TOHETO A4 Light Board: Bright Tracing and Handy Magnets for a Beginner

I have never really considered myself someone who could draw. I actually started drawing almost by accident. My daughter has reading assignments where she reads aloud to me, and I needed something I could do with my hands while still giving her my full attention. If I started coloring, she wanted to stop reading and color too. If I picked up my computer or iPad, that distracted her. So one day I grabbed a pencil and tried one of those grid-drawing exercises instead. To my surprise, I did pretty well! Maybe it was beginner’s luck or maybe the grid deserves all the credit, but either way, it made me want to keep trying. That eventually led me to getting this light pad so I could practice tracing, transferring drawings, and cleaning up some of my sketches. So far, I am genuinely impressed with it. The first thing that surprised me was the brightness and clarity. I placed a clean sheet of paper over one of my reference drawings, and I could see much more than just the basic outline. Smaller details, facial features, eyelashes, feathers, and fine lines were all very easy to see. For someone who is still learning, that makes tracing much less frustrating. I also tested it with one of my grid-drawing practice sheets. Even some of my lighter pencil marks were visible through another sheet of paper. The very faint printed grid lines were harder to see, but honestly, they were extremely light to begin with. I can already see myself using the pad to take a rough grid drawing and then transfer only the lines I want onto a clean sheet. The included magnets are probably one of my favorite features. I originally thought they were just a nice little extra, but after actually using the board, I understand how helpful they are. When you have a reference page underneath and another sheet on top, the magnets keep everything lined up and prevent the paper from shifting while you are tracing. I can see myself using them every time. One thing to be aware of is that the light pad does need to remain plugged in while you use it. I had seen other reviews where people were disappointed about that, so I specifically checked. Personally, it was not a dealbreaker for me. I already own several portable power banks, so if I want to use it somewhere that is not close to an outlet, I can simply plug it into one of those. For me, that made more sense than spending extra money on a rechargeable model when I already had an easy portable-power solution. I even discovered an unexpected bonus: I have been using the illuminated surface to help take pictures of other products I am testing. Placing the packaging on the lighted surface gives me some extra light and helps me get a clearer picture without having to turn on the big room light. I definitely did not buy it for photography, but it has already come in handy for that too. I am still very much a beginner, so I will continue putting it through its paces, but my first impression is extremely positive. It is bright, the working area is generous, the magnets are genuinely useful, and it has already given me several ways to use it beyond simple tracing. For somebody who started drawing basically because she needed something to do while her daughter read her a book, I am having a lot more fun with this than I expected. 😂