So I had been doing a little prep for the March meet the maker on the prompt of what is on my desk and it occurred to me I had quite a lot to say about my desk and what lives there. So, If I can get the stats out the way I’d like to start by saying a big thank you to… MY DESK! I love my desk, which is just as well as I think I have calculated a rough total of about 3 thousand hours at this desk for the past year alone - pandemic aside, is still about what I would do anyway… So, if I’ve been doing what I do for the last, lets say 20 years (including desk time clocked during university) that comes in at around 60,000 hours of drawing time. Holy Smokes! This means 41% of every day is lived in this 2 metre square. Then factor in about 30% of every 24 hour period is spent asleep… this means about 60% of my active hours are spent here. Obviously, there are some days where I do more and there are times when I am in fact else where on the planet but these numbers are roughly, give or take, about right.
The Space: A fair bit of nesting goes on around my desk, I like to change things around, try different layouts but the current iteration of my desk is probably my fave ‘go to’ format. Firstly, desks are not supposed to be completely clear or tidy - though I do love to tidy my desk, it rarely stays that way for very long but I like order in the chaos, so more often than not, lots of neat piles of things done and things yet to do. I have so basic standards for levels of desk tidiness, there must always be space for someone to place a lovingly made cup of tea (living my best life), so this means desk coverage shouldn’t be over 70%, optimum for me is 40-50% surface coverage. Ok, so let me just say, if you don’t make artwork or ‘stuff’ at a desk, perhaps if you do not consider yourself to be particularly creative you might be trailing off into a bored trance, however, for some folks out there on this spinning blue sphere of wonder this is THRILLING stuff.
The Atmosphere: I always have a film/tv show playing while I work, I use it partly as a measurement of time but also as a kind of ‘grounding’ when working. It’s something familiar that I know so well I barely even notice it. This means I’ve watched a selection of things over and over and over again. There is a strange comfort of watch the same thing over and over, its like having a safety net to catch a wandering mind. My most frequented genre is Science fiction with Stargate SG1 series sitting at the top of the heap but I have also just worked my way through the x-files for the second time in the past year while munching through a huge illustration job.
The Tools: As for my drawing tools, of which I stash in every perceivable location, I have my faves but Im happy to say I’ve grown since the days of ‘I only use Rotring rapidographs’, I’m much more open to using a whole bunch of different pens to achieve different qualities of line these days. I used to feel oddly triumphant having completed a complex drawing with nothing but a 0.18 (which is actually insane) I am now much more partial to using a brush with a nice ink or a massive posca marker and mix it with technical fine liners and Japanese brush pens. Time is precious and spending a week filling an entire surface area with a fine liner just seems like a bad life choice to me now. So, all are welcome at my table!
As for pencils, I had a recent revelation with pencils. It was like a new discovery for me, like, I knew what they were and YES I had used them before but over the course of many years they had become the thing you use in preparation for the actual thing, not the thing itself. A few years back I started a graphite sketchbook as part of my drawing practice - and by that I mean the practice of practicing - not in reference to my ‘business practice’. (so many terms). They are still not yet ‘the thing itself’ but I’m working on it - and I’m pretty open to it now, which is at least a step in the right direction.
