Studio Tricks

When you looked at my finished drawing of the oak branch, done on tracing paper, did you wonder how I was going to reproduce that image with paint on watercolor paper?  Some artists can sit down with paintbrush in hand and set paint to paper without any guidelines.  I'm not that talented . . . I need all the references and clues and guidelines I can get!  I will now reveal to you my first nifty piece of Studio equipment . . . the light box.  What a great invention!!  I used to have to take my rough drawing, place it on a piece of carbon paper on top of the watercolor paper and 'draw' with a stylus to get a carbon image traced onto the good paper.  Aside from the mess factor, it was really difficult to see and keep track of what I had or had not drawn.  The light box changed everything.  First you tape down the drawing on the light box.  The good paper is placed over the rough drawing, and because it is backlit, the image shows through the paper.  I can easily and quickly and accurately draw the image very lightly on the good paper.  I use a very hard pencil to make a very faint line.  It is only a guide and will ultimately be erased.  But the guidelines are crucial for accuracy.  And accuracy is everything in botanical art!