Review on Immerse in Artistic Excellence with the Martin Universal Design Van Dyck Wooden Artist Easel, Natural by Carol Miller

First of all I have to say that I was disappointed with Revain regarding the packaging and delivery of this easel. It came to me in the original packaging, without foil and with the top flap fully open, leaving the easel and styrofoam open. Not a single piece of tape. Seriously, Revane? Serious? Now to the easel itself. I mainly use this desk easel for painting. Because it doesn't have a solid back, you'll need to modify it a bit if you don't use this easel for painting on canvas. I fixed the drawing board like a canvas. The drawing board is what really holds my paper in place. It works out. The drawer contains graphite pencils, charcoal, erasers, a pad of sandpaper, rulers and the like - just as it contains brushes and other tools an artist needs. I'm not thrilled with the way my pencils glide (possibly this could lead to increased lead breakage), but I understand it wasn't designed for pencils. The details of this easel could have been better. For example, the hardware is really just gold-plated plastic (or very light/thin metal - I'm not sure) and on my easel the drawer isn't perfectly aligned, interfering with the latches that should hold. it is completely blocked. A briefcase pen is really just thick cardboard wrapped in what appears to be leather. I wonder, will the easel (and its contents) bend or break over time and weight? This remains to be seen. But for now, I have to admit that while this easel has room for improvement, it does what I need and it was pretty cheap. Without these few and relatively small defects, the machine would have cost me much more. Overall I was very happy to have found a table easel from Revain and am happy with what I got for the price paid.