For those of you who like to be nosey - like me!
My desk is where I spend 99% of my time during a working day, the other 1% is when I'm refilling my cuppa! Here's a list of a few of my essential items you can find close to hand.
So here goes...
Laptop - it goes without saying, I use my laptop A LOT. First thing in the morning I'll use it to check emails, social media (who doesn't love a morning facebook scroll...) and prepare an image I might be using for drawing. I also love having a podcast or audio book on the go too, as I like listening to people talk, when you work alone it's a good way to stop you going crazy!
Tea - I like to think of this as my fuel for the day. If I haven't had my morning cuppa, it's pretty pointless trying to get any sense out of my for the rest of the day. I'm pretty picking about which mugs I'll use, and at the moment my favourite is my Emma Bridgewater mug. I think I can get through a good 5 or 6 cups on average!
Pencils - I guess this is kind of obvious, the majority of my work portrait work is done in coloured pencils. My favourite brands to use are the Faber Castell Polychromos, they're an oil based pencil, which come in a huge range of colours, layer beautifully and can be sharpened into a fine point. If you buy one set of pencils, make it this one!
My Phone - A boring one I know, but I tend to have my phone on me most of the time, I like to use it to update my Instagram, and I use the camera function a lot to keep track of my process as I find it interesting to look back on.
Rubber putty - because we all make mistakes!
Sharpener - I mean again this is probably pretty obvious, but I like to keep my pencils sharp most of the time, I don't actually bother with fancy sharpeners, I've used a fair few and my cheap ones off amazon do a great job!
Inspiration Board - I was inspired by Tara Punter to have a vision board of things I'd like to achieve. For me, this includes things I'd like to achieve in my business, but also things I'd like to one day work towards having. Mine also includes a field of sheep and a trip to South Africa!
Paper - It would be pretty difficult to go through a drawing without using paper! I've used a fair few brands over the years, and I'm pretty indecisive about which is my favourite. One which I'm liking at the moment is the Strathmore Bristol vellum surface - it holds a lot of colour on it which allows for lots of layers. The other is hot pressed watercolour paper, I've used a few different brands, but in my paper rack at the moment is the Saunders Waterford. If I'm using pastels then I'll go to the very popular pastel mat, but I personally do not like this for coloured pencil work.
“Creative minds are rarely tidy.”
^ I Hope this is true, because I'm one of the messiest people going... and my desk is normally no exception!
Add a Closing
It probably goes without saying, there are lots of other things I might use throughout the day too, but these things always tend to be to hand on a day to day basis.
I hope you enjoyed this first sneak peak into some of my everyday staples, and stay tuned for more snippets into my day to day life.