Drawing with easel

[brimacx]

I set up a shadow box with a singular light source on a cast to draw and am sitting about 3 feet in front with an easel almost vertical. First a started drawing with an overhand pencil position and everything was okay. When I switched to a regular writing position to shade and get details my arm, shoulder, neck and shoulder blades starting hurting due to the awkward position of my body in the this drawing position. If I were to get an easel that can tilt forward more, will that affect my drawings at all? (i.e. distortions due to not drawing on the same plane?)

Thanks!

Here's a look at my setup...

[Kolbenito]

An H-Frame easel would stand vertical and may be easier to keep the planes straight because of that. Beyond that I'm not sure, it's all I have experience with.

[brimacx]

An H-Frame easel would stand vertical and may be easier to keep the planes straight because of that. Beyond that I'm not sure, it's all I have experience with.

Thanks for the reply... my main concern was not if I could keep it vertical but if I could tilt it downward almost like a drafting table and look up at the cast as I am drawing to keep the aches and pains in my should arm and back to a minimum. I was thinking that that drawing position might cause distortion in my work but now that I think about it it really shouldn't.

[bjoern3000]

Hi brimacx.

You´re not working Sight Size - right?
I think this shouldn´t be a problem. When you lower your head to draw, your head will - hopefully be - parallel to the drawing board. When you lift your head to look at the cast, your head will be parallel to the cast axis. I don´t see a problem here. Especially since you´ve already made the measurements.

A different thing would be if you tried to draw it standing and the drawing board would not be parallel to the cast and you would not incline the head. But this is not the case here.

Unfortunately your picture is very blurry - it´s enough to give us an impression related to your question but may I ask to show a better picture of the cast and your setup? Just for personal interest.

[brimacx]

Thanks Bjoern, No I'm not doing sight-size...although I plan on starting the Bargue course when I get the book in a few days.

What you say makes perfect sense - I've heard the same thing from a few different sources so I will be getting a convertible easel and will start working at a more comfortable angle.

I took a picture with my iphone and turned off the light source on the cast so it wouldn't get blown out again...

[bjoern3000]

Thanks for the new shot.

If you´re on a budget, take a look at this DIY easel

EDIT: sorry - forgot the link
http://bengrosser.com/easel/