Drawing Board

Drawing Boards

A drawing board does two things: it gives loose paper a rigid backing, and it lets you work at an angle. The angle is the part most people discover late. Drawing flat on a table foreshortens everything you draw, which is why proportions look wrong when you stand the sheet up afterwards.

Choosing one

Wooden boards are heavier and steadier and suit studio work, especially if you stretch watercolour paper on them. Lightweight boards with a carry handle are for location work and life classes. Check the size against the paper you actually use: a board should be a size larger than the sheet so clips and tape have somewhere to sit.

For stretching paper, tape all four edges wet and let it dry flat. The sheet tightens like a drum and will not cockle under a heavy wash.

See also papers and pads, easels and tools and sketchbooks. Stationerie, Kolkata, shipped across India.