Imagine Nation Artist in Residence
Family space The Disney designer shows us around the studio in his new Rancho Cucamonga home
I love books; real, hold-in-your-hand, printed-on-paper books. I find them so much more satisfying than just looking at images on the computer screen. It’s so incredibly inspirational. I’m not just looking at random images, but a singular thought. I guess it feels a lot like listening to a single versus a well thought-out album. The album is much more of an ‘experience’, and so is a physical book.
I’ve never had space to enjoy books in my office. They always had to be in some other room, on the floor, or in boxes in the garage. When my wife Alena and I moved out to Rancho Cucamonga last year, we finally got that chance to bring our books and our work into the same space.
It’s wonderful to be able to enjoy time in my office as well as just get work done. With two toddlers, we haven’t had a lot of time to decorate, or unpack everything yet, but I’ve at least moved most of my art supplies, books and artwork into the space.
I have this wonderful recliner we bought when our son was born. It was in his nursery in Glendale, and we’d sit with him through the night in that recliner when he was a newborn. It’s one of the comfiest chairs on the planet and a centrepiece of my office. The kids will sit there and watch a movie. I’ll sit there in the evening and flip through new books. Alena will sit there and catch me up on the day as I finish assignments late at night.
Since we both started working remotely in early 2020, I think the biggest change to my workday is the hours. With two kids running wild around this house, only meetings are handled during daylight hours.
After the kids go to bed at about 8:30pm, the late-night shift at our home office begins. I generally draw at the desk now between about 9pm and 4am. That’s not my preferred time to draw, but life h
