All of us when we start out painting or drawing just start anywhere and just sketch, but having a separate space for your art as your progress and become more serious is actually crucially important. Why? Well, we’ll get to that in just a moment (if you want to skip to that then just click here) but let me tell you my story and what I found out about having a separate studio space for my art was so important.
When I started drawing, I was in my bedroom, and I just drew any old place, not thinking much of it. Always just drawing on this wooden desk that you can see in some of my early videos on YouTube here. Then… s some time passed on, I moved to a much larger bedroom and my old room became my dads office. In my new room I had so much more space, and I still had that wooden desk to draw on; by this point, I wanted to start creating more video content, and produce more and more works, really exploring into what I wanted to do and achieve as an artist. Not long after making moving to my new room I found that I began to get really bad neck ache, so I looked into getting a drafting table, and I got one which solved my issue really well, and that then moved me away from that wooden desk, and I had this little section in my room which became my go-to spot for creating artworks. Pretty much all and any of the work I would do would only be done in that spot because I wanted to record and upload me drawing.
Bare in mind here as well, that I was also doing college work here and my whole room just became this area that I would work and do everything I needed in this one area; I actually found that I wasn’t needed to leave my room very much at all, as it was everything I needed in one, my relaxing space, art studio, college work area, sleeping area, just everything rolled into one; which, at first sounds quite nice, and enjoyed it for a while, but after about 6 months or so, I realised I was hardly interacting with my family, and I was just spending all of my time in my room.
So…… just before I started back at college, my dad moved out of my old room aka his office, and we transformed it into my studio and work area. I found this so much nicer, as I was leaving my room to work and interact with my family, I do not work in my room now, and it is just a place to relax, so my brain just knows which mode it needs to turn on depending on the room.
I have one corner in my studio with my drawing desk, an easel, and a sable to put my pencils and brushes; then on one wall, I have a storage area which is full of art supplies and all my art books; then I also have a desk for my computer, as well as a sofa to just take a break on when I need it.
So now we’ve read my little story, let’s read what about all the benefits of having a separate studio space for your art.
You will have a much better work and life balance.
This means that you will be able to separate your work life from your family life. If you are working in the same area as you use to relax, then it is very easy to convince yourself to just do a little bit of work here and there every now and then, and then taking more breaks as well as getting distracted very easily. But by having a separate studio space, whether it be just a different room, or a studio apartment a block away from your house, then it will benefit not only your life astronomically, but it will also benefit your family’s life. Having a separate studio space means that you are much less likely to be doing work when you’re meant to be spending time with your family, for us artists that usually means taking a sketchbook with us to watch tv with the family, or if you’re a digital artist, taking your tablet to bed, and so on. Having this separate space to work will help you switch on and off into different gears of yourself, so when you’re in the living room, you know to just relax and having fun, but the moment you walk into your studio, you get in the mindset to work, and that’s all you need to focus on in that area. (Which brings me straight to my next point)
You can switch your creative brain on and off much easier.
Moving from one area to another (your relaxing area, to your studio) will help to reinforce that idea of switching gears by creating distance and space from one area to the other. You will find yourself able to get in the mindset of creativity when you’re in your studio.
It also helps to create a rhythm in your life, this works the same way as it does with going to the gym; when you’re at home, you don’t really fancy working out, or you can’t because you don’t have the equipment, but you know that you need to work out so you go the gym, and you have a set time each day that you need to go there to get the results you want. Having a studio space works the exact same way, if you are dead set on having this as your career, then you know you need to get work done, so you keep all of your supplies in your studio, so you know that you need to go the studio to get any work done, and you create a set time each day when you need to get this work done, and you may not feel like doing it each and every day, because you are just in your relaxing area, so you’re in the mindset of just relaxing, that’s why it’s so important to create that rhythm and routine in your life, so you know that when you get to your studio, you will be filled with this burning passion to create.
Make your studio space inspiring to you.
But just having that separate space might not be enough for a lot of us, one very important tip about having your own working area and studio, is having inspirational things all around you, this could be painting by your favourite artists to get you in the mood of creativity and want to get painting straight away to get that masterpiece done; or it could be having plants or skulls, whatever your jam is, it’s your space, you can do whatever you want with it, just as long as it motivates you to create, and this will really boost your whole motive for creativity, and getting things done.
