Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s Studio Tour
I’m excited about my debut picture book as both the author and illustrator, when Where Are My Books? launches from Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers in Summer 2015. I mainly work digitally but have recently started experimenting with non-digital art as well, including watercolor, found object art and shadow art. My other creative interests include writing and playing music. I play, with varying degrees of competence: piano, flute, Celtic harp, tin whistle, guitar, and assorted bangy percussion instruments. I used to teach piano and flute part-time, and I am a member of the Toronto-based filk/folk music group called Urban Tapestry.How long have you had your space and how does it affect your creative process?
I’ve had my current office ever since my husband Jeff and I first moved into our house nine years ago. I could have chosen my office space on the second floor of our home, which is full of light and space, and has a nice view of our neighborhood. But, instead I opted for the basement because I like the privacy, and I never look out the windows anyway.
My husband nicknamed the space The Office Cave, and the phrase suits me fine. When people visit our house, they often compliment me on my exquisite sense of design. Most of the house is in painted in relaxing earth tones, with lots of empty space on the walls. Then our visitors come down to the basement and peek into my office. One person said, “Wow. I think there’s more stuff in your office than in the entire rest of the house!” The truth is, the tasteful interior design in the rest of the house is my husband’s doing, not mine. Don’t get me wrong–I enjoy it and I appreciate the decor. But I LOVE my basement office. I love the mismatched furniture, the piles of books, the riot of colors, and being surrounded by books and craft supplies and musical instruments and photography equipment. I also enjoy knowing that if I put something down on the carpet, it’ll still be there next time I go into my office. Early on, Jeff and I agreed to some ground rules–I would contain my creative clutter to my office, and in exchange, my husband agreed NOT to move anything in my office unless I gave him permission.
In the beginning, I tested (tortured?) Jeff by leaving a clearly misplaced book or pen lying out in the middle of my office floor. I could tell it was a struggle for him not to put it away (he’s a very, very neat person–you can imagine what an adjustment it was for both of us when we first moved in together) but to his credit, he left my clutter where it was. Anyway, my Office Cave makes me feel safe and wonderfully isolated and in turn, that makes it much easier to focus on creative pursuits.
Are there any kind of rituals you do before you start creating?
I’ve always been envious of those who have creative rituals, like brewing a cup of tea or sharpening their pencils. It sounds so calming. Sadly, I have no ritual. If I’m struck with a creative idea for a found object doodle or a story, I’ll usually drop everything to write it down or (in the case of a found object doodle) create it right away.
If you’re talking about how I start my work day, I suppose I do have a ritual, although it’s not one I’d especially recommend for anyone else. I usually start each work day still in my pajamas, going straight from getting up, to walking down two floors to my Office Cave. I’ll check social media and email, then I’ll figure out what exactly I’m going to work on that day. Partway through the morning I’ll realize I’m hungry, and go get some breakfast. I usually eat it in front of the computer while I continue working. After breakfast, I’ll finally go up and take a shower and get dressed. I’d like to think that someday I’ll settle into a ritual that sounds much more appealing when answering a question like this one. It will probably involve a cup of tea and perhaps sitting out on our back deck and enjoying the outdoors for a few minutes before starting my work day. Perhaps a jaunty walk!
Is there anything you like to listen to while you’re working? What are you listening to now?I find it depends heavily on what stage of what project I’m working on. If I’m writing, I usually prefer silence or unobtrusive ambient noise (I use Coffitivity sometimes. Ditto for when I’m at the very early stages of illustrating a book project, when I’m figuring out the basic layout of scenes and doing thumbnail sketches. At all other stages, especially when I’m doing anything repetitive and detail-oriented (like flat coloring before adding textures and shading), I listen to music or audiobooks, or even have a DVD of a movie or tv series I’ve already seen playing in one corner on my second monitor. I know the latter (movies/tv shows) sounds odd, but I found it worked for me when I have really long (e.g. 12+ hours) work days. The trick, I found, was to find movies or shows I had already watched at least a couple times before or had a lot of dialog rather than action, so I just needed to listen and not watch. AND it needed to be as different in tone from the project I was working on as possible, so it wouldn’t influence the project. Since the beginning of the year, I have worked my way through all the seasons of Supernatural, West Wing, and partway through Babylon Five. More recently, however, I’ve been listening to a lot of music instead. Music’s also great because I like to take officecrazydancebreaks. I’m a terrible dancer, but I find it extremely liberating and fun to regularly turn up a good tune in my office and then go into officecrazydancebreak-mode, where no one can see. Or I’ll sing along at the top of my lungs, mostly offkey. Some recent favorite workmusic: ELO’s Time album, Ookla The Mok’s Evil I album, Ed Sheerhan’s X (Deluxe Edition). Recently, I asked my FaceBook friends for suggestions for my new officecrazydancebreak playlist, and here’s a sampling.
Is there any special item/trinket in your space that inspires you? 
I had some fun illustration projects that recently launched: Naked! is a fun new picture book written by Michael Ian Black and published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.
Thank you, Debbie for sharing your Office Cave with us! Looking forward to seeing your new books, and of course re-reading I’m Bored–one of our family’s favorites!
Stop back next week when Canadian author/illustrator Barbara Reid shares her lovely Toronto studio where she creates her vibrant plasticine artwork.
This looks so much like my office. All I need is an awesome door..
I love your office cave Debbie! Great post, and the morning/creative process routine sounds all too familiar. My family doesn’t blink an eye anymore at the times I just stop in my tracks, pull out my sketchbook or notebook, and get something down. Yesterday my inspiration was dog slobber on my couch pillow! I’m working on carving out a space in my home, which my neat husband would appreciate! I have to compete with three kids and a very large dog, but I’m slowly getting that space. Thank you for sharing this Debbie Ohi.