This particular little hand drawn poster says “YOUR IDEAS MATTER.”

It’s an important message: your ideas matter. I was reminded of it yesterday when I read this article in NYT, about How To Be Old. Roger Rosenblatt reminds us, “Don’t forget to bestow confidence. It’s the best thing you can give someone you love. Saying “You can do it” to a loved one in a situation in which that person has self-doubt — taking an exam, making a speech, writing a poem — means more than any sweet profession of affection. It means that you love that person so wholeheartedly that you wish him or her the inner satisfaction of self-realization. The pride of achieving themselves. What more can you say that so expresses your love?”

A few years ago when I was visiting Parker in LA we drove by a sandwich board on the lawn in front of someone’s house. On one side it said: your ideas matter. We sped past it and I whipped my head around 180 degrees to read the other side: your dreams matter. What a lovely message and what a lovely thing to put on your lawn, where you could put pretty much anything you’d like. You could plant a garden of flowers for others to enjoy. Or you could plant an idea.

I agree with Rosenblatt; the best gifts I’ve ever received have come in the form of genuine encouragement. Next week, I’ll turn in my complete book to my publisher. This book (which you still know very little about, sorry, I’ll share more soon I promise!) is my garden, inside of which I’ve planted all of the best idea seeds I have. 4.5 years of my heart and soul have gone into this book. But also, a lifetime of people telling me I could do it, believing in my ideas, and encouraging my dreams. I really can’t stress that enough.

My family never once told me I shouldn’t follow my creative dreams. In fact, they encouraged me to go for it. My partner and friends are next level hyper-upper cheerleaders, supporting me every step of the way. And then there’s my peers and the artists and professionals I look up to — I remember, or even print out, every word of encouragement I get from them. I believe in myself, sure, but I really needed others to believe in me, too.

I’m curious, what seeds have you been planting out in the world lately? And what seeds have others planted for you? I’d love to hear in the comments!

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Last year, I found these cute golfball smiley stickers at my local scrap art supply store. I have this curse where every time a sticker enters my life, it sits on the counter for weeks or months. As soon as I finally move it to my sticker collection, another sticker enters my life and builds a home on a surface in my home.

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“Most people spend so long deciding and they never start. I start. And I figure it out on the way.” - Shuaitong Zong

People talk about creative block, but they don’t talk about this other kind of block where you have a lot of creative ideas and can’t figure out how to actually make any of them happen. In this video, artist Shuaitong Zong talks about how she uses underthinking as a tool to put her ideas into motion. She says that “underthinking isn’t chaos, it’s just removing everything that stands in between the idea and the work.” I think that this is an essential skill to have as an artist.

I’ve been in a rut lately, overthinking a lot of my ideas into a grave. I’ll have an idea, and then I’ll spiral into all of the potential positive and negative outcomes. I’ll overwhelm myself getting ten steps ahead of things.

These kinds of thoughts include: how much money will it make, that’s not enough money, and how would I promote it, I don’t want to promote it, what if …

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Musicians have tiny desk concerts and artists have tiny desks in tiny cabins and large forests to be inspired by. Today’s tiny desk is Avery Elias’s. I’m a big fan of Avery’s art and her blog, Snail Tales.

Avery lives in a special place called the Yukon which I had to look up on the map. It’s directly very very very north of San Francisco and apparently much colder and darker too. This environment works for Avery. She’s in tune with her natural surroundings, the climate, and the darkness, and from the looks of it, she channels this connectedness beautifully through her work.

Avery makes an interesting point about time. She says, “it feels like time doesn’t matter when everything is sleeping in a frozen world.” I understand what she means. From 9-5, when everyone else is working too, I find myself racing against the clock, putting pressure on myself to produce and create. The harder I try to focus, the faster time goes, I panic, and I get nothing done. And then, right around 5pm, when I…

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Inherent enoughness

Last week I turned 31! On my birthday I did some reflecting and came to the conclusion that I have enough and I am enough. Enough is a choice I can make. Enough is a mindset I can access. Sounds simple enough, but I forget this all the time as a maximizer who always wants more more more out of everything, everyone, every moment, and myself. I cause myself a lot of suffering by losing touch with the inherent enoughness of things. If I can access the feeling of enoughness, I will always have enough.

The sun is still there

It was foggy on my birthday. And it’s usually foggy on my birthday here in San Francisco, which is ranges from mildly to wildly disappointing for me. I have a complicated relationship with fog (I mostly hate it) as a sun lizard. But this year, somehow, I accepted it. I felt such a deep sense of enoughness wh…

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I imagine that anyone’s visual diary would be interesting, no matter who they were or how “boring” their life was. In fact, I’d like to see your visual diary. Yeeeeahhhh I’m talkin’ to you, pal. Maybe you’re looking for a prompt for your next post? Maybe this could be the one? LET ME SEE INSIDE OF YOUR LIFE please!

This isn’t exactly what an average day in my life looks like, but it is a peek into my average world. Vámonos!

A few Fridays ago I walked from 10:30am-6:30pm, 12 miles total, across San Francisco. No planned route. I carried a blank journal the whole time and wrote and draw about what I noticed. I started by taking this dirt path into Golden Gate Park.

The path led me to what look like two abandoned wells. I need to learn more about these but I’m having trouble finding any information online! Anyone know anything about these?

This is my neighborhood. Directly ahead, the San Francisco Bay, The Golden Gate Bridge, and the Marin Headlands. I am nestled squarely between two gigantic parks and surrounded on three sides by water. Hard to beat! You know when you try to take a picture of a beautiful moon and it comes out looking far less epic than it looks in reality? That’s what’s happening here with the bridge and the water. This view, this neighborhood, in real life, is epic.

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If we haven’t met yet, I’m Allie Sullberg, and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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For the next week, I’m offering 10% off all new paid subscriptions. Thank you for your support! And thank you to the generous paid subscribers who make this work possible!

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Musicians have tiny desk concerts and artists have tiny desks. Sometimes, artists even build their own desks! This week, we get to see behind the large industrial door of my friend Travis Nichols’s newish studio in Brooklyn.

Travis is a multi-talented artist (proof: picture above in clown nose and picture below with power tool). He writes and illustrates books, he clowns, and he builds out dreamy studios for himself. He’s the kind of person who has an idea and acts on it, and we all get to have the pleasure of witnessing the joyful things he creates.

Speaking of witnessing the joyful things he creates, here’s Travis on his studio and what he’s working on in there:

Travis: I’ve had a bunch of different studios over the years, mostly rooms in converted factories and warehouses with the pipes and metal sliding doors and foot-thick wooden beams and zero soundproofing or insulation in the walls. Often in neighborhoods full of buildings like that that still make and do, like, industrial things. It feels good to be around all of that.

The other day, I was stepping out of the apartment dressed like a fella who punches giant rivets into sheet metal or whatever, and my partner goes, “There he goes—off to play with pipe cleaners!” Can you believe that? Read to absolutely filth in my own living room.

I just moved in to a new studio in Brooklyn after working out of apartments for the past four years. In my old place, I let the sawdust and junk pile up, but in my current apartment, my studio was also a guest room, sooooooo… here I am!

My studio is 11 feet by 14 feet and 14 feet tall. So instead of just plopping a desk in a corner, I started thinking about building UP. Plus, there’s a window (to the hall) 7 feet off the ground, so my first big plan was a desk/workbench with a loft on top so I could access the window. It’s all 2x4s and 4x4s and 3/4” plywood. The overall structure is 4 feet by 8 feet, making it the biggest desk I’ve ever had, let alone built.

It’s spiritually separated into 3 sections: computer on the left, arts & crafts in the middle, and tools & building on the right. My thinking is that it’s cleaner the farther left you go and potentially messier the farther right you go. And aaaaaas you can see, it’s not SUPER strict. Should drawing on an iPad happen in the computer area or the arts & crafts area? SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS.

I’m really trying to be more organized in this space, now that I have the room. Everything should have a dang place. Hopefully that translates into good and efficient and peaceful work. I’ll follow up.

My favorite thing on this desk is the little clown lamp my ladyfriend got me as a studio warming gift. Clown is pretty much my entire dang world, and this lamp is so sweet and soft and cozy.

I have so many art supplies and tools that I’ve amassed over the years, and I’m not done at ALL, but there are a few essentials that I like to have nearby whether I’m at my studio or out in the wide world. A pocket notebook (I make these m’self—they’re full of all sorts of different reclaimed papers), my toy camera that prints on receipt paper, a pocket knife (most often my Swiss Army Huntsman—pictured is a simple and FREAKING SCARY SHARP knife my dad sent me recently), and at least one of my favorite pencils: a 2mm OHTO mechanical pencil, a Koh-I-Noor Technigraph 5611 (plastic, 2mm, pictured) or an Adapto 5616 (metal, 2mm, at home), and the Caran d’Ache Bicolor 999 red+blue. I like my pencils THICK.

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Something else I really like about the desk-thing itself are all of the markings and stamps on the boards. The lumber mills they came from, PREMIUM PREMIUM PREMIUM, barcodes… I love wood. I respect wood. I love and respect wood.

The part I still need to finish on this thing is the loft. My plan is to turn it into a nice reading nook. Bookshelf, little table, one of those legless chairs designed for, you know, playing N64 and pounding Fruit by the Foot. There’s currently a sketchy ladder to get up here, but v2 is some steep stairs.

I still have a lot to do to get this studio really organized. Sometimes I put off the broad stroke needs (like dealing with the crazy pile of everything by my lockers) to do something fun like make a pulley system for hanging jackets above the door.

For me, the broad strokes and the fun details are equally essential for making a space feel good and mine. Even though I’m not “finished”, this space already makes me wanna build stuff and write and draw and host little workshops. Main projects this year are pitching a new book and putting out a card game. I’m also working on a long-form clown show and making a bunch of different props. And yeah! Workshops? Maybe? Anyway, I’ll let you let me go. I hope your day is SO good.

Check out more of Travis’s work here and follow him on ye olde app which must not be named.

Thanks for reading! If we haven’t met yet, I’m Allie Sullberg, and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing. Likes, comments, and shares are also a quick and meaningful way to support! Paid subscribers make this work possible. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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Flags are political. Consumerism and consumption are political. Having a body and taking care of it is political. Arts funding and programming are political. Creative spaces are political. Reclaiming attention by getting offline is political. Speaking to your neighbors is political. Sharing economies are political. Deep listening is political. Fatherhood is political. Being a woman is political. Being queer is political.

If you don’t view these things as political, perhaps your identity or your body haven’t been the subject of supreme court rulings, or you haven’t felt that your personal autonomy was being challenged or limited by the powers that be. But I know that you’re a human being, so I know that you have been, are currently, and always will be impacted by political decisions, whether or not you choose to be a political person.

I’m not using the word politics as a generalization. I’m talking about identity politics and legislative decisions that impact rights, funding, access, and quality of life. We fail to see race, gender, sexuality, art ecosystems, and community ecosystems as political when we are out of touch with the fact that all of these things are interconnected and impacted by actual legislation.

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Musicians have tiny desk concerts and artists have tiny desks. In this week’s installment of Tiny Desk Tour, I’m pleased to welcome artist Gizem Vural. I came to know of Gizem through her incredibly unique abstract and expressive approach to editorial illustration. Over the past few years, I’ve followed along as she transitioned seamlessly into the fine art world. It’s not easy to seamlessly transition a style back and forth between digital and traditional mediums, but Gizem excels at this. Here’s her bio:

Gizem Vural is an award-winning illustrator/artist from Istanbul, living and working in New York. She studied graphic design at Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts between 2006-2012. After dropping out she moved to New York to pursue becoming an illustrator. Since then she worked with many big publications and companies like The New Yorker, The New York Times, Apple and Bloomberg... Her colorful work is recognized by prestigious American Illustration and she is holding three medals from Society of Illustrators. As of 2024, she focused on creating abstract artworks and working with galleries and collectors.

Without further ado, Gizem’s Tiny Desk Tour!

I have always liked being tidy. I used to keep my pencils sharp, arranged by color, each in its own place and box. On my desk there were always pencils and colored pencils, good-quality drawing paper, and sketchbooks. Over the years, my desk has changed many times, reflecting the shifts in my practice.

At university as a graphic design student the main object on my desk was my laptop, central to my design projects. When I moved to New York, pencils and paper slowly took over more space. Later, as my interest in illustration grew, my desk became dominated by my laptop and a Wacom drawing tablet.

With time, working on editorial illustration, my practice became a mix of traditional and digital work, and my desk grew larger to accommodate both working on paper and digitally on an iPad.

Now, my desk is more messy. Oil pastels, crayons, colored pencils, sealing mediums, papers, and linen share the space with books and reference materials. As I work on abstract artworks and leave my illustration career behind, my desk has become messy for the first time.

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You can find color charts in many sizes that I’ve made, different kinds of materials, printed reference photos from nature—some taken by me, others found online alongside books and sketches that feed my inspiration.

While developing new ideas, I keep a small circle of books and references close to me, like sources I return to again and again. One of them is Nature’s Palette, a color collection drawn directly from the natural world. Since nature is my primary source of inspiration I’m drawn to using colors as they exist in nature itself.

I also often revisit Karl Blossfeldt’s Art Forms in the Plant World, along with books on the work of Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Tamuna Sirbiladze. These references support me especially in the sketching phase, helping me discover new approaches to composition, layering, and the development of shapes.

Sometimes I need books or images nearby to help me remember my focus. It’s easy to drift into thoughts about future projects and ideas, and these visual anchors help guide me back to what matters in the moment.

Music is important when I work. My compact CD player, playing ambient music on repeat. It helps me focus. When I’m deeply engaged in my work, I can easily lose track of time, the process becomes a form of meditation, a way of processing everything in my life. When I’m absorbed in making, I feel completely elsewhere.

In a studio, large windows are one of the things I look for. They help me feel connected to something larger than the space I’m in. I need to see the sky and the clouds. This view plays an important role in my working process, especially at the beginning, when ideas are still forming. Some people like to walk outside to think; I prefer to stay and watch the sky—the movement of birds, the shifting shapes of clouds. It reminds me that there is more than the world immediately around me. It makes me feel small in a good way, and encourages me to think beyond what I am focused on.

Be sure to check out Gizem’s website and follow her on Instagram and Substack.

Thanks for reading! I’m an independent freelance artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing, sharing, or liking this post. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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Happy Women’s History Month!

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending Athleta’s “Wake the Water” event in partnership with Ocean Beach Plunge Club. We went on a long walk to work up a sweat, plunged in the chilly San Francisco ocean, and enjoyed goodies from local women-owned businesses The Laundromat, Devil’s Teeth Baking Company, and Andytown Coffee Roasters, all of which happen to be located in my neighborhood!

Over 250 women attended the walk and took the plunge, with tickets reaching capacity just 90 minutes after launching, and the waitlist exceeding 400, speaking to how much women are seeking community, connection, movement, and outdoor experiences.

Athleta pledged to donate $250 to the non-profit Girls on the Run Bay Area for each woman who took the plunge, sponsoring girls to participate in empowering after school programs. They successfully maxed out their pledge at $50,000! Girls on the Run has empowered over 2.7 million girls in their 30 years of operation. So. Freaking. Rad.

I was chatting with Olivia, the Athleta employee who invited me to the event, and she remarked, “this is quintessential girlhood.” Instinctually, I knew this to be true. But intellectually, (cue Carrie Bradshaw voice) I couldn’t help but wonder, what is girlhood and what does it have to do with plunging into freezing cold water? I was determined to find out.

The Walk & Plunge

Because I’m a very serious and focused journalist, I attended the event alone. But it didn’t stay that way for long. A pair of women asked, “are you here alone?” and invited me to hang out with them. Part of the tradition and ceremony of the Ocean Beach Plunge Club is a five mile walk pre-plunge to get the blood pumpin’ and the sweat drippin’. The walk also creates time and space for women to connect through conversation.

The air and water are typically cold here in San Francisco, so plunging never gets any easier. Set with a new group of supportive friends, I was ready to go for it. We ran into the water together giggling and screaming and emerged refreshed and renewed. The post-plunge vibes on the beach? Impeccable.

After plunging, I met Deepika, Janice, and Somya, a group of blissed-out friends who attended the event together. Deepika shared that it was her first plunge in San Francisco and Janice mentioned how special it was to have women of all ages gathering in a safe space together. Somya reflected, “it’s amazing to see a lot of feminine empowering energy because when women do physical things we tend to pull back and men tend to go first. It’s amazing to see women leading women.”

The Conclusive and Very Official Girlhood Findings

Girls on the Run is an incredible example of women leading (future) women. Girls on the Run was created in response to the decline of girls’ mental health and physical activity levels over the past decade. Girls on the Run addresses these concerns by giving girls the tools they need in order to build confidence, develop meaningful relationships, and discover the joy of movement.

As women, there is so much meaning and power in staying in touch with our girlhood so that we can understand and empower the next generation of girls. The plunge is the perfect metaphor for girlhood: we know it’s going to be hard, we do it together, and we come out stronger, healthier, and happier on the other side. Girlhood means running toward our challenges together.

As we wrapped up our dreamy morning on the beach, a man asked, “isn’t tomorrow International Women’s Day?” Silly man! Every day is International Women’s Day. We just love an excuse to build community on a beautiful day.

Thank you Athleta, Girls On The Run Bay Area, and Ocean Beach Plunge Club for supporting women and girls in so many ways!

Thanks for reading! If we haven’t met yet, I’m Allie Sullberg, and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing. Likes, comments, and shares are also a quick and meaningful way to support! Paid subscribers make this work possible. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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Hi friends! I am writing my shortest post ever to share about the longest project I have ever worked on and some really great news about it! In 2021, I set out on a 9.5 mile long walk on a Wednesday with a blank sketchbook and an intention to observe and document the world around me. I came home with the beginnings of a book. I’ve worked and worked and worked on it over the past five years with the goal of publishing it.

The great news is that I sold my book back in November and it will be published next fall with Chronicle! I’m fighting every urge to get sappy and nostalgic about this, so I’ll just say that writing and illustrating books about creativity is my lifelong dream and this deal means a whole lot to me. Hopefully this will be the first of many books.

The book is about a lot of the same stuff I write about here, like curiosity, creativity, paying attention, and noticing things. It is hand-drawn, hand-written, and collaged. I think you’ll love it! I'm excited to share more about the writing, pitching, and publishing process (lemmeknowwhatyawannaknow!) as I patiently await the fall 2027 publishing date. The best way to stay in the loop about the book is to be subscribed to this here Substack!

Many thanks to my agent Michele Martin and my editor Rachel Hiles for their support and belief in this book. And thank YOU for subscribing and supporting my work. In so many ways, you being here for the things I write and draw is what made this possible.

Thanks for reading! If we haven’t met yet, I’m Allie Sullberg, and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing. Likes, comments, and shares are also a quick and meaningful way to support! Paid subscribers make this work possible. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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Musicians give tiny desk concerts for NPR, and artists give tiny desk tours for The Museum of Small and Important Things. Today’s featured artist is Carolyn Yoo. Carolyn is an artist, writer, and notebook lover exploring what it means to live a devoted creative life. Carolyn writes about creative practice, journaling, and more in her newsletter See You.

In 2022, Carolyn made a huge shift from a decade-long career as a software engineer to a career as a freelance illustrator. Now, she shifts from desk to desk in her home studio, embracing the variety of tasks and skills it takes to be a freelance creative. I loved learning about the way her studio setup reflects the many facets of her creative process and career. I’ll let Carolyn take it from here!

Hi Tiny Desk readers, welcome to my studio. I work from my NYC apartment in a half bedroom connected to the main bedroom.

I’ve lived in this home for eight years with my husband. He kindly relinquished this half bedroom so it could serve as my office and creative space. This room has seen MANY different configurations through the years that we’ve lived here (including the never-ending pandemic era). I get the itch to switch up my studio setup every year, feeling a burst of creative energy afterward—like the high of setting up a new planner!

You’re catching me at a good time because I have just rearranged things recently and have not just one, but THREE tiny desks to show you.

First is my main desk, the digital zone where you’ll find my computer, iPad, and printer. Much of my workday is spent here, writing or editing all sorts of things—images, videos, class outlines.

Lately I’ve been working on my next seasonal companion zine, Spring Practice. I have my vision board taped up on the wall along with other inspirations of the moment. I like a bit of visual clutter on my walls, but prefer to keep my desk surface tidy.

I keep a bunch of washi tapes, sticky notes, and binder clips within reach, always ready to jot down a note, tape something down to paper or the wall, or hold a journal page down while I write and draw.

I have a separate analog desk, a small folding desk in front of the window. I journal, read, and write longhand here.

I’ve only set up this desk in late January and it’s been working wonders, both for getting sunshine while being a homebody this winter and for slowing down and entering a more reflective state for writing.

Last is my storage desk. This used to be my analog desk when I worked an office job, but now I don’t really use it much. My unruly monstera plant is shoved next to my cabinet at the moment so it can be trained upward.

The desk does work well for painting on canvas and stepping outside my office to see it from a distance. For smaller works on paper, I’ll bring out my paints from my cabinet and set up on my main desk.

Three desks in a 75 square foot room is a bit much, I know! I’ve inherited my immigrant parents’ hoarding tendencies, so I like to repurpose things I own to their fullest extent before getting rid of them. All I know is that I’m happy to bounce around from desk to desk, switching up my environment for different projects and motives.

Thanks for joining us, Carolyn! Be sure to check out Carolyn’s gorgeous shop, which is filled with zines, prints, and digital guides. Carolyn’s next Zine Lab workshop begins March 3!

And thanks for reading! I’m an independent freelance artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing, sharing, or liking this post. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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I was making babka when I received a long voice note from my friend.

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You didn’t ask me, but if you asked me, I would say that adulthood is too much paperwork and too few worksheets. So much of the paperwork we have to do could just be a simple worksheet instead. And paperwork almost never has pictures on it. I think the IRS could stand to hire an illustrator or two?!

Sometimes there’s paperwork where there should be a worksheet. I would immediately feel better if my doctor gave me a worksheet like this with a set of colored pencils at the beginning of each appointment:

Sometimes there’s no paperwork when there should absolutely be paperwork. You know, for the really important things in life, like if you’re wondering whether or not your friends still want to be friends:

Or if the friend paperwork is too intimidating, a simple worksheet could do. This one is useful for us reassurance seekers:

Valentine’s day is in a week. Maybe you need a card. Perhaps you could use this:

All worksheets are available for free download here. If you do use any of these, I would love to see a picture or hear about it. You can just leave a comment, no need to fill out any paperwork. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading! I’m an independent freelance artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing, sharing, or liking this post. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

There are a couple of ways one could look at obsessive documentation. On one hand, it’s a way to connect more deeply with what is, whatever that may be. On the other hand, it can distract from what is! I do it anyway. I consider documenting everything the great intersection of my art practice and my writing practice. I’m sure someone would say that this is what artists and writers do, collect and document obsessively. I have chosen a handful of topics and interests of which I carefully collect thoughts, images, and drawings in various folders and boxes on my physical and digital desktops. They’ll come in handy one day, I know it.

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Musicians give tiny desk concerts for NPR, and artists give tiny desk tours for The Museum of Small and Important Things. Today’s featured artist is Anoosha Syed of Studio Secrets!

Here’s Anoosha’s bio: “I’m a Pakistani-Canadian illustrator-extraordinaire based in Dallas, TX. With a decade of experience in character design, animation, and publishing, I’ve illustrated over forty children’s books (and counting!) and am currently working on my fourth authored title. As a kid who rarely saw herself in the books she loved, I now create the kind of stories I once needed… ones that celebrate kids for who they are.”

I first came across Anoosha via her YouTube channel, which she shares loads of helpful information for illustrators. I am blown away by her ability to write, illustrate, and create high-quality informational content. How does a person have time to do all three? Maximum efficiency, years of experience, crystal clear focus, and an organized studio, perhaps.

Many of us have an image of an ideal studio in our heads. A studio is a beautiful space dedicated to making art and art only. Not making dinner for husbands or entertainment for kids. I often think about how Miranda July did this, but with an entire apartment. That kind of separation isn’t really possible for most of us, so we make do with the space we have and accept and manage the mess of entangled and entwined identities (partner, mom, artist, etc.) and objects (art materials, personal projects, and kid toys).

Studio spaces change over time and reflect our current life circumstances. Even Miranda July is moving out of her studio this month. Anoosha’s account of studios present and past is a pretty dang good example of the way an artist’s space can change over time and I appreciated her reflections on what’s best for her and her family for the time being.

Without further ado, Anoosha’s desk tour!

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Anoosha: I want to share with the readers that it took me several weeks to gather the photos needed for this Tiny Desk Edition. I kept waiting for those rare moments when my studio is clean and aesthetic and substack-worthy. But I eventually gave up on that notion, because I have a rambunctious, curious toddler… Especially because I share my studio space with him! As he sits on my desk, he even gives frequent contributions to my writings like “ond noyg mt”. How poignant!

And so here is an honest look at what a parent-artist’s working space might look like.

Although I hate working from home, we felt it was best to have my studio at home for the time being. In the past, I have worked at co-working studios and artist lofts.

On one end, I have an array of Nayel’s books and toys. These will normally be all over the floor. Note the baby gates and child-proof locks on every drawer; this is a must when you have tempting and expensive art supplies.

At the moment, I don’t have anything very exciting on my desks! I am in the middle of a book submission (wish me luck!) and am taking this month to focus on my Youtube channel and other projects, since I know I’ll be in the thick of drawing again soon enough. On my drafting table is my Inktober art piece, that will soon be framed for the nursery.

My desk is either going to be covered in junk (checks needing to be deposited, 3 empty mugs, various toys), or be cleared entirely so they don’t get grabbed by Nayel. Note; the standing desk also has a child-proof lock. The wall calendar, from Andy J Pizza, is purely decorational and still stuck in December. The Brittney Lee Ladies calendar on my bookshelf is from 2017 and stuck in March, but at least that’s coming up again soon.

One of my favourite parts of this room are my bookshelves. They are entirely dedicated to picture books. The shelf on the left is composed of books from various authors; some gifted by publishing friends and some bought myself. The one on the right is made up of my own published books. Most of my fun trinkets are found on these shelves. I am a stuffie collector, and these are found on the fireplace, shared begrudgingly by my toddler.

I also do a lot of filming in this corner of the room. I have two tripods set up for easy access; one for my DSLR and the other for my phone (which is conveniently being used as a bag rack right now.) You can also see a sneak peek of my upcoming book, Love In Every Language on my Ikea drawers. I received the proofs earlier this month, though they still need a few color tweaks before they go to print.

I’ll be honest, I am not happy with my current set-up. My ADHD brain works best with routine and a dedicated workspace, but with a child I often find myself working from anywhere from my couch to my bed, in tiny increments throughout the day in whatever meager moments of time I can snatch up. But on the other hand, when it’s good, it’s great. I love having the little guy right behind me reading his books or playing with his puzzles, and hopefully one day making his own art as well.

Last but not least, I wanted to share a look into all my previous workspaces in the past ten years. (This can be a slideshow). These range from co-working studios, to home studios, to my parents house. It’s fun to see how the space evolves over time!

Thank’s for the tour, Anoosha! Be sure to check out Anoosha’s work, subscribe to her Substack, and preorder her new book Love In Every Language!

Thanks for reading! I’m an independent freelance artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing, sharing, or liking this post. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.

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A commission lands in your inbox. You make a decision about whether or not you have time for it. You respond quickly so it doesn’t get passed along to someone else. You work quickly for a couple of days to meet the deadline. The art director approves. The editor approves. Baddabing. Baddaboom! It’s published in the paper, available at the corner store around the block. I’ve found editorial illustration to be one of the few things in life that is actually as whimsical* as it sounds.

*I love doing this work, but it is work, and I don’t like to sugarcoat it. I don’t love how illustrators are valued. Editorial illustration pays very poorly. I’ve been doing it for about 6 years and rates have barely changed, not that they were ever fair to begin with. If anything, commercial illustration rates are dropping with the rise of AI. And that is if you are lucky enough to find work.

Here’s a timeline of a recent commission for NYT Opinion to illustrate the editorial illustration process:

Monday 7:56 am

An art director (the wonderful Sam Whitney!) emails and asks if I’m available for a quick turn piece. They need sketches today. Final artwork end of day tomorrow. It is set to publish Wednesday. They include the draft article, dimensions, and budget.

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“SPACE PANTIES For the Girl Who Thinks Her Ass is Out of This World” -Carroll Babcock

You’d think Carroll was a woman with a big ass and an even bigger sense of humor, wouldn’t you? WELL. I did some digging and I found out that General Carroll Babcock (1866-1943) was in fact a man. Further digging led me to several other QSL cards by Carroll on eBay, some with the name Billie Babcock next to Carroll’s name. Billie was probably his brother, William.

Pretty cool to see Carroll’s portrait and bio, learn about his “enviable reputation in his chosen calling” with a “prominent place among the representative citizens of his adopted state,” and know that he was also a horny dude with a personal radio! People contain multitudes. But seriously, QSL cards are little windows into history, providing the researcher with a name, an address, and a sense of an individual’s personality and humor that is typically lost to history.

(If you aren’t yet familiar with QSL cards, all you need to know now right now is that they were small postcards exchanged by CB and HAM radio operators to confirm contact.)

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Lost Histories

Carroll’s memorial page provides the most information I have ever found about someone that I’ve looked up from the name and address on a QSL card. Every step in his career is precisely recorded. Historically, men’s lives have been better documented than women’s. Again, this makes QSL cards all the more special, serving as satellites of story, floating around the world, popping up on eBay and in archives, preserving a part of someone who might not have any other documentation tied to their name.

I dove back into the QSL cards over at the Prelinger Library to see what I could learn about women radio operators. Rick Prelinger has meticulously sorted thousands of cards, filing hundreds women’s cards into their own boxes. This made my job easy. I picked through them and set aside the most interesting ones I could find.

Unique and Shared Identities

Several themes emerged, including sexy, witchy, animal-loving, crazy, fat, old, angelic, devilish, and car-loving. Many of these cards represent women gaining independence, finding empowerment, and leaning into unique identities. Identities like witches and devils (and sexy angels) have a specific connotation of spiritual rebellion. Out of hundreds of cards, I saw only one or two with religious themes. This isn’t to say that there weren’t plenty of religious women at the time, but that the radio hobby likely attracted a certain type of open-minded, progressive crowd.

On to the QSL cards, impeccably illustrated as always!

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I just got back from a one-night trip to the deserts of Africa, the farmlands of Russia, the crop circles of Idaho, and the islands of the Indian Ocean. And all for free! But how? Mapsurfing is a PG13 bedtime activity introduced to me by my partner Phil. He doesn’t have social media, so he finds other creative and wholesome things to scroll, like the map app.

Here’s what he does. He opens up the maps app on his phone. Google Maps and Apple Maps both work for this. He turns on satellite mode. And then he scrolls around and zooms in on wherever his curiosity is pulled, whether it’s following Oregonian power lines to their source or checking out the reviews for a restaurant in rural Russia.

This might sound a bit too calming at first, especially in contrast to ingesting high-calorie slop on Instagram Reels. But let me assure you, this is the most thrilling thing I have done on my phone in a long time! There are many reasons to love a good map surf. Here’s why I love it, and a few things I’ve found in my surfing.

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