Drawing with your pad on a flat table or desk is not ideal, because your drawing surface should be perpendicular to your line of sight. If it's oblique, it's bad for your posture and harder to achieve accuracy.
In an old art magazine, I found this ad for "The Criterion Portfolio and Sketching Outfit."
The portfolio easel sets up on top of a flat table. It's easy to make one yourself. It consists of two thin plywood boards hinged at the top and held at a maximum opening angle by a string or chain between the backs of the boards. It folds flat for carrying or storage. In this complete kit, elastic loops on the outside hold onto the pencil, ruler, compass, triangle, pad, and envelope for finished drawings.
Daisy chain the string for easier setup. Leather or fabric for the hinge, if you want to save $$.
ReplyDeleteAs time goes by learning, I think the smallest things are the most important to focus on. Recently I went thru a stretch where I had a terrible time with leg into hips connection and couldnt figure out what the problem was even though I never had trouble with it before, something was now happening that was throwing me off. It was all bcuz I was drawing the connection point horizontal instead of attaching the leg at an angle to the hip/groin area. The simple things can throw everything off, just like drawing at the wrong angle (posture wise) in this post.
ReplyDeleteI guarantee artist that don't know about drawing posture wouldn't even consider this tip, but it's so important. This is a simple post, but a great one. It would be great if you do a series on simple things artist lose focus of over time, that are really essential to have correct. Like the saying goes "its the small things". Again, great post and I hope everyone that is drawing flat changes that drawing posture.