DIY Life Drawing Bench!

Our Monday/Thursday life drawing group has been in serious need of drawing benches for a few months now. The one main reason that has been holding us back for getting the seats is our lack of space. Since we don't have the space to store the chairs I decided to build special collapsible benches that could fold up flat and be stored under our couch. For this job I knew I would need the very best help I could get so I called my dad. We got together and started thinking about the design. Actually due to our genetic impulsivity we started building right away without a clear idea in mind and ended up failing quite miserably. Nevertheless this did not discourage us from trying again. After all this was the first time either of us had built a functional chair before. There was much to consider in designing the benches and the fact that I wanted them collapsible proved to be an even greater challenge. After our first design had failed my dad came up with an ingenious plan. His design uses the weight of the person sitting down to keep the unfolded legs locked into place. His design seemed like the best option so we quickly moved forward. We cut the legs at 18" base on a stool we found in the garage. The bench itself is 42" long/12" wide and the back board another 18". The legs fold out and are held in place by two 12" long 4x4's cut at a 15 degree angle. For the rest of the wood we used half inch sheets of plywood. We also screwed two small pieces of scrap wood to the bench that hold the drawing board in place. The entire thing was put together with wood screws and hinges. After the whole thing was put together I sanded it down so that when you sit on it you're safe from splinters. Aside from the time it took build, the bench cost around $30-$35 in materials. Later I found this standard drawing bench online for $150 and another for around $80 somewhere else. If you're a starving artist in need of an affordable drawing bench and you have the tools and the time, this is for sure the way to go. Below you can see the prototype that we built and how easily it folds up.

It took two weekends for us to finally build one chair. But now that we know how to put one together the next bench shouldn't take nearly as long. For now we're only building three benches but if more people come to the Monday/Thursday night meet we will definetly be making more. In the future I might even add an upholstered cushion to the seat but for now I'm just excited to try it out!