How to Design a Drawing Table

Precise drawings take attention and time---enough time to cause stiffness and soreness from staying hunched over a flat table. Flat tables also cause lighting problems; shadows cast by your hand under a desk lamp constantly obscure part of the drawing. The solution is to use a drawing table---a slanted, self-lit table that will ease strain on the artist's back and provide even light to diffuse shadow. But drawing tables aren't one size fits all. Tolerate a little more discomfort and draw a table that meets your own design standards and preferences. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Prop your clipboard up at varying angles and spend some time doodling until you find a sweet spot where you are most comfortable. Measure the angle of clipboard in comparison to the flat surface with a protractor. Write that at the corner of a piece of graph paper.

2

Draw the flat surface and legs of the protractor from a side perspective. Figure out the length conversion between the graph intervals and the real world measurements you desire. Use your protractor to draw a diagonal line reproducing the angle of the clipboard. Make sure the high end of the diagonal line doesn't extend beyond the end of the horizontal line of the table if you draw a vertical line between the two edges.

3

Multiply the length of the diagonal line by itself and subtract the value of the horizontal line multiplied by itself. Take the square root of the difference and you will have the length of the prop bar you will need to for the diagonal table surface.

4

Decide how wide you would like your drawing table to be. Take the length of the diagonal line and use these two values to draw a rectangle representing the surface. Choose where to place your lights and how to place them---as a clip-on desk lamp or as table level lights attached to its surface and shining down its slant. Figure out how you will keep your drawing paper attached to the table.