Icarus Art Drawing Board: Fresh new look at wax based mediums!

ADVANTAGES

• Drawing and painting with the same medium
• Technique is intuitive and easy to understand
• No need for solvents or water (heat is the solvent)
• No waiting for the artwork to dry
• No premixing, no clean-up
• Corrections and reworking easy to do
• Significantly less time and effort than traditional techniques
• Any style achievable, from photorealism to painterly abstracts
• Colored pencils become softer, malleable and more forgiving
• Artist crayons and oil pastels behave almost like paint
• Infinite range of colors can be mixed on the warm zone
• No arsenal of tools required
• Mediums are applied, mixed and worked directly on the support material
• No interferences between artists and their work
• Stop and start with just the flick of a switch

SAFETY & MAINTENANCE

The Icarus Boards are very safe when used appropriately. They are designed to reach temperatures warm enough for wax-based drawing media to soften or melt but not so warm that they would cause users to inadvertently burn themselves.

Even though the warm zone, at its maximum temperature, feels very warm to the touch, one would have to intentionally leave his hand directly on the surfice to get burned. Nevertheless please use common sense and read all instructions.

• These units are designed for 120V. For other voltages you need a transformer.
• Do not immerse cord, plug or the unit itself in water or any other liquid.
• Do not use liquid that can spill and seep into frame.
• Always unplug from outlet when not in use and before cleaning or storing.
• Allow the units to cool down completely before cleaning or storing.
• The most effective and safe way to clean them is with a damp cloth or paper towel.
• These units are not intended for children.
• Close supervision is necessary when children are present.
• Childreen should not handle the neodymium magnets provided with the Icarus Painting Board 
• Good ventilation is always advisable when working with art materials.

GETTING STARTED

The Icarus Boards are used like any other drawing boards. They can be placed on a desk or on an easel. They can be used at any angle, from horizontal to vertical. On the Icarus Drawing Board the paper (or other support material) is placed on top of the board and moved freely from one zone to the other and back as necessary. On the Icarus Painting Board the paper (or other support) is held in place by powerful magnets.

On the Icarus Drawing Board the artist can rest his/her arms on the cool side of the board.

• Right handed artists: the Icarus Drawing Board should be oriented with the cool zone on the right (the right arm can rest on the cool zone while working on the warm zone).
• Left handed artists: the Icarus Drawing Board should be oriented with the cool zone on the left (the left arm can rest on the cool zone while working on the warm zone).
   

The Icarus Painting Board has one large warm zone and no cool zone.

After plugging the unit into a power outlet, turn the switch on and set the temperature dial to around 5 (average working temperature). It will take about 5 minutes for the unit to warm up. Depending on the medium used and your personal preference, you can adjust the dial to a higher or lower setting.

MEDIA OPTIONS

All wax-based drawing media are ideal for the Icarus Technique.

The main categories are: wax-based colored pencils, artist crayons and oil pastels.

These can be found on the market under different generic names:

• wax-based colored pencils
• wax-based colored pencil sticks
• water-soluble wax crayons
• water-soluble wax pastels
• water-resistant wax crayons
• water-resistant wax pastels
• water-soluble oil pastels
• oil pastels
  
  

TOOLS

There are only few tools that are necessary to implement this technique beyond the normal tools inherent to wax-based drawing media (sharpeners, erasers, drafting brush, etc).

Cotton Towels
To protect your art from staining and smudging, place a cotton towel between your arm and your work. A thin flour sack towel works great for this purpose. This towel prevents any oil from your skin to come in contact with your work. At the same time it makes the temperature of the warm zone more comfortable (the towel can be doubled up if necessary).

Gray Paper Stumps
Great for blending colored pencils, artist crayons and oil pastels.

Colour Shapers
Colour Shapers are shaped like a brush with a tip made of silicone. They are also known as "Clay Shapers" or "Wax Movers". They usually come in three different color tips: white, gray and black. The black ones are the sturdiest. They are used for mixing, moving and blending the waxy pigments of artists crayons and oil pastels.

Artists are encouraged to experiment and find their own preferred tools.

SURFACES

Any support material that would normally be used for wax-based drawing media is acceptable for the Icarus Boards as long as it makes full contact with the warm surface (no cradled boards, no stretched canvases).

Papers of any variety, from drawing to watercolor and pastel paper, boards such as illustration, museum, canvas or wood boards, fabric, glass, plexiglass and more can be used with the Icarus Boards.

The thickness of the support material determines how quickly it warms up and cools down. A sheet of paper changes temperature almost instantly. A thicker board takes a little longer.

MISCELLANEOUS

Wax Bloom
With any wax-based drawing media, especially when applied heavily or burnished, the wax, when cooled down, tends to rise to the surface and appears as a white haze. This can be easily remedied by warming up the surface again on the Icarus board. The wax bloom will reform until the work is sprayed with fixative or varnished.

Warping
The heat of the warm zone sometimes causes the support materials to lightly warp. This is not a lasting problem and will rectify itself when returned to room temperature.