A Guide To Constructing An Artists And Illustrators Light Box

To produce a clean piece of clean inked line art from a finalised pencil sketch be you an illustrator, graphic designer or general artist I have found the best method of producing apiece was through use of a light box. This simple to construct tool produces superior looking work over inking a pencilled piece and removing the pencil lines with an eraser. In my career as a freelance illustrator I have found this piece of kit priceless, samples of my work created on a light box can be seen in my business gallery located here.

Light boxes maybe purchased from artist retailers but can easily be built bye oneself to make relatively cheaply a superior product to the size you work best with, be it a small light box for work on A5 pictures to an A2 sized board. The size should depend on your preferred working range; the box ideal should be a paper size larger to allow you to freely move your work around the surface.

A clean light is best to work from, a ordinary bulb produces a yellowish tinted light which is not as bright as the white of a halogen lamp, crumpling ordinary tin foil and flattening it out to line the interior surface of the box will disperse and reflect far more light then a plain surface. This light is also dispersed evenly across the underside of the work surface.

The work surfaces itself obviously needs to be a transparent material, not a clear surfaces as the light will come strait through in specific spots, an opaque material such as Perspex is best, the thickness of the plastic is proportionate to the size of the light box, the smaller the size the thinner the material can be to support the weight of the artist leaning on it, I work on a surface 50cm by 60cm with a plastic 1cm thick. Perspex can be acquired from building retailers and plastic firms.

A slopped surface at about fifteen degrees is a comfortable angle to work at, raising the work up enough that you are not required to lean over your box for long hours that can become very uncomfortable.

The frame of the box can be made out of any desired strong material, a wood is easiest to work with, a flat board at base with the front and back boards made first so an angel can be marked on the side boards that is easy to cut and will fit on letting the work surface fit comfortably, as the bulbs generate heat a series of ventilation holes should be put into the back board, the slope of the surface guiding the heated air up and out of the box. The assembly can be fixed together with screw, glue or even a strong masking tape, just be sure that it is sturdy to work on and you will have an invaluable tool that will provide countless hours of good service.