An artist will generally spend a great deal of time in their art studio. When reading an inventory list of the contents of an artist’s studio you might expect to find a list of brushes, paint tubes and various papers. But revealing the true inventory of a studio can become quite personal.

As a digital artist I continue to work on canvas but a lot of work takes place on my computer. Since I work on a laptop that I carry with me my art studio is technically a laptop bag and its contents. With that being true it makes sense that a portable studio would be easier to keep organized. I like to make sure I have things that I might need with me.

But even though my laptop bag is really just a laptop bag- I was amazed at the amount of stuff I managed to cram in there.

As I was going through my bag I had to smile at the neuroticisms that I must admit belong to me. There is nothing more intimate than revealing your studio’s true contents. Here is what I pulled out of there:

Contents:
1 Toshiba Satellite laptop
1 USB retractable mouse
1 Power Cord
1 Ear piece with microphone
1 Digital Camera (substandard but it takes pictures for the web just fine)
1 SD Elite Pro 2 gig memory card (goes with camera)
1 USB cord for camera
4 Rechargable AA Batteries
1 USB cell phone charger
1 Cell phone head set
1 Digipro 4×3 USB Pen tablet and Stylus pen
1 pack of Juicy fruit. 3 sticks left.
1 Tylenol (or rather half of one)
1 8 1/2 x 11 sketch book
1 Bottle of multi-vitamins
1 5 subject notebook- yellow (for jotting down ideas and taking various notes)
1 1 subject notebook- green (I don’t remember what I intended to use this for)
1 Walmart receipt (from when I bought the notebook)
1 Highlighter pen
2 #2 Mechanical pencils
1 Ball point pen
1 Red pen
30 or so post cards and business cards collected from various art shows and businesses
1 Nature Valley Granola Bar wrapper -peanut butter- (don’t know how long I have been carrying this around with me)
1 80 gig portable hard drive (contains source files from images being worked on or that still need to be rendered- also Bryce objects, Poser poses, Photoshop extensions and filters etc. And videos created, things I have written)
1 case logic USB memory stick holder
includes USB SD card reader (I don’t need this- don’t know why I carry it)
1 1gig USB memory stick (contains invoices, spreadsheets, password files, letters, diagrams)
1 1gig USB memory stick (contains client files such as logos, letterheads and such)
1 4gig USB Memory stick (contains web site files and images)
1 1gig USB memory stick (there is nothing on this one)
1 2gig USB memory stick (I just use when I need to transfer files from my computer to someone else’s computer or when I am not carrying my laptop- rarely)
1 black zippered case that contains a little notebook for checklists that I use to try and keep organized- includes a pen
1 leather bound journal where I keep ideas- includes a pen
1 zippered cd case where I keep software cds and backup files for drivers and things
1 DVD case with about 30 DVDs of images already rendered.
1 flashlight?
1 red 8 1/2 x 11 1 subject notebook ( I use this when I take notes at meetings)
1 retractable ethernet cord for when I need to hook up to another computer for internet connection
1 Strawberry chapstick
5 Cinnamon disk candies and 3 empty wrappers
1 USB Hub with 4 extra ports
1 retractable USB cord male to male
1 retractable USB cord male to female
1 retractable USB cord that hooks up to a printer
1 Creatacolor art set (contains various pencils, leads, chalks, graphite sticks)
1 Pencil Sharpener
1 Pink pearl eraser
1 package of wet wipes.
1 book of stamps- 7 left
1 Hair brush
1 Toothbrush
1 Tube Crest travel size toothpaste
…wow- I think there is more in there but you get the idea.

…listing the intangible items would involve more than one post.

My apologies…if you came here with the hopes of getting tips on how to organize your art studio…I may be worse off than you.

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