How an artist turned a spare room into a cosy art studio that changes with the seasons

Whitney Travis is a freelance artist who illustrates children's books and teaches animation at Daemen University. She excels at visual storytelling in children's fantasy. She invited us to take a tour of her art studio as part of our regular Artist in Residence series. Read on to discover a cosy space where her creativity can flow.

If you need the essentials for your own studio or creative space, check out our guides to the best office chairs and the best standing desks.

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I fell in love with this space immediately! The entire building hints at 1950s Greek revival architecture, and it has presence. The space could very easily be a spare bedroom, but it became my sanctuary.

My iPad travels everywhere with me: campus, work, hometown. Anywhere I go, it goes, serving as a digital option for quick life sketches. The floor-to-ceiling windows flood the studio with natural light. It’s perfect for any traditional media conquests and even better for watching the weather in Buffalo, NY, with a hot coffee in hand.

One of my favourite things is gazing out at the rain or snowfall – it keeps me productive! I juggle a lot of hats – part-time student, freelancer and late-night professor – plus a full-time overnight job so I can take classes in the day (it’s a lot!).

It doesn’t leave me with much room for personal art, but if I’ve got a spare moment, I’m here. If I had an ideal time in the day to be creative, it would be late evening into the early morning.

This is when inspiration hits the hardest. When the world is silent, I’m alive. It’s nearly impossible to sit down with a project in the middle of the day, and summer is my least productive season for art.

I’ve downsized from two monitors to one to regain some desk space. Turns out that fewer screens mean fewer distractions and way better focus. I swapped my 13-inch Wacom Cintiq to a 24-inch beast, and it was a game changer.

My best upgrade was my chair. I had a rescued but worn relic from a college campus that was upgraded to an ergonomic Secretlab TITAN. If you’re spending that much time sitting, you gotta be proactive in saving your back and knees.

The odds and ends around the studio are just accents to keep it cosy – the space where I can retreat and take a breather. I usually decorate for the season, and a matching candle is a must (apple spice in winter, pumpkin for fall, floral for spring… you get it!).

This helps me relax, and the less troubled my mind is, the better I can concentrate and create. I always have a throw blanket on my chair. Sometimes I’ll take a quick nap between classes/work if I don’t want to move to my bedroom. My plants are mostly faux (I’m infamous with my mom for killing ferns).

I’ve got a small collection of album covers – mostly from animated films – adding a bit of colour and cinematic flair (I’m a huge cinephile, and I collect album covers and use them as artwork).

I shared this space with my precious corgi Hiccup, who unfortunately passed away earlier this year, and my sweet English Angora bunny Kaori. I would leave the door open and the two would turn into a comedy duo like Abbott and Costello and keep me entertained between projects.

Used items make thrifty studio add ons

All my coworkers were getting either a Switch or a Steam Deck. I may have been slightly pressured into buying a used one to hop into Animal Crossing. I don’t regret the purchase, but I don’t have any time to play!

I also found a used Cameo printer to eventually make some stickers and bookmarks to sell and offer as add-ons to my illustration packages. But shortly after I got it, my bunny chewed the power cord.

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

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