Artist desk lamps are optimized for the needs and uses of any commercial or fine artist, art student or beginner, crafter, and anybody else doing creative work.
So let’s look at which lamp you should get for drawing!
Top 4 Artist Desk Lamps Compared
Here is a quick summary of my favorite artist’s desk lamps. There are more picks in the overview below, including natural light bulbs.
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My Pick
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Budget Pick
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Budget Mangifier
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Wide Angle
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Description: With Clamp, 24W, 117 Pcs SMD LED, 23 Inches Ultra Wide Lamp, 4 Level Brightness Dimmable, Eye-Caring LED Lamp, Glare Free, Adjustable Arm Utility Clamp |
Description: With Wireless Charger, USB Charging Port, 5 Lighting Modes,5 Brightness Levels, Sensitive Control, 30/62 min Auto Timer, Eye-caring Office Lamp with Adapter |
Description: Comfortable LED Magnifying Glass Desk Lamp for Close Work - Bright 2.25x Magnifier Lighted Lens - Puzzle, Craft & Reading Light for Table Top Tasks |
Description: Swing Arm/Eye-Caring Table/Office Lamp/Zero Glare/Adjustable and Dimming Color Modes/for Home Office/Multiple Monitors/Workbench |
With Clamp, 24W, 117 Pcs SMD LED, 23 Inches Ultra Wide Lamp, 4 Level Brightness Dimmable, Eye-Caring LED Lamp, Glare Free, Adjustable Arm Utility Clamp
With Wireless Charger, USB Charging Port, 5 Lighting Modes,5 Brightness Levels, Sensitive Control, 30/62 min Auto Timer, Eye-caring Office Lamp with Adapter
Comfortable LED Magnifying Glass Desk Lamp for Close Work - Bright 2.25x Magnifier Lighted Lens - Puzzle, Craft & Reading Light for Table Top Tasks
Swing Arm/Eye-Caring Table/Office Lamp/Zero Glare/Adjustable and Dimming Color Modes/for Home Office/Multiple Monitors/Workbench
Table of Contents
- Overview: Best Art Lamps for Artists and Crafters in 2023
- Best Natural Light Bulbs
- FAQs – Best Artist Desk Lamp
Overview: Best Artist Desk Lamps in 2023
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My Pick: Neatfi XL LED Lamp
With Clamp, 24W, 117 Pcs SMD LED, 23 Inches Ultra Wide Lamp, 4 Level Brightness Dimmable, Eye-Caring LED Lamp, Glare Free, Adjustable Arm Utility Clamp
At a Glance:
- Style: Clamp-On
- Lumens: 2200 — 4 Level Adjustable
- Color Temperature: 5600-6000
- CRI: 80
Sometimes you just want the brightest light possible for extreme detail work, extra precision, and control, large work areas, poor eyesight, or just sheer impact.
The Neatfi XL has that and more — with 2,200 Lumens of illumination in an excellent package overall.
A beautiful lamp, available in four colors (I love the pink, but for non-distraction when I’m working with colors, I would probably settle for boring old white or black), the Neatfi XL is also a beautifully made lamp, with everything — stability, physical adjustability, brightness control, and overall operation — working perfectly, and with soft, even, flicker-free and very bright light that renders colors accurately and reveals details perfectly.
For a large work area or a small desk, if you want the brightest light possible in a lamp that is ideal for artists and offers the best possible design, material, construction quality, and overall value, the Neatfi XL is a perfect choice.
Budget Pick: LED Art Lamp
With Wireless Charger, USB Charging Port, 5 Lighting Modes,5 Brightness Levels, Sensitive Control, 30/62 min Auto Timer, Eye-caring Office Lamp with Adapter
At a Glance:
- Style: Desktop Base
- Lumens: 410
- Color Temperature: 2700 – 6000 Kelvin Adjustable
- CRI: 80+
I’m not going to include any super-cheap lights in my list of best artist desk lamps because there are just too many reports online of quality control issues, flickering lights, poor build quality, and unstable bases. But for a still bargain-basement price, you can get an extremely high-quality desk lamp that’s ideal for any artist in the AFROG LED desk lamp.
The AFROG LED desk lamp is a great size, at about 16 inches tall — big enough to be useful and not so large that it overwhelms your working space.
The lamp head and the stem swivel and turn, allowing for very specific positioning so the desk lamp stays solidly in place once positioned.
The AFROG is nicely adjustable in light, with variable color temperature and brightness, and has an excellent CRI rating of 80.
Everything — adjustability and usability, light quality, and overall quality — is excellent for such an inexpensive lamp.
The AFROG might be the best budget artist lamp on the market today.
Value Pick: Daylight Slim Lamp
Daylight Slim lamp with superb additional features - Aluminum shade with a full-length diffuser - Better spread and diffusion of light - 4 brightness levels - Flexible joints for perfect positioning
At a Glance:
- Style: Clamp-On
- Lumens: 1065 — 4 Level Adjustable
- Color Temperature: 6000 Kelvin
- CRI: 80
Ok, calling a lamp around 120 dollars “value pick” may seem strange, but not if you have experienced the Daylight LED desk lamp, with its amazing natural, clear and stable light, not to mention its superb fit and finish and overall quality.
But just considering the quality of illumination, I can easily rate this as not just the best value in a desk lamp for artists but one of the best desk lamps for artists overall.
The light that comes from the Daylight is just delightful.
Based on specs, it does not seem any different than other desk lamps, but it has a soft yet vividly bright quality that I love.
The overall design is simple, elegant, and effective.
There are four brightness levels, though no temperature settings — the light is an ideally cool and natural 6000 Kelvin — and basic, highly stable adjustability of position, and this is one of the nicest looking and most premium feeling products I’ve come across.
But the Daylight U35108 is all about the beautiful, natural, and accurate quality of the light, and for working on art, I can think of very few desk lights I would rather have.
Covers Large Area: Phive LED Architect Desk Lamp
Clamp Lamp, Metal Swing Arm Dimmable Task Lamp (Touch Control, Eye-Care Technology, Memory Function, Highly Adjustable Office / Work Light)
At a Glance:
- Style: Clamp-On
- Lumens: 1100
- Color Temperature: 5000 Kelvin
- CRI: 85
With a high-quality and extremely adjustable LED desk lamp, the Phrive CL-1 easily gets into the right position. Once there, with its strong and secure construction and ultra-stable mounting clamp, it stays put.
Stepless brightness control means you can get the brightness at exactly the right level, and the nice memory feature will remember your settings.
While the color temperature is not adjustable, the Phive CL-1 produces an extremely cool and bright 5000K temperature, which is excellent for seeing even the smallest details and doing even the most exacting and precise work and has a CRI rating of 85 for excellent color rendition.
A big lamp, the Phive CL-1 clamps on and so takes up no desk space.
And is great for both small desks and large work areas, with a clear, bright, and flicker-free illumination that is perfect for any kind of work and easy on the eyes – an easy choice for the best inexpensive architect lamp on the market today.
Budget Magnifier: Brightech LightView
Comfortable LED Magnifying Glass Desk Lamp for Close Work - Bright 2.25x Magnifier Lighted Lens - Puzzle, Craft & Reading Light for Table Top Tasks
At a Glance:
- Style: Clamp-On
- Lumens: 650
- Color Temperature: 6000 Kelvin
- CRI: 80
The Brightech LightView Pro has a bright, even ring light surrounding an excellent 5-inch 2.25X magnifying glass, and a wonderful LED desk lamp for normal illumination and extreme detail work.
This is a basic lamp in many ways, without adjustable brightness or color temperature, yet it is one of the best and most useful artist desk lamps you can buy.
You can use the LightView Pro for general lighting, with a soft and cool light that is not overwhelmingly bright but is fantastic for revealing every detail and making everything as clear as possible, and then swoop it down close to your work, peer through the glass and get an amazingly clear view of fine details, with accurate color rendition (CRI rating of 80) and extremely stable, flicker-free illumination — especially important for eye health and stress-free working
With a high-quality glass lens that will not scratch or warp over time, a dust cover to protect the magnifying glass and provide more light when closed, strong and easily adjustable arms, and a clamp that allows for super-stable mounting but takes up virtually no desk space.
The Brightech LightView Pro is a smartly designed and well-built lamp and my choice for the best inexpensive magnifying desk lamp for artists on the market today.
Magnifier Pick: Black & Decker PureOptics
Zoom Magnifier 10W Flicker-Free Natural Daylight LED Desk Lamp, 5-Diopter Lens, USB Port, 6 Dimming Levels (800 Lumens)
At a Glance:
- Style: Desktop Base
- Lumens: 416
- Color Temperature: 5000 Kelvin
- CRI: 85
- USB Port
The Black and Decker PureOptics Summit Zoom Magnifier desk lamp may have a super-fancy name.
But it is a super-simple lamp that focuses almost exclusively on the quality of optical glass in the 2.25X (5 diopters) magnifying lens, and the quality of light from the PureOptics LED light bulbs.
As far as features go, well, there’s not much… You can move the light into pretty much any position and it will stay put.
You can adjust the light at six different levels, charge your phone, take off the base and use one of three other mounting hardware kits that come with it, including a very stable desk clamp.
But the clarity is something special — whether using the ultra-sharp optical glass magnifier or not, you will instantly notice that whatever you’re looking at just seems clearer and sharp.
You can do more precise and finer detail work with greater ease and less eye strain. Rather than overwhelming you with hyper-brightness, the Black and Decker PureOptics has a moderate amount of brightness.
But the quality of the light makes it seem like much more, and it is more than enough to use as a general desk lamp and a magnifier.
An exceptionally well-made and high-quality lamp, the (here we go again…) Black and Decker PureOptics Summit Zoom Magnifier is a wonderful tool for any artist or crafter, brilliant for small, detailed, or high precision work, and the best overall magnifying desk lamp for artists on the market today.
Wide Angle: BenQ Reading LED Lamp
Swing Arm/Eye-Caring Table/Office Lamp/Zero Glare/Adjustable and Dimming Color Modes/for Home Office/Multiple Monitors/Workbench
At a Glance:
- Style: Desktop Base
- Lumens: 800-900
- Color Temperature: 1700-5700 Kelvin
- CRI: 95+ (!)
While the BenQ LED desk lamp is certainly good enough in every respect to earn inclusion in my guide for best desk lamps for artists on the market today — with adjustable brightness and color temperature, incredibly high CRI, super steady eye-friendly light, a very solid base, and great, stable physical adjustability.
It is especially notable for the wide angle illumination it provides (50 percent wider than many large area desk lamps) and, as such, offers great corner-to-corner lighting for drawing tables, big sheets of paper or canvas, or any larger art or crafting projects.
It is also an extremely well-made and beautiful lamp.
It even includes a super-slick feature that can automatically adjust the light level as surrounding and ambient lighting levels change, reducing stress when you’re in the creative zone.
A great product overall, and especially for larger work surfaces, the BenQ LED desk lamp is the best wide-angle artist’s lamp I’ve found and is very highly recommended.
Best Natural Light Bulbs
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Before we close, we still might want to consider a few basic questions about the best lighting for painting, drawing, crafting, and other creative work — we may not answer them all, of course, but we can consider them…
- What is the Best Lighting for Drawing or Painting?
- What is the Best Lighting for an Art Studio?
- Is LED Light Good for an Art Studio?
- What Type of Light Bulb is Closest to Natural Light?
Many of the best desk lamps today have an adjustable color temperature, which is quite cool (see what I did there?) for various reasons — warmer light can be easier on the eyes and help you wind down at the end of the day.
Cool light is better for making everything as bright and visible as possible and in some ways, is also “better” for your eyes in that you don’t have to strain as much to see fine or subtle details.
But honestly, for me, natural light is the way to go. Lamps with a CRI of at least 80 (like all of my recommendations in our list of best art lamps) and the coolest, whitest light possible (ideally 6000 Kelvin, or sunlight equivalent) are all I want, and changing color temperature is nice.
If I have the excellent color rendering and bright white light, I know I’m seeing everything perfectly and can work confidently.
And this leads us to another possibility. If you are looking for the best possible illumination for making art but aren’t ready or able to buy a new lamp, you might want to consider getting some natural lightbulbs instead.
These can offer very high CRI — other 100 — and cool and neutral color temperature, providing the most accurate view of whatever they are lighting. And they can be put into your existing lamp or light fixture!
I’ll provide links here for a few natural light bulbs that I think are the best in normal and small socket sizes.
If your existing lamp is pretty far gone anyway, remember that any of the lamps recommended above will also offer the most natural, neutral, and accurate lighting possible.
However, if you still want to give your old lamp another go, any one of these natural, high-color rendering bulbs would be a great choice.
Best Standard Size Natural Light LED Lightbulb
8W=60W, 6000K Daylight Deluxe, Dimmable, 800 LM, E26 Base, Refrigerator & Fan Light - UL & Energy Star
Best Standard Size Natural Light Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb
Philips LED Energy Saver Compact Fluorescent T2 Twister (A21 Replacement) Household Light Bulb: 6500-Kelvin, 23-Watt (100-Watt Equivalent), E26 Medium Screw Base, Daylight Deluxe, 4-Pack
Best Standard Size Natural Light “Corn” LED Lightbulb (high output)
E26 LED Corn Bulbs,15W LED Candelabra Light Bulbs 120 Watt Equivalent, 1500lm, Daylight White 6000K LED Chandelier Bulbs, Decorative Candle, Non-Dimmable LED Lamp(4-Pack)
Best Standard Size Natural Light “Edison” LED Lightbulb
Sunco Lighting 12 Pack ST64 LED Bulb, Dimmable, Waterproof, 8.5W=60W, 6000K Daylight Deluxe, Vintage Edison Filament Bulb, 800 LM, E26 Base, Restaurant or String Lights
Best Small Socket (E12) Natural Light LED Lightbulb
Sunco Lighting 10 Pack G14 LED Globe, 5W=40W, Candelabra Bulb, 450 LM, 6000K Daylight Deluxe, Small Edison Screw Base E12, Frosted
FAQs – Artist Desk Lamp
Based on my experience, I recommend the Neatfi lamp for drawing and painting. This lamp is also a popular pick among other artists and painters.
Yes, LED light is good for artists because it provides consistent flicker-free bright light so important for artists. LED light is also long-lasting and energy-efficient, which saves you money.
Based on my experience, I recommend either Philips EnergySaver bulbs or Sunco LED natural light bulbs.
I hope my guide helped you to get your new desk lamp and natural light bulb and you will have a lot of fun with your creative projects!
Visit my blog – Art Side of Life – for other buyer’s guides, online courses, articles, and other resources.
Other articles in the artist desks, chairs, lamps, and drawing boards series!
- Finding the Best Art Desk: A Buyer’s Guide for Desks and Drawing Tables for Artists
- Finding the Best Artist Chair: A Buyer’s Guide for the Best Chairs and Stools for Artists
- Best Portable Drafting and Drawing Boards for Artists
Lis cet article en français 🇫🇷 La meilleure lampe pour dessiner en 2022
Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”). I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »
