Tiny Desk Tour: Travis Nichols

Welcome to the Tiny Desk Tour series! View the whole archive of artists, writers, and illustrating sharing their creative spaces here.

Musicians have tiny desk concerts and artists have tiny desks. Sometimes, artists even build their own desks! This week, we get to see behind the large industrial door of my friend Travis Nichols’s newish studio in Brooklyn.

Travis is a multi-talented artist (proof: picture above in clown nose and picture below with power tool). He writes and illustrates books, he clowns, and he builds out dreamy studios for himself. He’s the kind of person who has an idea and acts on it, and we all get to have the pleasure of witnessing the joyful things he creates.

Speaking of witnessing the joyful things he creates, here’s Travis on his studio and what he’s working on in there:

Travis: I’ve had a bunch of different studios over the years, mostly rooms in converted factories and warehouses with the pipes and metal sliding doors and foot-thick wooden beams and zero soundproofing or insulation in the walls. Often in neighborhoods full of buildings like that that still make and do, like, industrial things. It feels good to be around all of that.

The other day, I was stepping out of the apartment dressed like a fella who punches giant rivets into sheet metal or whatever, and my partner goes, “There he goes—off to play with pipe cleaners!” Can you believe that? Read to absolutely filth in my own living room.

I just moved in to a new studio in Brooklyn after working out of apartments for the past four years. In my old place, I let the sawdust and junk pile up, but in my current apartment, my studio was also a guest room, sooooooo… here I am!

My studio is 11 feet by 14 feet and 14 feet tall. So instead of just plopping a desk in a corner, I started thinking about building UP. Plus, there’s a window (to the hall) 7 feet off the ground, so my first big plan was a desk/workbench with a loft on top so I could access the window. It’s all 2x4s and 4x4s and 3/4” plywood. The overall structure is 4 feet by 8 feet, making it the biggest desk I’ve ever had, let alone built.

It’s spiritually separated into 3 sections: computer on the left, arts & crafts in the middle, and tools & building on the right. My thinking is that it’s cleaner the farther left you go and potentially messier the farther right you go. And aaaaaas you can see, it’s not SUPER strict. Should drawing on an iPad happen in the computer area or the arts & crafts area? SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS.

I’m really trying to be more organized in this space, now that I have the room. Everything should have a dang place. Hopefully that translates into good and efficient and peaceful work. I’ll follow up.

My favorite thing on this desk is the little clown lamp my ladyfriend got me as a studio warming gift. Clown is pretty much my entire dang world, and this lamp is so sweet and soft and cozy.

I have so many art supplies and tools that I’ve amassed over the years, and I’m not done at ALL, but there are a few essentials that I like to have nearby whether I’m at my studio or out in the wide world. A pocket notebook (I make these m’self—they’re full of all sorts of different reclaimed papers), my toy camera that prints on receipt paper, a pocket knife (most often my Swiss Army Huntsman—pictured is a simple and FREAKING SCARY SHARP knife my dad sent me recently), and at least one of my favorite pencils: a 2mm OHTO mechanical pencil, a Koh-I-Noor Technigraph 5611 (plastic, 2mm, pictured) or an Adapto 5616 (metal, 2mm, at home), and the Caran d’Ache Bicolor 999 red+blue. I like my pencils THICK.

Something else I really like about the desk-thing itself are all of the markings and stamps on the boards. The lumber mills they came from, PREMIUM PREMIUM PREMIUM, barcodes… I love wood. I respect wood. I love and respect wood.

The part I still need to finish on this thing is the loft. My plan is to turn it into a nice reading nook. Bookshelf, little table, one of those legless chairs designed for, you know, playing N64 and pounding Fruit by the Foot. There’s currently a sketchy ladder to get up here, but v2 is some steep stairs.

I still have a lot to do to get this studio really organized. Sometimes I put off the broad stroke needs (like dealing with the crazy pile of everything by my lockers) to do something fun like make a pulley system for hanging jackets above the door.

For me, the broad strokes and the fun details are equally essential for making a space feel good and mine. Even though I’m not “finished”, this space already makes me wanna build stuff and write and draw and host little workshops. Main projects this year are pitching a new book and putting out a card game. I’m also working on a long-form clown show and making a bunch of different props. And yeah! Workshops? Maybe? Anyway, I’ll let you let me go. I hope your day is SO good.

Check out more of Travis’s work here and follow him on ye olde app which must not be named.

Thanks for reading! If we haven’t met yet, I’m Allie Sullberg, and I’m an artist, writer, and illustrator. If you liked this post, one of the biggest ways you can support my work is by subscribing. Likes, comments, and shares are also a quick and meaningful way to support! Paid subscribers make this work possible. If you’d like to check out more of my work, here’s my website and my Instagram.