How I built my Bare-bones James Gurney Sketch Easel for under $15

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Budget Gurney Sketch Easel for under $15


What is a Gurney Easel?

Any member of the internet's Plein air or even gouache community will have heard of the art legend James Gurney. But, on the off chance that you haven't, James Gurney is an artist well known and respected for his works in his Dinotopia series, as well as his numerous paleoart illustrations featured in national geographic. Nowadays Mr. Gurney is very well known for his Youtube channel where he paints en plein air using primarily gouache and watercolor. The "Gurney sketch easel" (as it is commonly referred to) is an easel designed by Mr. Gurney to accommodate painting in a sketchbook rather than on canvas. If you're interested in seeing how the man himself builds his, check out the official tutorial on James Gurney's Gumroad at: https://gurneyjourney.gumroad.com/

Materials List and Prices

Chipboard- $0.99 (Michaels)
Tripod- $3.75 (Thrift Store)
Phone Tripod - $5.00 (Five Below)
Hot Glue- $2.99 (Michaels)
Super Glue- $1.25 (Dollar Tree)
Total- $13.98

Construction

I began building this easel by taking my chipboard and cutting it into a 15.5in by 5.25in board as well as a 9.5in by 5.25 board for the water and palette holder. I was able to just use standard scissors to cut the chipboard, but if you get yours from a different brand, you might need a hacksaw. I then took the smaller of the two boards I just made, and cut a .75in by 2.75in inlet to allow for the palette holder to slide onto the tripod. After the boards are cut. I removed the threaded piece in the phone holder and drilled a hole in the longer board to fit it. To affix the two, I first used superglue, then locked it in with hot glue. I later decided to just permanently fix the tripod's quick mount and the board together in order to make the construction more stable. This also makes the setup much simpler. After that, your Gurney Easel should be ready to go. 


Pros and Cons
This bare-bones adaptation of the Gurney sketch easel was created with the sole purpose of being affordable and easy to put together. So.. because of that the design have some shortcomings, but lets begin with the pros. Firstly, the easel was able to be completely created for under $15 USD. Secondly the easel is fully functional and has served me well. Now onto the Cons. First, the unvarnished chipboard material is easy to stain. As you see in the pictures above, after only a couple times out painting, the board is already speckled with white and green paint. Next, this version does not have hinges, so the distance from your paint and the sketchbook is noticeable. Lastly, the actual integrity of chipboard is no where near that of wood. That being said, this budget sketch easel serves its purpose.

Overview
While this budget version of James Gurney's Sketch easel does not come with all the bells and whistles of the original, It certainly is good enough to get any painter started. So far, I have used this setup on many painting excursions and have found a few hiccups here and there but overall I am very happy with how it turned out. I plan to make future adaptations to make this easel more functional and more of my own design.

Comments

  1. MintiiJuly 13, 2022 at 12:27 PM

    I loved watching Gurney's video tutorial on making the easel, but there were soo many parts in his workshop that I did not have. I have been saving up to buy one from Etsy. But your low cost option is very enticing!!

    ReplyDelete

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