Sunday, November 23, 2014

MORE ARTISTS' WORK SPACES

Some of my animation friends have work spaces (above) that are dominated by a cacophony of action figures and toys. Since I like clutter you'd think I'd do the same, but I guess there's different kinds of clutter and that kind just isn't me. It's too distracting. Even so, I kinda like this room.

I like the explosion of color and I like the overall lighting. I also kinda like the idea of a flat paper man dangling from a thread.


I have a few figures hanging from the ceiling in my workroom; mostly puppets, mobiles and cartoony paper sculptures.


Oh, yes...and Halloween paraphernalia.


I might consider putting little shelf figures around if I could find more funny ones (above), but they're pricey and in short supply.


Haw! There's always off-model toys...


...and maquettes. I don't have any myself but animators' workspaces are often full of them. I got this picture (above) from the net.


Most of what I have in there are bulletin board pictures (above).


Just funny stuff that cheers me up.


And colorful stuff. Click to enlarge. You can see the texture better when the image fills the whole screen. Texture amplifies and activates color.


My own taste in working surfaces is for the kind of tabletop workspaces painters make for themselves. I'm a line artist who only occasionally paints so it doesn't make any sense but my intuition tells me that painters know something important that I don't so I surround myself with little things I painted that remind me of the mystery of color.


I like to see other artists workspaces. For a casual space this one (above) is fine. This artist has a nice feel for color and shapes. It wouldn't do for someone who has to turn out a high volume, though. There's no room to spread out and not much storage space.


Busy artists usually work in areas like this (above). There's not much time to pretty it up.


Every once in a while I yearn to go back to a simpler workspace. Maybe something like the room I had when I was a kid, where I did my first cartoons. But that's just a fantasy. Where would I put all my junk?

6 comments:

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Ha, love this post, and that dragon marionette is killer! My own work place is restrained comparatively because my wife had a messy artist as a mother and she,(wife), did most of the cleaning as a kid. I had a messy mother for an artist too, and she referred to it as 'creative clutter'. Fortunately for me, I have left a trail of inspiring goodies through out my house that my wife likes, or tolerates.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

I should have said my mother was a messy artist as well. But, it's too late to correct now, unless this constitutes as a correction, then I'm okay.

Anyway, nice post!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Joel: Hey, why don't you post some pictures of your workspace and inspiring goodies, and send a link? I'd like to see how you arrange things. If your space is a mess, don't worry about it. About a fourth of all artists are messy. Einstein was messy. It happens.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Remember you asked for this:

http://joelbrinkerhoff.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-artists-work-space.html

Thanks, and hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Joel: Wow! Thanks a million for the link! I'm so envious that you can be neat and artistic at the same time. That kind of thing is beyond me. I fully expect to be crushed when an avalanche of art clutter falls on me and buries me underneath. It's only a matter of time.

I'm also envious about your ability to sculpt. You don't need studio macquettes...you can make your own.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Thanks for the compliment on the sculpts, Uncle Eddie. Gee, I seem to have dominated the comments. People might thing I'm paying you for exposure because your blog is a popular read for lots of folks.

Anyway, I enjoy your range of topics, thought provoking observations, and humor.

I hope you and yours have a great Thanksgiving! (the check is in the mail)