This page is dedicated to my studio (+ a bit about my process) and the collectors who sincerely have a right to see how I invest my time and money.
First off I have to say I'm a geek, I came in contact with computers at the age of 8 and that definitely changed the way I saw the world. For me it was a natural way to create art and recreate how I perceive my environment.
I tried always to create limited original works but I ended up having no one who wanted them (yet). Opposed to that, I make a living by creating and selling my own digital art, so why even bother?
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| Photo by Studio-54 Trier |
Below you see the place of my studio where the magic happens; The creative room:
My newest addition is an ergonomic saddle chair. Usually I work standing but on long hours it is great to be able to electronically move the table down and sit.
The drawing Tablets are a 22" 2nd Gen and a Huion 24" 4k + Huion 16" 4k for mobile use. (image update will follow,
One hell of a cat-friendly space!
My newest equipment is a Mac Studio (image above) mounted under the desk. I got an M1 Ultra with 20 CPU-cores, 48 GPU-cores and 64 GB of RAM. You can find a review of it here.
The big monitor above that replaces the one from my iMac 5k is an LG 32UN880-B Ergo.
You could say I'm obsessed with workspace ergonomics and I even have a track record of my progress with optimization. You can view a gallery of how my desk / studio has changed over the years on this deviantArt gallery.
- a 44" HP Designjet z6
a 24" HP Designjet z2100- a 24" HP Designjet z6
When it comes to large prints and canvas, I only trust in my own printer.
The 24" Designjet z6 is my newest investment and mainly in use for larger poster prints for orders and fairs. The 44" workhorse is mainly used for the Canvas prints. The Designjet z2100 is my oldest investment and still is precious in use for smaller prints because of its awesome line details. The photo below is how it looks after I finished my printing work. The new z6 Printer is missing in the picture below, but that is how my production room looks usually:
I may be nostalgic about that matter, but I love to frame each canvas by myself, this way I have the most control over color accuracy, finishing and unique treatments such as signature and labeling of each piece.
Here is a little tutorial on how to mount canvas and especially corners right.
For anyone visiting this place and still not convinced that my work is made by me but by AI, I actually don't care what someone else says and after 20 years of doing things the traditional way, I don't need to prove that to anyone anymore. So here are some things to consider:
As a professional working artist I have established core principles that help me along the way as these are the cornerstones of my productivity:
- Ownership of the process
From my time as an illustrator I learned the benefits of being 100% in charge over the result from the very beginning to the final result for adjustments at any stage, but also for proof.
This also includes countless hours of research and gathering references to match the mood, personality, lore, details, etc. I rely on this in every Project, my artworks usually consist of 50 - 150 layers. - Control
One important co-factor that is part of ownership of the process is control over the outcome. Every brush stroke is a decisions, every artwork consists of countless macro and micro-decisions based on muscle memory, custom brushes and brush-routine. It comes with experience and delivers a certain desired aesthetic - Time
Since time is valuable, and working with AI means often trying but not getting what you need, is a frustrating time-to-result ratio. When comparing in the past, it was always the case that I was faster at achieving a result painted by hand than using generative tools. - The 3 C´s
One important aspect of my creation aspect will always be the 3 C's: standing for Concept, Composition and Context. The Concept is what helps my work - a certain series to play in its own league. The Composition is everything I learned from studying the Hudson River School, it includes lighting, arrangements, readability and contrasts and so much more to make an artwork stand out on its own and to make it timeless. Context is important yet it is a pure internal curation factor that helps me to decide for or against the creation of a certain piece, because it might compete with other works I created or it could enhance the viewer experience by having two pieces hanging in close proximity. - Quantity & Quality
Of course sticking to my classic approach of creation bears the problem that I can not create in high quantities since I also focus on physical production. I'd say it is a normal ratio. However, the quantity is only important when focusing on social media or online platforms that require huge amounts of new material to stay relevant. In the real world this does not have any real effect. This is why I focus on quality instead of quantity even if that means I can only get to one painting every two months. - No creative / No replacement use of AI
With all the aforementioned things in mind, AI proves to be counterintuitive in my creative process, and as a result can only be used for non-creative tasks. One prime example is print pre-production, where a finished painting has to be extended to be wrapped around stretcher bars. Extension of images for different formats such as Mousepads since Content-Aware Fill creates repeating patterns very fast. Upscaling to larger sizes is a production requirement and is often part of the process from thumbnail to medium size to the final print size of a piece but it does not often require AI to do that, usually just to adjust the final size or for custom requirements.
This list is by no means complete, but it gives a good overview of procedures I have in place, that ensure best practices and originality that you can continue to expect from me as an artist.
