Take a Peek of My Work Area!

After years of simply shoving things around, I finally managed to properly declutter and organise my workspace. It is not an office—the space is located inside my current bedroom—and it is nothing new. The desk itself has been here since the 6th grade (2003)—the first time I moved into this room. So yes, I realise that it looks more suitable for school children than a freelancing working woman, but it's still very sturdy, really convenient and absolutely perfect. Speaking of which, I realise that this won't be one of those workspaces that would look even remotely pinterest-worthy or blogger goals, but it is very true to me and quite organised at the moment. Come take a look!

First of all, my work area consists of three core elements: my desk, my hanging cabinet and my whiteboard. Let's start with the desk, shall we? I forgot where we got the desk from, but I think it was a local company. It is not real wood—possibly wood blocks and recycled materials. It has three drawers on the right side and we've attached a series of electrical sockets that I use regularly for charging my phone, laptop and other appliances. Each drawer consists of different items: the first one houses my external hard disks, old brochures and travel keepsakes, special items from friends overseas and excessive pens and markers; the second one contains old drawings from me and my friends, various envelopes, small memo books, a calculator and another hard disk; the third one keeps letters from Saku-chan, packaging needs, prints and sticker stocks and miscellaneous items. 

Now, on top of said desk, there are a total of 5 boxes—and a pouch—filled with various items. The one nearest to the window is a wooden box, filled with name cards, stickers and merchandise that I assembled from conventions. The box itself was given to me by my uncle as part of a packaging for his souvenir from Australia. The pouch on top of it holds all my copic sketch markers. The tin box next to it and the big one in front of it both hold my various stationery needs, including washi tapes and post-its. The one further back contains my (sister's) pen tablet, various Japanese paraphernalia from Germany and Japan (my late mother bought the wooden doll) and pin button stocks. Lastly, the heart-shaped tin box holds all my lip products. And yes, I am re-using all these boxes that have been package containers sent to me or used to be food packaging.

Moving on to the whiteboard. My whiteboard works like everyone else's pinboards. Here I hang various illustrations, photos and—most importantly—goals, to-do lists and schedules. I've got prints that I bought from conventions, prints that my friends make and prints that fall into both categories. The most special prints I have here are the ones from Loish—Kickstarter reward that arrived earlier this year—and Rebecca Green—for suggesting a cookie to draw for her personal project. I need more magnets so I can hang prints from more people here too. I've also hung my yearly birthday list here, so I can consult the list whenever need be. Next to it, you can see my schedule—although it's looking pretty neglected at the moment, to be honest—and my everchanging to-do list. Having them around really help me stay focused and keep in track. There are also a few photos of my friends and I, but the one with Firu makes me happiest.

Lastly, we have the hanging cabinet. Let me just say, first off, that the guitar on top does not belong to me. It belonged to my uncle—same uncle who gave me the box—but somehow just always stayed there. No one in the house can play a guitar, so it's anyone's guess what it's doing here. Anyway, back to the cabinet, you can already see the doors are adorned with mismatched stickers, a poster and three girls—which I drew back in middle/high school, I think. The left, double-doored compartment has novels, various documents and art supplies on top and sketchbooks, all sorts of notebooks and my old laptop on the bottom. The right compartment has the full-set of Ranma 1/2 DVD—including OVAs and movies, that's how much I love him!—on top and various books—including How to Draw Manga—on the bottom. Now that I think about it, I could probably start sticking various prints on the inside of the doors too. It's just real convenient having the cabinet by my head.

Well, there you have it! I know the area is still pretty messy in a lot of places—ahem, the inside of the cabinet—but, for now, it's looking pretty good for me. I know where a lot of things are and can get them quickly when I need to. The system just works! And, yes, as I've said, it's not a workspace typical of a blogger—pretty juvenile with the scrawling and Pokémon poster—but I'm learning to make do with what I have and I'm pretty satisfied with it. I can sit here for hours, if I need to. Hope you have found that in any way helpful—or at least interesting. Here's to checking another thing off my 25 Before 26 List!