My Workspace

Here's a shot of my workspace, for the three people out there who might be mildly interested. Yep, this is where the magic happens!

It's set up in the corner of the spare bedroom that's become my office/studio. My house has three bedrooms, which if added together would make one normal sized bedroom for the average human adult.

Up until about a year ago I had a sad little pre-fab pressboard desk from Walmart. The way it was designed (with shelves in the front) prevented me from putting my legs under it, so whenever I did any work I had to sit "sidesaddle." It was as uncomfortable as it was embarrassing. This probably explains why I didn't do as much illustrating as I would have liked back then-- I couldn't sit for very long with my body twisted like that.

I also had what must have been one of the first 17" monitors ever made. It was a good 2.5 feet deep, and weighed at least 75 pounds. It also took up all the available real estate on the desk; the monitor was literally flush with the front of the desk. There was ZERO desk space available. I had to hold the keyboard in my lap.

So last year I decided enough was enough. I ditched the tiny desk and bought a glass top one. Since my office had limited space, I thought a desk that was virtually invisible wouldn't fill up the space visually. I also ditched the giant monitor and bought a new flat panel display.

Now I can actually draw with my legs under the desk, facing the same direction as my head. And with the flat panel monitor I actually have some desk space now. I wish I'd upgraded a long time ago.

From left to right, you can see the Asian inspired floor lamp (which isn't nearly as bright in real life as it appears here), a Simpsons character poster, a dogs playing poker poster (always a classic), an autographed photo of Yvonne Craig as Batgirl (growwwwl!), an autographed photo of B-movie actor John Agar (given to me by my pal Keith), and a drawing of Scrooge McDuck (sadly not drawn by Carl Barks). On the desk is a Dwight Shrute bobblehead on the left, and a tin windup robot on the right. My precious graphic tablet is on the pull out shelf below the desk, and the unholy tangle of cables and cords is at the bottom of the photo.

I bet you wouldn't have believed anyone could write so much about a freakin' desk, huh?