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Happy DIALOGUE day! In episode fifteen, we’re covering artist/designer workspaces. What works, what doesn’t, and ultimately, answering the age-old question: Do you really need a studio [answer: it depends!!!]?
Hear from contributors Kate and Craig, along with a new guest– Angie Myung of POKETO! Enjoy, and comment below to join our DIALOGUE.
IN THIS EPISODE: ANGIE MYUNG / KATE BINGAMAN-BURT / CRAIG ATKINSON
Related episode(s): Overcoming Artist’s Block
sob, it won’t play for me :( x
me either!!!
Ooo, this sounds like a goodie, but yep won’t play for me either.
ohhh it’s coming! hang in there!
It’s working great for me! Love the doggie cameo! I’m a huge fan of the big blank desk. I just recently bought a dining room table to use as my workspace.
I think having a small studio helps in the organization department but it really isn’t necessary. I have a small home studio but I feel just as comfortable in my kitchen or living room – depending on what I’m doing. Seeing this does have me rethinking my space. Hmmm.
Well, thanks to Craig for taking all my excuses away! ;) But, yes, you can really work almost anywhere.
This was great, Erin! Inspires me to want to finish my own workspace/studio that I started ages ago and never finished! Hey, the last “dialogue” got me moving in the “social networking” department so who knows? Y’all are like virtual life coaches. And, no, I’m not giving you my billing address! ;)
hi Erin!
I´m currently working at a home studio but I sooooo miss having a space outside of my appartment. The good things about working from home are basically no commuting at all, which is good if you live in a city where traffic is chaotic.
One thing that I really enjoyed about working at a shared space was to meet other people daily and just knowing they were there. It helped a lot with focusing and productivity. I can work well from home but I definitely miss that. I´m enjoying the no commuting, though! :)
I’ve worked from home for years. Last summer I rented a 600sqft. loft studio, and surprisingly, hated it. I missed being at home, I missed my yard, being able to whip up a fresh lunch, I wasn’t fond of sharing a bathroom either, and I actually found all the space distracting. So I sub-leased the space, and now I’m back at home, working from the dining table with all my supplies crammed on ikea shelves, and I love it & no longer take it for granted :)
i play office in my living room. my boyfriend has a desk on the other side of the room and when we’re both working from home we have office names, like Frank and Judy. our dog is the mail guy, but he sleeps on the job a lot. i think i could work from anywhere, so long as i’ve got the interweb!!
Hey gorgeous girl! How excited am I that I get to see your beautiful face ON VIDEO being creative? I miss ya, girl! California misses you! But I do love reading your blog and catching up on all your latest!
For card makers I think the most difficult thing to produce at home is letterpress. The machines are massive and it’s somethings impossible, unless you have a huge loft, shed or garage, to have one at home. Even if there’s physical space, the machines are incredibly heavy and may cause damage to your floors.
I second the comment on the importance of a large table. It’s invaluable.
my biggest problem is compulsive neatness. i don’t think i’ll ever create anything great, because i tidy up all of the time. fuss, fuss, fuss – i was like that as a kid. i also have a very tiny work space that’s not really equipped properly for what i like to do. i would love to make a mess and just close the door. i’m going to do it ;). this one was fun, i love kate!
i have a little desk in the living room which i know i’m lucky to have, & it’s convenient to just decide when i wake up, or once i’ve eaten ‘hay, i’m going to go draw!’, but i think working at home means there are too many distractions for me. i think having somewhere separate would help with focusing on making things. plus when i come home after working at my job all day, i can’t help but sit on the couch & not do much of anything in the end! i’d love a small studio space between my home & work that i could visit on my lunch or go to after my working day is done, & so that i’m not distracted by housework or things around the house at the weekend.
I used to have my artwork strewn all over the dining table, but I’ve got a studio set up in a back room of our house now. I couldn’t concentrate as well when I was working in the main area of the house – it was too easy to look around and contemplate all things house-related, rather than getting stuck into my actual work.
Now, when I step through the door to my studio, I ‘click’ into work mode. It’s decorated completely differently to the rest of the house, which makes it feel more like a separate space too – A complete self-delusion, but it works!!
Awesome! So much fun to see folks in their spaces(cutie pie little dog over at Poketo) and to hear about what works and what doesn’t. Thanks Erin and everyone! Awesome…
xo
Melis
I have never had a true studio. I’ve always just sectioned off some corner of my apartment as my work space and then ended up working…well… really everywhere. Which means that my supplies and crap end up all over the place. I think that I will always prefer working in my home because like Lindsay said, it’s nice to be able to make lunch or water your plants or whatever. But I would really really like a more seperate area, like maybe with a door so I can hang up all my inspiration and keep all my crap from being strewn everywhere.
How I love these dialogue videos!:D
I do have an attic for myself which also is the living and bedroom. Clutter and mess are true enemies, everything it’s all over the place.
I believe you can work everywhere, but you’ll need to be very focused so you won’t loose yourself in the mess:P
what?! how did i not get into the dialogue sooner? i must have missed the update somehow, sigh. i love bess’s comment about playing office–i cracked up! and found it interesting that lindsay hated working away from home. i am really intrigued to know how everyone works because, for a few reasons, i am not sure i actually would get any work done if i did not have a studio or at least a room (and now i will tell you my condensed life story). as a printmaker, i have to have space. there are a lot of different processes and you need clean space and you need dirty space. the first space i had was a room in my parents’ basement (yes, i lived with my parents). then i bought an etching press! it’s amazing what happens when you buy something that big and heavy. your needs change. when i moved out of my parents’, i moved the press into the bedroom that i was renting. this was so not ideal. the room had a twin bed, a tiny space, and then my press (about the size of a twin bed). it didn’t work.
now i am so so lucky to have a wonderful studio space only five blocks from my house. i share it with three others and i love it. the biggest advantage is that if i move apartments, i don’t have to move the presses (yes, that’s plural, i bought a letterpress! i’m obsessed!). it’s close enough that i can get to quickly, and separate enough that i am not confronted with it all the time (i am big on boundaries). i am also fortunate to have a huge bedroom that allows me to have a more office-y workspace at home. i really am so fortunate.
i’m rather doubtful that anyone made it through that entire comment i just typed, but when i have things to say, they just all come out! thanks for another great dialogue, you are doing great, erin!
is it completely superficial & callow that, from these videos, i have a growing crush on craig? wait, don’t answer that.
pen/cil, paper, any surface (at most): as a writer, the few absolutely necessary tools mean all one’s excuses prove pretty damn weak. i have to make it more interesting — spatially — or go mad, however, so sometimes i close the laptop, tape jumbo sketchpad sheets to the apartment walls, & write while standing up & moving around.
It’s great seeing everyone again in the video, esp. Angie (she’s so cute!).
And I agree with them, I love a big desk – and I now have a something extra on it — a big cutting board that I use almost everyday. I love that I can just use the knife whenever I want, and I don’t have to clear stuff just to cut up stuff. ;)
Great episode again Erin!
x
i wish wish wish i had big desk! i can just fit my imac and a tiny sketchbook and a cup of coffee on it, and sometimes the three clash a bit…disastrous! i really need a spacious studio!
ha, cheri! i am right there with you–on everything you said :) i like the idea of mixing up your writing routine with bigger movements of standing/walking/writing on the walls.
Just to put stuff into context, here’s my studio
http://www.craigatkinson.co.uk/files/gimgs/32_untitledpanorama1.jpg
What you don’t see is that behind me I have a 24′ pool, with cocktail bar and sushi restaurant.
Honestly, Craig, I thought you were speaking/working from a broom closet. With a high ceiling.
And I stand by what I said before, what with sushi, swimming, and scotch in such close proximity. Laura! Shall we arm wrestle . . . ? Two outta three?
ditto that broom cupboard comment from cheri! your studio in amazing craig. what a space. but how do you concentrate with a cocktail bar in the vicinity? ;)
you’re on, cheri!
I’m so happy about this dialogue, thanks Erin, you’re always answering all my questions.
I’m in the process of putting together my own space inside my house. I’ve been in offices before and I’m really more productive and think better at home, for the same reasons explained before: the ocassional water, cookie making, and stuff to relax and get new ideas, plus all the books, and everything necesary to get inspired.
My space is a part of my bedroom so the temptation of getting a nap and watch TV is very present. I decided to move all my stuff to the living room, I hope it works!
Love Craig’s space, great lighting, roomy and it has a homelike feel! Congrats.