I find it more important not to be trawling social networks, scrolling through infinite feeds, catching up on news, and whatever other distractions people have. Cutting those out imo has a greater effect on productivity than just about anything else.
    Thanked by 1garethf
  • I meant don't buy a Cintiq until you're WAY WAY WAY beyond "learning" to art :)
  • I'm still learning. :P

    But no, I wouldn't recommend a Cintiq either, unless you're loaded and/or being paid for the work you'd do on it. :)
  • I've always targeted the space problems individually; elbow knocks against a wall?-change pc and chair orientation, neck strain? Reassess monitor position. Etc.

    Prioritize things that threaten damage/rsi but otherwise don't allow discomfort to hinder you. It's not dissimilar to working out in that regard, if you wait till you have the right gym pants/shoes/workout music/weather/star alignment you're not going to do as well as you could.

    I remember once, when I was on a sleeper bus in Vietnam, I had my heavy as bricks laptop balanced on my knees and and my ridiculously large 12x9 intuos2 on my lap (neck pain for a week. Do not recommend) because I was frustrated at not being able to produce/create/flow during the trip. Inadvertently created some of my happiest work.
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