To the drawing board
I struggle a lot with capturing correct proportions, especially when it comes to portraits. Mostly I put this down to a lack of experience, but lately I’ve wondered if it’s due to the fact that I draw and paint with my sketchbook flat on my dining room table. Since I usually work fairly small I thought that this perspective wouldn’t be much of an issue, especially as my reference is usually on a phone or tablet right next to it.
But I bought a drawing board just in case, and I do actually think it’s made a difference. So far I haven’t had the strangely elongated faces I tend towards when working flat, and I’m also not so hunched over my sketchbook. I did see some beautiful huge drawing tables in my search, but for now this very light and portable table top solution is plenty to work with. I haven’t done much watercolour with it so far, but since I don’t work very wet and it’s extremely hot here in Perth right now I haven’t had any issues with drips as I paint.
This one is a Montmarte Signature A3 drawing board which gives me enough space to go up to an A4 portrait sketchbook, probably as large as I’ll go.