What do you do?
I work for Cosmic Anvil with Huw drawing the comic book series ‘Age of Revolution.’ I also work for myself as a freelance illustrator under the name House of Zinthos. I specialise in drawing comics and children’s book.
Which room are you in?
The front room.
What’s the current status of your desk? Is it neat & tidy or ‘organised chaos’?
I would call it ‘organised clutter’ rather than chaos! I hate an empty desk and as an artist I’m also bit of a collector/hoarder. I like to be surrounded by fun stuff like art books and toys.
Mac or PC?
I don’t have any particular brand loyalty, but I’ve been using a Mac for a a few years now and love it.
What other hardware do you use?
I use a Wacom graphics tablet for digital editing and shading.
What software do you use?
I use Photoshop and InDesign the most, but I recently started using Manga Studio which is really fun! It has the most ridiculous pattern stamps from police tape to leaves to blood stains to garden fences. I just need to find an excuse to use them.
What’s your drink of choice while working?
ALL the coffee ALL day.
Do you listen to music while you work? If so, what?
I hate working in silence, so I nearly always have my headphones on. I listen to Podcasts if I’m doing arty stuff. My favourites at the moment are – Wittertainment, Fatman on Batman, and Rachel & Miles X-Plain the X-Men. If I listen to music it’ll be one of the many playlists I’ve made on iTunes, Spotify or You Tube. The most recent one I made is of hip-hop and anime soundtrack mash ups. It’s as weird as it sounds.
What personal/professional keepsakes do you keep on your desk?
I have loads! But my personal favourite is a giant black clothes peg with a Batman figurine attached to it that I found in Oxfam. It’s genuinely the most baffling piece of merchandise I’ve ever come across and I knew I HAD to have it when I saw it. It currently serves as a business card holder on my desk. I think Bruce Wayne would approve of that.
What about toys or fun stuff?
I guess I kind of just answered that in the last question! I also have a little pad of Hello Kitty Post-It Notes from Japan that’s so adorable I can’t bear to use any of them. Curse you, unusable cute stationary!!
What’s your favourite thing about your desk?
I have a window which I love to gaze out of and daydream. The other bonus from being next to a window is that I also have a window sill which doubles up as a shelf that I’m supposed to share with SnowSpire… but it’s kind of all mine now. (Sorry SnowSpire.)
Cosmic Anvil | House of Zinthos | 02920 140 040