How to Choose an Artist Easel for a Range

An adult easel is bought on its working envelope, and the envelope is four numbers. This guide sets out how to read those numbers, how the formats differ, and how to build a small range that covers the jobs a retailer or distributor actually gets asked for.

The four numbers

Height range. The distance the canvas holder travels, usually from a low seated position to a standing position. A range that reaches 190 cm is often a storage or display position rather than a working one, so ask where the comfortable working band sits.

Maximum canvas. The largest canvas the frame holds at working height. A figure quoted without the tray position it was measured at is a wish rather than a specification. The useful question is: at what height is the canvas centre when the maximum canvas is loaded?

Load. The weight the easel carries without moving. It is a property of the base and the clamp as much as the mast, so the load and the structure have to be read together.

Fold. Whether the easel collapses and to what size. This is the number that decides whether a model can be stocked by a home buyer and shipped in a carton a courier will take.

The formats, compared

Format	Height range	Max canvas	Load	Folds	Buys for
Studio easel	approx. 70-190 cm	approx. 70-130 cm	approx. 10-30 kg	usually not	the painter with a dedicated space
H-frame easel	approx. 80-200 cm	approx. 90-140 cm	approx. 15-35 kg	no	large canvases, studio work
A-frame easel	approx. 60-160 cm	approx. 60-110 cm	approx. 5-15 kg	yes	the home painter, first easel
Field easel	approx. 40-150 cm	approx. 40-80 cm	approx. 5-10 kg	yes, compact	painting outdoors
Sketch-box easel	approx. 40-120 cm	approx. 40-70 cm	approx. 5-10 kg	yes, as a box	travelling with paints
Adjustable easel	approx. 60-170 cm	approx. 50-100 cm	approx. 5-20 kg	model dependent	watercolour, pastel, tilt work
Drafting table	table height	sheet size	not stated	no	design rooms, art schools

The ranges are the typical trade values for this catalogue. The recorded figure for a model is on its product page.

Building a small range

A range that covers the market without duplicating itself usually looks like this:

One A-frame folding easel at a consumer price point, for the customer buying their first easel.
One studio or H-frame easel for the customer who has a canvas over a metre, and who will pay for stability.
One field or sketch-box easel for the travelling painter, which is often the highest-margin model per carton.
One adjustable easel for the watercolour and pastel painter, where the flat position is the product.
Optionally one drafting table, if the same customers ask for a design surface.

That is four or five models, not ten. The trade failure mode is a range of near-identical A-frames at slightly different prices, which gives the customer nothing to choose between and gives the retailer nothing to trade up to.

The questions to ask per model

At what tray position is the maximum canvas measured, and what does that make the canvas centre height?
How was the load assessed, and on what base?
Is the adjustment a crank, a ratchet or a friction clamp, and does it hold under load?
Does the canvas clamp open wide enough for a deep stretcher?
What is the folded size and weight, if the model folds?
What is the wood species and the finish, and what changes the quotation between the two?

Where a supplier cannot answer the first two, the model's maximum canvas and load are marketing figures rather than specifications, and the model should be priced accordingly.

The decision rule

Buy the format that matches the largest canvas the customer paints, then check the base and the clamp for the load, then confirm the fold if the customer has no permanent studio. A range of four formats with recorded envelopes beats a catalogue of twenty models that all quote the same maximum canvas without a height range behind it.