Illustrator and craft maker Andrew Groves lives in a barn in the woods where he creates images and makes objects for client and personal projects.

Natural phenomenon, wilderness exploration and adventures are common themes within his work which he creates alongside his craft project Miscellaneous Adventures showcasing and selling handmade wooden objects and outdoor accessories.

For our third installment of My Tablet and Me in association with Argos, we take an in-depth look at Andrew’s practice and how utilising a range of drawing and creative apps on the Google Nexus 7 has enhanced his work flow.

First off tell us a little bit about your upbringing and background? Where are you originally from and your journey into illustration?

I’m originally from a seaside town on the south coast of England but I’ve moved around and lived in lots of places. I’ve always wanted to be an illustrator – although I don’t think I even knew there was such a thing when I was younger – so my journey has been a fairly natural one. I didn’t study at university and I became full time freelance after getting sacked from a job in a surf shop in Cornwall and am still wondering whether it was the right thing to do.

Like many freelancers you work from a home studio – how does this environment help and hinder the creative process?

I’m lucky my house is a small barn in an area of woodland which is a great place to work from. Working from home can be hard; you can feel isolated and it can be difficult to focus unless you have deadlines looming, but the freedom is worth it. I try and implement some kind of routine, for example starting, finishing and having lunch at the same time each day really helps to maintain some sense of order but it’s not always possible.

How long have you lived in the countryside? How does your rural lifestyle inspire and influence your work?

I’ve lived where I live now for 4 years but I’ve lived in rural places on and off throughout my life, interspersed with periods in cities; I think it’s important to enjoy living in the countryside, wild places and cities equally else you’re missing out on a lot that life has to offer. All my work is influenced by nature and outdoor life in some way or another so living where I live now is great as I have a constant source of inspiration on my doorstep.

Many creatives rely on hand held devices to stay connected on the go, especially when travelling or in remote areas  – can you tell us how the tablet has supported your work as a flexible tool. Are there any specific apps or tools which you have found to be especially useful?

I’ve used Autodesk Sketchbook a lot to do drawings and sketches whilst out and about, it’s particularly useful for making visual notes, roughing out compositions and noting down shapes and colours. Bamboo Paper has also been good for quick scribbles.

For a creative more accustomed to drawing with a traditional pen, can you describe the experience of drawing on a tablet?

I’m usually quite precise in the way I work and found it hard to use my fingers as a pen at first – once I started using a Wacom Stylus it made the process much easier. The fact that I couldn’t be so accurate was actually good for me as I had change and adapt my approach which led to a more relaxed way of working.

Creating sketches on the Google Nexus tablet

Which software apps did you find most useful during the experiment?

It’s nice to not have to be stuck in front of your computer to perform everyday tasks, and I found the social media and e-mail apps particularly useful for this reason. Bamboo Paper was great to scribble down words and ideas on the go. A lot of the time my ideas are inspired by single words that serve as reminders for something I’ve seen or want to draw about and the app was ideal for recording these.

Sketches on the Google Nexus tablet

How do you use social media to promote your projects? Can you give examples of the type of activities you undertake and which platforms do you favour?

I use Instagram a lot with Miscellaneous Adventures for sharing new products and works in progress. I have a separate account for illustration too, which I use for posting sketches and things that might not make it on to my website. Tumblr is good for illustration too and I use Twitter mostly for interacting with other creatives and keeping up-to-date with things although I try to spend as little time on each as possible to be honest.

How would you describe a typical day?

There’s no such thing as a typical day! Being freelance and also working outdoors means you never know what might happen. However, there are a few constants such as drinking coffee first thing, then I’ll always have to check e-mails, take care of social networking duties and make notes or come up with ideas for projects all of which I’ll use the tablet for.

Where, how and when are you most productive? How do you collect and record ideas, collate your inspirations and draw on these for each project?

There’s no particular time or place I don’t think, I have my sketchbook with me all the time and I’ll jot down notes or ideas, sometimes just single words that I can then refer back to. Travelling to new places or learning new skills are prime idea generating activities so I try to do these as much as possible.

Part of the Miscellaneous Adventures collection, a brand which appeals to the outdoor lifestyle.

Can you briefly talk us through the creative process behind the illustrations for the Origami Engine project?

This was a commission from a Norwegian company who were creating an app that allowed users to create interactive iPad magazines and apps without having to learn code. To showcase the animation and interactivity features available in the software they asked me to create a ‘world’ inhabited by the creatures and characters that are typical of my work. I was given free rein to do pretty much whatever I wanted so it was a fun project to work on.

GIF series for Origami Engine

Miscellaneous Adventures is a side project that showcases handcrafted wooden utensils and other objects you’ve made – how did this project come about? Do you have grander plans for the brand?

I started Miscellaneous Adventures when I moved to the woods. I wanted to make the most of where I lived and to combine the many new skills I was learning with my creative practice in some way. At the same time I travelled to Sweden and completed a long wilderness trek and was interested to discover a culture that still values traditional skills and has a stronger connection to nature and the seasons than we have here. I felt like I was in a unique position to be able to combine traditional skills with a different aesthetic to that which ‘craft’ is usually associated with combining woodwork with illustration and design.

Since then it’s expanded into a sort of outdoor brand and I now teach other creative people how to work with wood in an outdoor environment to try to encourage people away from their computer screens and back to making things with their hands. There is no grand plan, it’s a project that has a mind of its own and I’m looking forward to seeing how it continues to evolve.

I think I’m most proud of my work for Foundation Skateboards. Not because it’s my best work, but because it was always a goal of mine to produce skateboard graphics and it taught me the benefit of putting yourself out there and not giving up. I also like the work I did for Cartoon Network, it was super exciting to be asked to recreate such iconic characters in my own style.

Part of the Miscellaneous Adventures collection, a brand which appeals to the outdoor lifestyle

andrewgroves.co.uk|@crystalofwisdom

We’re excited to present My Tablet & Me – essential reading for illustrators and creatives looking for tips on how to improve their productivity! Follow us on twitter to hear about each editorial as they’re published, and keep track of the action with our hashtag #MyTabletandMe. Our mini-documentary to accompany the project, filmed by Nottingham production company Dimension 2 will be released in January, 2015.

Andrew used the following tablet:

• Google Nexus 7 2013 16GB – £149.99 – available at Argos

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