Costa Vavagiakis, a draughtsman and painter and instructor at NYC’s Art Student’s League and National Academy, prefers that his students stand at easels. However, for those who prefer sitting, his specific recommendation is that the board be placed against the back of a chair turned around in front of you, with the bottom of the board propped on your knees or thighs. This places the board at an angle relative to your view such that no part of the drawing will be distorted. In short, it’s at a right angle to your point of view, as you look down. By contrast, if you prop up the drawing board on the chair in front of you–with the chair seat facing you, rather than turned around with the back facing you–in other words, the board is more vertical–when you look down at your drawing you’re viewing it an an angle, so the lower part of the drawing, following the rules of perspective, will be angled away from your point of view, and will be distorted.

In any case, as they say about art, there are no rules: whatever works for you is “right.”

The ones I’m fond of I believe set your board up at a 45 degree angle so it’s perfect for measuring areas and angles with your pencil and comparing to your drawing (what’s the proper name for this?).

Absolutely - I hate using an easel, mainly because I have a disability in my feet and can’t stand for long periods (which unfortunately means anything longer than 10 minutes). A horse is excellent and fine for class/studio drawing - but is not often available ‘in the wild’ if you want to draw plein air. Funny that! ;)

My old faithful is another chair, reversed so that one can prop the drawing board on the chairback.

Charley - your website design post has been ‘blogged’ by me in my new weekly round-up here