Continuing the little photo tour of my workplace, this what I refer to as my office. This is where the work gets done. Every artist and illustrator I have known that works in a studio after a while creates an environment that is optimized to their style of art. My studio space is no different.

The most important piece of furniture in the studio is my chair. Since I am sitting in it for 8+ hours a day it needs to support my spine throughout the work day. This is particularly important since I injured my back in the 1990s and have to make a concerted effort to keep in good shape. In fact when I was going through physical therapy emphasized chair selection over table choice when came to picking out studio furniture. "You can have a A+ chair and C+ table, but you can't have it the other way!" was a mantra repeated over and over again.

Of course I didn't settle for C+ table. It's not an A+ but it is at least a B-. The green stripe across the tabletop is actually a piece of fabric is usually used in kitchens and cabinets to keep things from slipping around. It allows me to set art materials directly on the table surface and not have them slide off the surface. I also use the plushies as soft weights to anchor sketches and photos to the table surface while I am working on a piece.

Good lighting and storage are important for creating a pleasant work environment. The studio area has combination ceiling lamp and fan which provides good fill light and ventilation for the room, but I also have a swing arm lamp attached to the table to provide a strong, steady light source. Also if needed there several lights I can turn on to provide additional fill light.

On the right side of the table is a side tray for storing art materials and beyond that a taboret that keep my colored pencils and rest my electric pencil sharpener and glass jar of OMS. The colored pencils are divided into color families and stored in ziploc bags in the taboret.

The final thing of significance on the table is the small rectangle board. That is a drawing board that I've had since 1970. One day my dad found me lying on the floor of our house trying to draw on a piece of paper resting on the carpet. Of course this was a lousy surface and I was having lots of difficulties. Figuring he'd do something about it my dad went out to the garage and found an odd scrape of Masonite. A couple passes with the table saw and he had it cut down to size. He then covered the surface with a piece of Bristol Board and secured on all four edges with plastic packaging tape. The board was only meant to be a quick expedient fix, but much to my dad's surprise I've continued to use that board to this day. It is actually the only major object I have left from my childhood.