You could also try some solderless, re-usable breadboards. These have
arrays of holes connected together so that you can plug in parts like
ICs, small & medium transistors, resistors etc.
I hope that the OP gets some benefit from your advice. And if he really
wants a prototype board he should get one, but maybe he would like to
consider this first:
I wanted such a prototype board when I was younger, and finally got hold
of one, a big 4 section model. I built a special box for it, with power
supplies inside and a front panel with instruments, pots and switches.
But I soon realized that I had to build everything twice, first on the
protoboard, and then I had to move the working circuit over to pcb
material.
My third or fourth project on that protoboard still occupies it, and it
hasn't been used in at least 25 years.
It was much easier to build and experiment directly on pcb, so I could
just put the pcb in a box and use it afterwards.
Get some pieces of pcb material, or copper laminate as we call it here.
When you start a new project you take a suitable piece of it, and clean
it. Rub it with an abrasive kitchen sponge, the green layer. That is the
quickest and easiest method I know of to get down to clean copper.
It is a lot easier to solder if the copper surface is clean.
Cut a number of straight grooves through the copper, with a sharp tool,
so you get a 4 times 5 pads board, or the number of pads you think
you will need. Solder the components between the copper pads.
Don't try to cram everything into a very small area. It will become a
mess when/if you have to change the circuit. Leave space for changes from
the beginning, so you can experiment and change the circuit as much as
you like.
If you want to know more about building circuits in a fast and lazy way,
look up these keywords on google:
manhattan dead bug style solder
and you will find 500 links to articles about fast construction methods
without etching and without first building prototypes. You build the
final circuit on a pcb directly. You can mix surface mount components
with through-hole ones with a little ingenuity. Bend the wires of old
components and mount them without making holes. (Making holes is a lot of
work and you need good machinery. By avoiding making holes we avoid a lot
of extra work.)
It doesn't matter if circuit boards are pretty or ugly. They will be
contained inside a box and the user will only see the controls and
connectors on the outside. That's where you should spend more time and
care to get a nice-looking device. Spray paint and rub-on letters and
symbols makes the outside more professional looking.
I often put small circuits in a tobacco tin, or any kind of metal box,
with V-formed slits in the sides for cables into and out from the
circuit, so the lid fixes the cables when shut.
By building circuits on small separate circuit boards you can use
circuits later which you have built maybe just as an experiment. Just
save all projects, whether they are completed or not. You can continue
later, or put together a few experiments to something useful. Or change
an old experiment a little to get a circuit you need. You cannot do that
with circuits you have built on a protoboard, because all circuits you
build there must be disassembled, destroyed, to make space for new
circuits.