How comics illustrator Greg Staples created his dream art studio

I’ve been working in this studio for around three years now, and I feel pretty lucky to own it. My previous studio was a loft I converted, but it was a relatively compact space. My wife and I walked past this house often and then saw it up for sale.

We’d always admired it, partly because of its size, privacy and history, but for me I always loved the look of the outside studio, which had a twisty staircase on the exterior of the house leading up to it. At the time it was being rented as a studio apartment, before that it was an Airbnb, and even earlier was used as a full-size snooker room.

If you're looking to kit out your own art studio, check out our guide to the best drawing tablets and monitors for graphic artists. For those who, like me, also like working traditionally, also take a look at our guide to the best art supplies. In the meantime, let me take you on a tour and explain how I organised the space.

Following a battle to the finish, we got the house, and after moving in I got to work planning the layout of the studio I wanted to create in. My aim was for it to be a very functional working studio with separate areas for the various mediums. I divided it into a drawing area, a digital area, a painting area, and an area for cutting, packaging and so on.

I also have a small library featuring functional books such as anatomy, workshop technique and reference. My drawing area is where I do the majority of pencilling and inking, and it’s lit with a draughting daylight lamp and a small table for equipment at the side. It’s an old Admel draughting drawing board that can adjust to an upright position if I need it. A perfect space for those busy deadlines!

Next to this is my computer, which is a 64GB Apple Mac Studio M2 Max. I don’t do any 3D work so that’s enough to run Photoshop and Corel Painter. I tend to always do as much traditional work as I can, but usually do my colour roughs in Painter as it feels traditional and is quite good for matching the feel I want once I move across to paint it traditionally.

Alongside is an old restored plan chest for storing paper, art board and original artwork, with an old A3 Epson scanner on top. I’m not the greatest at scanning and colour correcting though, so I’ve started using a local art gallery as their scanning is incredible.

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My painting area features a large Mabef easel with a daylight lamp I can move around. There’s no way I could do large paintings in my last studio, but this easel enables me to.

I’ve also got a Julian studio cabinet where I keep my key paints, plus a large set of old drawers that came with the house where I keep oils, colour pencils and watercolours, with all my brushes, mediums and everything else on top. Behind is a large packing and cutting table. I keep any packing board, knives and tapes there with a cutting mat on top.

This was such a great buy, I use it all the time, even for wrapping Christmas presents! I have a nice little outside place to relax and take breaks. Anything that makes coming to work a pleasure is something I appreciate a lot these days. And rounding off the studio is a bathroom with a shower – handy for long days – and a kitchen for tea, coffee and washing brushes.

I have art on the walls, mostly from artists I know and love, plus a couple of my own prints. It’s always inspiring being around talented people I know, and having their work around helps to keep me motivated.

If you're inspired to upgrade your own studio, see our picks of best laptops for drawing and the best office chairs for backpain.

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