Artists Light Box
Artist Lightbox
Artists Lightboxes
As an artist myself, I have a lightbox and I find them very useful to trace from previous drawings and improve on older drawings that have probably been filed away and forgotten about. I own a Hobbycraft lightbox and it came with 2 energy saving light bulbs that don't get too hot which is ideal for long hours drawing which I do often.
And it's also great for drawing when you don't have much natural daylight, say on a night, you can just switch your lightbox on and start to trace and create your art and designs, also sometimes within the day, you might not get much light for whatever reason coming through your window to your drawing work area, so a lightbox is best used for the night when your lit up drawing surface can really shine.
Of course, additional desk lamps and halogen lamps could provide extra lighting which helps you to see more clearer.
Things to look out for in a light box....
Large work area - I prefer the A3 size lightboxes as there is more area to work and you can work on a couple of drawings at the same time if you wanted to and so A3 size paper could be used to create a large design based on lots of smaller drawings off some A4 paper sheets. I've done this and it works a treat with learning to arrange some figures onto say a battle scene from multiple different drawings.
Energy saving light bulbs - These should be included, if not, buy them, as they will save you money and are less likely to cause burns on your table or a lot of heat. But do bear in mind that all bulbs do get hot and sometimes it's might be an idea to plan your lightbox work and place it into deadlines and switch off after use.
Thin Plastic top surface sheet - There was a time when lightboxes were made to have a glass top and that was fine back then, but then it was prone to cracking with the heat from the light bulbs and now it is made from a more durable plastic which is slightly flexible and what they call shatterproof. This top sheet usually comes in white which has a see through quality that makes the lightbox a brilliant drawing tool.
Space for pencils and pens - Not essential this one, but I demand to have a few holes for pencil and pen storage right at the top of my lightbox (which Ihave!) as sometimes you do need to be organized if you are drawing certain projects and looking around for your pens and pencils is a pain and so if you had a space to put them at the end of your light box then all is well in the world.
