Peek behind the curtain and see where the magic happens. Illustrator Kelsey Davis takes us on an inspiring tour of her workspace. From vintage paintings and 100-year old French doors to kneeling chairs and mood boards, Kelsey’s space does not disappoint.
Where is your studio?
My studio is the front room of our home so it has a lot of windows and great morning light. Our house turns 100 years old next year so the French doors leading into my studio are a little rickety and in need of a fresh coat of paint, but they’re also my favorite.
What is a must-have for your work space?
Natural lighting is a must for sure. Also, for rainy days and winter I have string lights above my desk and a lamp in the corner to keep it cozy. Avoiding overhead lighting is one of my life’s greatest missions.
How have you made your space functional for your process?
I’ve tried several different computer chairs and have recently landed on a kneeling chair, which has been great for my posture. I also added a small couch and that’s usually where I like to finish the day on my laptop (canceling out all of that great posture work I did the rest of the day, ha).
Tell us a bit about your computer set up.
I use a Mac mini which is amazing if you work in Adobe, I started using it a few years ago and now I rarely get the dreaded “scratch disks full” error message. My workflow involves creating a sketch in Procreate, moving it into Fresco to create the bulk of the artwork, then finishing it off in Illustrator on my computer. I am loving Fresco lately because you can combine vector and raster layers, so when I import into illustrator I can retain my scaleable vector shapes.
What ‘decorates’ your space?
I keep a few inspiring trinkets around my desk (like a random baked potato figurine my husband got me for my birthday) and my great-great-grandma was a floral painter so I love having one of her pieces hanging in my studio. Several plants scattered around. The biggest way my space has evolved over the last few years is that instead of having paint, paper, glue, etc EVERYWHERE.. now it all has a proper place labeled tubs in my closet 🤓
What do you do (if anything) to set the mood for work?
I’m a bit of a recovering craft supplies hoarder so I try to keep it pretty tidy these days. I open the curtains first thing in the morning, do yoga in the studio for 15-20 minutes, have coffee, plan my day in my paper planner, then move to the computer to do a brainstorm/braindump. When I have a project going I try to use the pomodoro cycle method of 30 minutes of focus, followed by a 5 minute break.
What inspirational items are a must for your space?
Digitally, I always have a visual mood board going and a large collection of inspirational notes from podcasts, but I need to print it all out and hang it in my studio. I keep “Show Your Work” by Austin Klein within arms reach.
What if anything would you change about your space? Any dream setups that you aspire to?
Oooh! As far as tool upgrades go, I drool over the massive Wacom tablets. I’ve never used one but they look incredible. Overall I’m pretty content with my space but sometimes I think it would be nice to have a separate little studio in the backyard, because a morning commute through the garden sounds lovely.
View Kelsey Davis’ illustration. Represented by i2i Art.