When I was a kid one of my prized possessions was a Disney light desk from the 1970's. Although it came with pose sheets of different Disney characters I loved to trace over Sunday Comic Strips (remember those?), my marvel Comic Books (yes ruining any value because of indents from tracing) and anything else I could get my hands on (advertisements, junk mail, etc). Mostly I traced Hagar the Horrible, Bloom County (Opus was my favorite), and anything Star Wars related. The act of tracing taught me how to draw lines and form. It was glorious. Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened to that light desk. I suppose it was a victim of growing up.

Enter my second light table. Nothing flashy. As a matter of fact, you had to try to lay things over the hot spot the bulb inside produced. It served me well, but I didn't use it nearly as much as the original of my youth. Truth be told, I have two of these still. I let me kids use them.

And now? I recently upgraded to a fabulous Autograph 12 x 17 LED Light Pad - bright consistent light (The first time I turned it on I felt like I was staring at the sun). I've combined that with my new art table to give me the dream work station. The light pad sits under the glass table top held in place. Always ready at the flick of a switch.

What do I do with it?

Here's an example: I take some digital line drawings I have created on the iPad and print them out. I then take the print out and place it on the Light-pad and trace over on top of whatever painted background I have previously created. Pretty simple, yet very effective.

So now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Now where have I heard that before?