Saturday Studio Tour #6 - Artist Amber Freeman

Innocence by Amber

Welcome back for another behind the scenes peek into where artists create. Today our tour guide is Amber Freeman of Cinnaber.etsy.com. Skilled with a pencil, Amber also creates with photoshop and paints. To read Part 1 of her interview & see more of her beautiful drawings click HERE. I'll step aside now so Amber can tell us a bit more about her art & work space.

Amber: I have been drawing all my life, but it was not until my freshmen year of high school that I got serious. It was during this time, I could no longer draw simply for my enjoyment. Drawing became something my grade rested upon. I had to push the boundaries of my comfort zone to get an A. It was during this time that my art cocooned. No longer was my art in its paper-munching, caterpillar phase. It was time for it to mature into something new and beautiful.

The Fruits Of Your Labor by Amber

Amber: Now, I am a college art student sophomore. College is considered to be a time of letting go of one's past in return for heightened understanding and adaption. I can confess to this especially in the realm of art. While abandoning the house I grew up in, and taking up residence in a university dormitory, I all but signed away my privacy, space, and personalized zone of retreat.

Amber's Home Studio

Amber: At home, my father and brother were kind enough to carve away a studio space for me in the garage. If our house were a human, our garage would be the intestines, the buffer zone between useful and used-up material. Under the course of twenty-four hours, I watched the storehouse of junk and debris be transformed into a creative grotto. In which, I spent many afternoons, painting the hours away. It became a tradition to have friends and family paint on the room's walls. Today, it is filled with a spectrum of creative footprints sketched by loved ones.


Amber: In college, I work with a much more limited space. My portion of the dorm room is sprinkled with pictures from my art collections. I keep my art supplies tucked inside my desk drawer. I use a slide-out tray to draw on which I line the edges with as many supplies as I can make fit. When I draw larger than my standard 8.5x11, I use a large clipboard.


Amber: This clipboard is stored between my unreasonably tall bed and a wall. I keep it and an assortment of other art supplies inside my portable studio, also known as my big black bag of wonder. This bag is waterproof, large, and study. It is the perfect vessel for a roaming artist.

"bag of wonder" portable studio

Amber: Despite the “cozy” living conditions I have been exposed to in college, I am greatly enjoying the submersion into art it has created for me.


Amber: I have always had a love of art, but only recently have I begun selling it. I've sold at several anime conventions across Florida and done well. I hope to find a job as an illustrator and illustrate children's' books. But so long as I can find employment as an artist, I'm happy.

Feets by Amber

Many thanks, Amber, for showing us your workspace - a perfect example of how an artist will make the best of a modest situation in order to create magic. Even if a space is small, if the imagination is large, wonderful things will happen! My goal is to feature all types of studios & artists here on Saturdays. Readers, if you would like to share your space & art, please send me an email (address is in my profile).

Amber's art is available through her online store www.cinnaber.etsy.com where she sells prints as well as stickers and custom portraits. You can view more of her art at http://cinnamonsoldier.deviantart.com/. You can also read Part 1 of her interview, where Amber shares about her first art experiences HERE

Little Gift by Amber

Would you like to win a free print of Amber's drawing, Little Gift? If so, just leave a comment on this blog to be entered in the random drawing at noon (EST) on Thursday 10/1.

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By the way, I'm also hosting a custom vinyl banner giveaway for Uprinting.com, click here for details. 1 winner will be randomly chosen on 10/22.