Creatives at Home: Annie Davidson in Her Loft-Style Apartment
Illustrator Annie Davidson shows us her design inspiration in her bright and airy Melbourne share house
Any visually creative person will tell you the importance of natural light in their workspace, and freelance illustrator and graphic designer Annie Davidson has found the perfect inspirational space. Her light-filled share house in Kew’s historic Willsmere estate is where she creates her whimsical and quirky illustrations.
Davidson formerly shared a design studio space in Windsor, but she found the trek across town to be quite time consuming and difficult. After moving into this gorgeous living space just over a year ago with three of her good friends, she realised that she didn’t even have to leave her own home to have the ultimate studio, where she could create her beautifully detailed illustrations and artworks.
Creative Space at a Glance
Name: Annie Davidson
Age: 29
Occupation: Illustrator and graphic designer
Location: Kew, Melbourne
What’s made here: Limited edition original artworks, which Davidson sells online, and commissioned illustrations and graphic design work
Davidson formerly shared a design studio space in Windsor, but she found the trek across town to be quite time consuming and difficult. After moving into this gorgeous living space just over a year ago with three of her good friends, she realised that she didn’t even have to leave her own home to have the ultimate studio, where she could create her beautifully detailed illustrations and artworks.
Creative Space at a Glance
Name: Annie Davidson
Age: 29
Occupation: Illustrator and graphic designer
Location: Kew, Melbourne
What’s made here: Limited edition original artworks, which Davidson sells online, and commissioned illustrations and graphic design work
Davidson keeps her illustrating tools at close hand in a stationery holder she made from a simple cardboard box. The tools she uses include pens, ink and watercolours – along with some digital elements – to achieve her unique finished artworks.
She starts the artwork by drawing with pencil, after which she goes over the lines in fine liner pen. Finally colour is added, either by hand or digitally through Photoshop.
The whole apartment is decorated with indoor plants, and Davidson’s bedroom and desk space are no exception. The greenery not only complements the garden views from the large windows, but also brings a sense of nature into the industrial-style space, providing a lot of inspiration for Davidson’s artworks in the process, many of which are based on themes of nature.
Tucked behind the laptop, where much of the colouring of each scanned drawing happens in Photoshop, Davidson counts her Bose speakers as an essential element of her workspace. “I go crazy if I can’t listen to good music while I work!” she says.
A secondary workspace is located in the main open-plan living area of the apartment, and is used for the watercolour elements of Davidson’s illustrations. All of her pieces are done on one page, then scanned and repositioned in Photoshop to create a final artwork, such as the colourful framed print resting on the desk.
Davidson tries to avoid using this space while her housemates are at home. “I like to keep my work separate from their space, so I only really use this area when they are not around, especially if other friends are over too,” she says.
This is one of the many elements of working at home that needs to be considered. “It can be a bit isolating, especially as Willsmere is quite tucked away, but getting out for coffees and walks in the neighbourhood definitely helps,” she says.
This is one of the many elements of working at home that needs to be considered. “It can be a bit isolating, especially as Willsmere is quite tucked away, but getting out for coffees and walks in the neighbourhood definitely helps,” she says.
It’s quite common for those within Davidson’s field to work from home as freelancers. She does note that one mistake many of them make is always feeling as though you should be working. She says that more freelancers should be taking advantage of the flexibility that comes with their type of work.
One way in which Davidson takes advantage of her job’s flexibility is by going for walks in the natural surrounds. She finds a lot of inspiration from nature and translates that to her artwork. She often draws bugs, insects, plants and miniature natural worlds, including terrariums, and places the finished masterpieces on display throughout the apartment.
What Davidson loves most about her creative space is the vast openness of it all, which allows her to move around and let the creativity flow.
See the rest of Annie’s home here
TELL US
What do you like most about this creative space? Share your thoughts in the Comments section.
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See the rest of Annie’s home here
TELL US
What do you like most about this creative space? Share your thoughts in the Comments section.
MORE
Creatives at Home: Lisa Russell in Her Potter’s Studio
Creatives at Home: Bec Andersen in Her Textiles Studio
Creatives at Home: Tamara Armstrong in Her Painter’s Studio
In the afternoon, natural light floods into the room. “I love the view out of my window onto beautifully manicured gardens,” Davidson says, “and that it kind of feels like being out in the country with the Yarra Bend parklands and river right next door. I got woken up by kookaburras yesterday.”