Scratchboard Animals Portraits by Allan Ace Adams

Illinois artist Allan Ace Adams create these breathtaking portraits of animals using an exacto knife to scrape away a top layer of black ink off the canvas to reveal the white clay underneath, called scratchboard art.



"I explain to people that I’m scratching in the highlights instead of the ‘darks’ like you would with a graphite drawing. Shades of gray can be achieved by how much ink is removed or by applying an ink wash. The ink wash can be scratched back though to reveal the white once again.”



It is a time-consuming process where every line must be created by hand and there is no room for mistakes.



A scratchboard is a hardwood board, which is coated with a thin layer of porcelain clay. The clay is coated with a think layer of black ink and the artist scratches the black ink to reveal the white clay.



"I usually use multiple tools on a board. My favorite tool is a #11 blade Scalpel. I also use x-acto knifes.(pictured on the left) But...I also use other more unique tools. Steel wool, Sandpaper, emery cloth, sanding pads, wire twisty ties, wire brushes, women's nail buffers (also known as a NBT, Nail Buffer Thingy), tattoo needles...anything that has an abrasive quality can be used. The sky is the limit and exploring those limits is half the fun."



"I have a strong love for animals and hopefully that carries through to my works. I seem to be attracted to the "strange" or dangerous critters especially. The Great White Shark, Wolves, Tigers, and various others. I especially enjoy doing pet portraits. When I complete a portrait, hand it over to the client, and I see their eyes light up. I see the love they share with their pet shine through, that is the greatest feeling, as an artist, one could experience."











Check his website: http://acescratch.weebly.com/

Scratchboard Art by Cathie Bleck

Artist Cathie Bleck painstakingly scratches away handmade pigments and black ink on clayboard, revealing the white of the kaolin clay beneath.



"When I was a girl I fell in love with darkness. The tools I work with—pen, ink, fine knives, and clay—became natural choices for someone drawn to observe and record the world in close detail, and to best orchestrate the balance between opposing forces. Through the exploration of symbolic narrative imagery, carved into earth’s clay, I speak to relationships that are intrinsic, permeating through human experience. I rely on intense contrasts of tone and imagery to form dualities of interconnectedness, observing the equilibrium all species are challenged to establish in a world of constant change."



"Clayboard is manufactured by Ampersand, whereby kaolin clay is coated in a thin layer over an archival masonite museum board. I apply additional clay pigments to this smooth surface making my works somewhere between 2D and 3D. It is sometimes referred to as scratchboard technique when done on paper."



"Working on kaolin clay provides me with a surface in which I can build upon inks and additional clay prior to scratching them away with razor sharp tools. This relatively new art process has roots that lie in some of mankind’s earliest attempts at creating art."



"The process of scraping the inks off of the clay is my favorite experience in creating the piece. It is a performance that celebrates the articulation of lines. The movement of my wrist and arm are rhythmic in nature not unlike a performance of a drummer or a dancers fluid movement."



"It’s fun to go into the darkness of the scratchboard and make a line in white. I also love the clay medium, and scratchboard is made out of Kaolin clay. Working in clay is a tactile process. Once it dries, it's very hard. You can put all kinds of texture in it. If you touch it, it’s a great sensation and this sensuality translates to what we see in nature. The scratchboard medium is part of the earth and it fits perfectly with my subject matter."



"The first step in my process is making a preliminary drawing in chalk or graphite. I usually transfer this to my board with graphite paper under the sketch, retracing the preliminary drawing with a pen in order to preserve the motion of my unrehearsed linework. This pressure of pen to transfer paper creates an indentation in the board and a graphite image serves as a guide on the clay board. Next I paint with permanent colored inks and handmade pigments prior to scratching."



"My preferred tool for scraping is triangular in shape with a fine razor edge and various razors. Recently, my works are much larger in scale (30”x60”) and I have been getting beautifully crafted custom boards made with a birch trim cradle and back supports for stability. Upon completion of the piece I apply a coat of acrylic UV protective spray using the recommendation of a museum trained art restorer."









Check her website: http://www.cathiebleck.com/

Source: murphydesign1

Ink and Scratchboard Illustrations by Nicolas Delort

Paris based freelance illustrator Nicolas Delort creates these amazingly detailed drawings using ink on scratch boards.



"I work on non-inked scratch board. I use three tools: a 0.05 pigment marker, a sable brush and a scratch board nib. I’ll hatch/crosshatch the lighter areas with the marker and I’ll fill in with Indian ink the darker areas and scratch away. I don’t really plan the whole process though, I make it up as I go."



"I start by asking myself “What story do I want to tell?” From there I picture the scene in motion in my head as if I were a, uh, floating eye, for lack of a better simile. I turn around the scene, up and down, let the scene unfold, and when I find an interesting angle, I “pause” the action and write down a short description of the scene. Then the rest is a pretty run-of-the-mill type process."



"I make thumbnail-sized abstract compositions that don’t look like anything to anyone but me. Once I have one that I like, I’ll open Photoshop, blow it up, move stuff around and think with it until I’m happy with the composition. That’s when I start working on a tight line-art. I then do a quick grayscale mock-up so I know where I’m headed when I start inking. I print out the line-art, transfer it onto the scratch board and then the fun part starts."



"Once in a while, I’ll make a full color illustration, but it’s really not what I like best. I could never find my “voice” with color and even less-so with digital and felt like it just came off as stiff and bland. There are so many people doing amazing and diverse things with digital now, I feel like I don’t have anything special to add when it comes to color."



"Generally, I’m very inspired by my surrounding environment. I’m always on the lookout for peculiar light, interesting compositions and whatnot. I live in Paris and even though I don’t like drawing cityscapes, there’s always something about how the light flows between the buildings and the stark shapes modern infrastructures create. I force myself to look for inspiration in things I would never think of drawing."



"I did this illustration for a tsunami fundraiser in march last year. It was sold at an auction at Arludik gallery in Paris and it’s just been selected in the unpublished category for the 3x3 2012 annual."















All images are © Copyright of Nicolas Delort

Check his website: http://blog.nicolasdelort.com/

Source: youthedesigner, openlabartists

Incredibly Detailed Wildlife Scratchboard Art by Cristina Penescu

Cristina Penescu creates wildlife-themed scratchboard artworks that look so real it’s hard to believe they’re not photographs.



Cristina works primarily in acrylics and scratchboard, alternating between the two as needed to realize her visions.



Scratchboard is a little known medium made up of a 1/8" masonite panel that is covered with smooth white clay and coated with a fine layer of india ink. She uses a sharp knife to scratch every single detail and hair by hand.



A single scratchboard piece can be made up of tens of thousands of tiny scratches layered atop one another. Additionally, she airbrush thin coats of india ink back onto her boards before beginning the scratching phase all over again for a second time. This allows her to achieve additional tones that are not otherwise possible.