ArtistsArea

June 13, 2009 2:43 PM

This is the first site on the web to show where real artists and designers work. Painters, musicians, photographers, illustrators. The site lets you see their environment in which they go about the creative process and will hopefully inspire yourselves.

i.e. Rashin Khey - Tehran.

posted by Joe Beese (11 comments total)

where are the writers? i cant relate to these graphical people. i need some inspirations for space for wordsmithing.
posted by radcopter at 3:19 PM on June 13, 2009

Every now and then a "post a photo of your workspace" meme sweeps through my friends. And you know what? Filter out the "workspaces" of the kids who're too young to have a workspace and curl up on their bed... every single one of them looks about the same. You've got your computer desk with a Wacom tablet and a pile of clutter around it, you've got your drafting board or easel with reference images taped or pinned to the wall nearby. Maybe you have a few pieces of art by your buddies or your idols on the wall too. Storage that keeps your favorite tools near at hand.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old thing, but I've never found any inspiration in that, never anything I wanted to add to my own space. Just commonalities: work in the same processes and you drift towards the same workspaces.

There ain't no magical perfect workspace to get your creative motor going; there's just the space in which you've practiced for years and years, the space you've created over time that has everything you want to use where you expect it to be.
posted by egypturnash at 3:38 PM on June 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

radcopter: If it would help, I could take a picture of my workspace to show you the shift and apostrophe keys.
posted by found missing at 3:49 PM on June 13, 2009 [3 favorites]

here, i'll post it for you
posted by pyramid termite at 4:00 PM on June 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

Wow you are pretty grumpy, egypturnash...but I have to agree with you. Sort of. I definitely have a similar reaction to seeing the same workspace over and over. But then there's that one artist who found an exceptional solution to handle cleaning and drying brushes. Or someone built a clever lightbox setup, a versatile arrangement for airbrushing equipment, etc.

The smallest details that could improve my own place. I'd prefer not browsing through 400 photos for those gems, but until someone sits down and filter out all the run-of-the-mill stuff I'll make do I guess.

Know what I'd like more than "just" pictures of workspaces? Howto's and descriptions of the best solutions to un|common problems in various fields. Hm, I haven't spent too much time on instructables in a while. I'm out!
posted by Glee at 4:23 PM on June 13, 2009

Apparently "real" designers aren't the ones working 9-5s in a corporate cubicle.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:04 PM on June 13, 2009

This is the first site on the web to show where real artists and designers work

No it isn't. I mean, of course it isn't.

am I missing something?
posted by longsleeves at 5:51 PM on June 13, 2009 [3 favorites]

[Alexander] Calder at Home is the most inspiring studio tour I've ever seen. (Sorry, I couldn't find a site reproducing any of the book's content, but you're welcome to come over and leaf through my copy.)
posted by moonmilk at 6:06 PM on June 13, 2009

If your library has Alexander Liberman's Artist In His Studio - preferably the 1988 expanded reissue - it's good stuff.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:31 PM on June 13, 2009

Here's a series of photos I took during the process of setting up my studio.
posted by mattdidthat at 12:40 PM on June 14, 2009

I was kind of excited to see this workplace photo. Click to embiggen.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 3:37 PM on June 14, 2009