The Piece of Furniture That Boosted My Productivity

It wasn't a desk chair

It still feels weird calling my studio a “studio.” Although it is the room where I create most of my art, it also used to be my bedroom, and for a long time, my drawing desk was next to my bed. It wasn’t a great system. Mostly the bed became a repository for artwork in progress, and allowed me to take more naps than was probably advisable.

My old desk and bed setup.

I wholeheartedly do NOT recommend this, but it’s usually what happened.

A few years ago I finally got rid of the damn thing, but then discovered a problem—over time, I’d accidentally become used to my bed as a working environment, at least for any work like writing that required my laptop. If I tried to type at my desk, I got antsy and kept wishing I could put my feet up.

Since I’m more of the “lean into one’s inherent laziness than try to fight it” type, I wound up getting a used couch on Kaiyo to replace the bed, along with various cute throws from HomeGoods. I can still nap on it, just not as comfortably, which seems like a good compromise.

On a good day it looks like this.

Cozy!

Most days, it looks more like this.

This is where the magic happens. (Except for drawing of course, that I still do at my desk.)

Before You Go…

I’ll be teaching another free SAW comics workshop this Friday evening, Exploring Your Comfort Zone Using Comics. Come join me!

This class will be a mini preview of the course I’m teaching in August at the Omega Institute, where we’ll explore what the much-maligned comfort zone can teach us about ourselves as creative people. You can sign up for here.