General Discussion: How do you work? - Now with added Challenge!

[Feron]

Just thought it would be cool to start a discussion on the conditions in which everybody works.

Myself, i like to be full of sugar quite hyper, with loud music.  That makes my creative juices flow more.  normally up beat fast punk-rock and alternative.

However if im up against a deadline with a fixed object to create i find the Lord of the Rings soundtrack makes good music.
I can never work when i'm hungry or cold.
Darkness is also another condition in which lots of my work takes place.

[Takai Soyokaze]

Sitting down, in a chair, I find it much easier to concentrate then sprawled out on my bed or couch. Music, it depends on what the piece is but I listen to something similar to how I want it to turn out. Diet Pepsi is required, or I can't concentrate. Pie also helps a lot. I open up all my good references too.

[Lawrence]

I like to listen to a podcast or some music (lovely bleak electronic stuff), and I prefer to be alone so that I can concentrate. 25 cups of tea later and I'm done.

[Helm]

I am powered by Heavy Metal. If ptoing is around I bug him with constand updates of the piece I'm working on and take advantage of his compulsion to critique me. I work 2-3 hours on a piece at a time, though I sadly don't pick it up the very next day always as would be best. I'm mostly fast until I reach the point where I usually say to Ptoing 'and now the real work starts' which really means the color blocking is done, the composition is stable, I know what I need to do, and that is multiple passes of detail and aaaing. That's the most time-consuming part of making pixel art, for me, but also the one I enjoy the most.

[pixelblink]

I am in my mode with some Diet Coke (sorry Takai, but Pepsi products suck) and some good music, preferably some breakbeats. I am a chronic smoker when I'm in the mode and (even though I'm not allowed), I tend to smoke in front of my computer... it helps me focus.
Umm... smoking is bad for you kids.
Like Feron, I prefer a darkly lit room. Not complete darkness, but only with my lamp on in the background. It helps me foucs on the screen and see all the colours for what they really are. Light tends to distract from it.

[Evil-Ville]

Slightly dark room and chiptunes for music, I love chiptunes.

[goat]

Sometimes I listen to my mp3s, sometimes to to my spc collection (Mario Paint music is awesome to pixel to).  I hook up my wireless headphones because I work in spurts; I'll grind out two hours, then get up and walk around for a minute or two, so that I can refocus my eyes and come back with a fresh look at the piece in front of me.  If I have multiple projects sometimes I'll just switch between them, but usually I walk around, mess with my dog, come back, check the forum/channel, IM people, etc before I get back to work.  Helps it stay fun if I remove some of the pressure.  Once in while I'll take a break to emulate or netplay on an emulator with a buddy.  Most of the drawings I squirt out are done within 2-3 hours, so if I work uninterrupted longer than that I start to burn out.

I have a big CRT monitor, an LCD tablet (screen calibrated to the contrast of your typical mobile phone), and a TV, and I have magnified previews on the two I'm not currently pixeling on so I can preview for whichever platform the art's targeted for.

I usually either drink Cherry Coke or whole milk (<3), and when I get hungry I typically eat meals while I work too.  I don't smoke cigs anymore, but I am known to roll a blunt during long work days (don't do drugs, kids).  Sour Apple is best.

I also find it impossible to work when I'm hungry, and trips to the store are not an uncommon precursor to a work session.

I don't have a preference for light or dark when I work but if the lights are off when I start they're going to be off until I get up and walk by a light again, so I find myself working in the dark a lot.  I don't really bug other artists with progress shots often because as you may be able to tell by the frequency with which I post art I don't care about other people's opinions as much as I should when it comes to my own art :p  Clients and supervisors are a different story however; I can't stand revisions, paid or not, so I spam them with milestone shots every chance I get.

[Frychiko]

No conditions, just as is.. which is usually a computer desk full of junk (cups, phone, mp3 player, notebook, measuring cup, tablet, camera, passport, kids books, eye drops, NDS flash kit, softbank modem manual, singaporean dragon trinket,  among others) and TV on and bright room.
Most of the time, I work with no sound, no music and no tv (not planned). To break the monotony, I take lots of breaks and browse the internets.
Big fat wacom tablet conquers the table. If I'm working (on an hourly basis) I'll have notepad open to record starting and ending times.

[Feron]

Sometimes i'll look out of my windows for ages, but other than that i dont really have many breaks away from the mac.

I definitley think working in the dark is better, theres so many colors floating around my room i think it blocks judgement.

[Ai]

* Silence if possible, game music remixes if I must block out particularly loud sounds.
* Sitting in lotus position.. it's the most comfortable. Desktop is a few inches above my legs (and the monitor about 10" above that.)
* Water (or more commonly, nothing) to drink. Helps me think more clearly.
* Darkness or light doesn't matter too much.. neatness of my environs is more important.
* Pan my eyes around the room and focus on some random thing to ensure my gaze doesn't get too fixed, occasionally.
* Keyboard, wacom, and mouse lined up left to right.
* Left forefinger hovering near F12 (Save)..  I save whenever I see the * showing the file has changes to be saved, which amounts to every 5th change on average.
* maybe i'll think of something else later. I just wrote a program that automatically monitors a file, checking every 5 minutes for changes since last history-step and copying to a 'HISTORY' directory with a serial number if changes were found. I don't know if that qualifies as workflow/work environs, but I expect to rely on it quite a bit (the ability to retrieve previous revisions of the image, and have them automatically grabbed as I work.)