An easel is a stand that holds your work at an angle. That is the whole of it, and most of the difference between one easel and another comes down to how big, how steady, and how far it folds.
This covers what actually matters when choosing one, and the honest question of whether you need one at all.
Do You Need One?
For a paint by numbers canvas, not necessarily. Plenty of people paint them flat on a table and finish them perfectly well.
What you do need is the angle. A canvas lying flat makes you look down and lean forward, which means the weight of your head is on your neck for however many hours the painting takes. Tilting the work up brings it toward your eyes instead, and it also lets you see the shapes square-on rather than foreshortened.
An easel is the tidiest way to get that angle. A stack of books, a cutting board propped against a box, or a drawing board with a wedge under it will do the same thing for nothing. If you are unsure whether you want an easel, try the books for one session first.
Tabletop or Floor Standing
This is the first real decision and it follows from how you paint.
Tabletop easels sit on a desk or table and hold canvases up to roughly 20 to 30 inches, depending on the model. They suit anyone who paints sitting down, which is most people doing this as an evening hobby. They pack away into a cupboard, they cost little, and they put the work at a comfortable height for a seated painter without any adjustment.
Floor easels stand on their own and hold much larger canvases. They suit standing painters and permanent setups. They are more stable, they take up floor space permanently, and they are usually more than a paint by numbers canvas requires.
For a 12x16 or 16x20 kit, painted seated at a table, a tabletop easel is the right answer nearly every time.
A-Frame, H-Frame and Field Easels
The names describe the shape of the base, and the shape of the base decides the stability.
A-frame, sometimes called a lyre easel. Three legs, folds flat, light, inexpensive. It is the classic upright wooden easel most people picture. It is stable enough for ordinary work and it can rock if you lean on it. Good for small spaces because it collapses to almost nothing.
H-frame. A flat rectangular base with two uprights. Much heavier, much more stable, does not fold. This is the studio easel, and it is the right choice if you paint standing, work large, or need to be able to lean on the canvas without it moving. It is also the friendlier shape for a seated painter, because there is no leg in the middle where your knees want to be.
Field and pochade easels. Built to be carried, often with a box for supplies underneath. Relevant if you paint outdoors and irrelevant if you do not. A pochade box in particular is a small hinged box that opens into a painting surface, made for working small away from home.
What to Actually Check
- The maximum canvas height, and whether your canvas fits with room to spare. A canvas at the absolute limit of an easel is a canvas about to slip.
- How the tilt adjusts. Some easels lock at fixed notches, some are continuously adjustable with a wingnut. If your hands are not strong, a wingnut you have to crank hard is a daily annoyance.
- Whether it will stay put. Rubber feet on a tabletop model, weight on a floor model. An easel that shifts every time you touch it is worse than a stack of books.
- Whether there is a tray. Somewhere to put the brush you are not using is more useful than it sounds.
- Beech or aluminum. Beech is heavier, steadier and looks better. Aluminum is lighter and travels well. Neither is better in general.
What not to worry about: brand. Easels are simple objects and the expensive ones are mostly buying you weight and finish. Get the right type and size before you think about anything else.
What a Numbered Canvas Specifically Wants
Three things, and they are not the same as what a freehand oil painter wants.
A shallow angle, not upright. Somewhere between twenty and forty degrees. Numbered sections are painted with fairly thin acrylic, and an upright surface encourages runs from the edge of a section into its neighbor. A shallow tilt is also easier on the neck.
Close enough to read. The printed numbers are small. An easel that pushes the canvas out to arm's length is working against you. Bring it in.
Room for the reference print. A large printed reference propped up at the same angle beside the canvas, rather than lying flat on the table where you have to keep looking down at it, saves a surprising amount of neck movement over twenty hours.
Setting Up
- Center of the canvas at about chest height if you are seated. Higher and you are holding your arm up all evening.
- Light from the side. Overhead light behind your head casts your own shadow onto the section you are painting. A lamp to one side, ideally a daylight bulb, is the cheapest real improvement to this hobby.
- Sit square to the work, not turned toward it.
- Rest your forearm on the table edge when doing detail. It takes the weight off the shoulder and steadies the hand at the same time.
The Easel in Our Kits
Our framed kits, 12x16 and 16x20, include a small wooden tabletop easel. It gives you the shallow tilt described above without buying anything, and it is genuinely all a canvas of that size needs.
The unframed 16x20 does not include one, because it is a rolled canvas rather than a stretched one and it wants taping to a board rather than standing up. We do not sell easels on their own.
If you want more on setting up comfortably, particularly with limited mobility or grip, our guide to accessible easels and setups goes further. The catalog is here and the beginner's guide covers the working order once you are set up.
