Tools
Line + MassBoard, light and posture
Tilt the board, light from the side opposite your hand, sit back, slip sheet under the hand.
A flat desk makes you hunch, draw with your fingers, and look at the paper at a slant so that circles look like ellipses and verticals lean. Prop a board at twenty to thirty degrees (a hardboard offcut on a thick book is fine) and sit back far enough that you can see the whole sheet at once. Your drawing arm should move freely from the shoulder with the elbow off the table.
Light should come from the side opposite your drawing hand: from the left for a right-hander, so your hand does not cast a shadow across the line you are drawing. A daylight bulb (around 5000 K) shows your values honestly; a warm bulb hides the mistakes and you will meet them again in daylight.
Put a slip of clean paper under the heel of your hand so you do not smear the graphite you have already laid. Move it as you work. Tape the drawing sheet down at the corners so it cannot shift when you lift the pencil.
Keep the reference image at the same height as the drawing and beside it, not flat on the desk. Your eye should flick between them without moving your head.
From your kit
The whole kit →- 1Alpha sketchbook on a board, clipped open the hardbound book wants a board under it to tilt.
- 2Grafwood HB the only pencil out while you set the light and the arm's length.
Visuals
Pitfalls
What
Drawing on a flat table with the pad in your lap.
Why
Proportions distort because you see the page in perspective, and the arm cannot move.
Fix
Any board, any angle above twenty degrees, and sit up.
What
Reference on a phone lying flat on the desk.
Why
You look down to it and up to the drawing, and the memory of what you saw degrades in transit.
Fix
Prop the phone upright beside the board at eye level.