Daniel Etrada's Page

Daniel,

We use the coraplast a lot mostly because its cheap. However, it is not my preferred surface. I dislike the shiny-ness / slickness of the plastic, it doesn't allow me to build up layers of colors - which is how I mostly draw. I will paint the coraplast with the rustoleum chalk paint in order reduce the shine and give the chalk ink something to stick to better. As long as the board will remain square or another easy to cut shape, this works pretty well. If I know the board is temporary or if they need it super fast, I have a "quick mode" of drawing where I'm less concerned about perfection. I'll use the unpainted coraplast, I don't do any blends or building up of colors, just basic text and often no illustration. I don't think I have any pix of quick mode here on the site as it is not my best work.

For the cutout shapes, I use Elmer's foam core. It's pretty good as-is, but has a tendency to warp if you use a lot of the ink on the drawing (and I do). I crease the back to get it back to flatfish. As long as you know it won't be getting moved around or getting bumped or touched all the time, it has pretty good longevity. 

Real chalkboards made of real slate are pretty expensive, every boss I have ever had likes the cheap stuff better - because its cheap. For more permanent boards I like the (rustoleum) painted masonite/plywood/particle board. Any regular, flat board with that paint is probably better than the flimsy foam core or coraplast in the long run. Again, don't go TOO cheap on the wood - once painted, it can warp too.