Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you :
I am Guy Shield. One of the 7 Billion people on this earth.
Your current job :
Illustrator
In which city are you located?
Melbourne, Australia
A word to define what kind of worker you are :
Busy.
What tools are essential to your life (app, software, etc..)
Pencil, Brush, Paper, Ink, Erasers, Sharpeners, Sticktape, Scanner, Printer, iMac, Cintiq, Adobe Photoshop.
What does your office space look like?
I work from two desks – one I call “Digital” and that has my Cintiq and iMac on it, the other I call “Analogue”, which is my general art station/drawing board.
What kind of music do you listen when you are working ?
Mostly the news, or podcasts such as This American Life, Stuff You Should Know or The Little Dum Dum Club if I’m in a funny mood In the afternoons I’m more likely to put music on to keep me going. I like all kinds of stuff, but mostly Pavement, The Jicks, Radiohead, Sleigh Bells, The Magnetic Fields… whatever takes my fancy.
Do you have a way to organize your day to maximize your work ?
I try to keep all my conceptual/ideas work to the morning when I’m a little more switched-on. Afternoon is for more automated tasks, such as colouring or inking my work. I try to put a small break in between tasks to go for a walk, switch-off for a little bit.
What tips would you give to improve productivity ?
Don’t try to multi-task, it only wastes more time. Create lists, it’s a greater sense of accomplishment. Unless they’re urgent, save emails/correspondance to batches, rather than replying to them all as they come through. You’ll only get derailed from the task at hand. If you’re playing music, find stuff that you can put on for a few hours, rather than selecting shorter stuff that’s going to waste your time thinking about.
You’re better than your colleagues to :
I’m not better, just different.
What is the best advice anyone has given you ?
Leave the hard stuff to the experts.
What is your best tip for saving time?
List things by priority.
What is your routine start and end of the day ?
I start at 7am, and warm up by responding to emails and doing some sketch work on paper to get my brain into gear. I check my list of to-do’s andI usually work until about 6pm and finish my day by setting up lists of what needs to be done tomorrow.
Aside from your computer and your phone, what gadget can you not you go ?
A pencil.