Scratchboard Drawings Through Time and Lives

American Artist Douglas Smith studied Sculpture, Painting and Printmaking, but his main love was for Illustrations and telling a story.  Below and above are examples of his Drawings, Illustrations made with the use of the Scratchboard medium. Scratchboard is defined by Wikipedia as "Sharp knives and tools that are used for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink".  For the coloured ones, more layers of clay in different colours are laid, so that the deeper the incision the more colours are available to the artist.

Scratchboard Images of Animals and Architecture

Freelance Illustrator Michael Halbert has been a commercial artist for the last 40 years, for the first 10, he experienced various mediums, but he then settled and focused on scratchboard art. Scratchboard is defined by Wikipedia as "Sharp knives and tools that are used for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink".  For the coloured ones, more layers of clay in different colours are laid, so that the deeper the incision the more colours are available to the artist.  Links to other scratchboard art at the end.

Amazing Expressions in Scratchboard Animal Portraits

Melissa Helene describes herself as a Scratchboard & Graphite Artist, Photographer, Wildlife and Nature Enthusiast.  We also use her words to describe how the Scratchboard works: "Scratchboard is a subtractive medium that uses a variety of abrasive tools to scratch away the outer black layer of the board to reveal the white layer beneath.  Scratches are placed in layers to obtain the desired values of gray and white."  Helene really manages to capture the minute details, that allow her to portray perfectly, the expressions of the animals she is depicting.  You know when you are looking at a portrait if the artists has not been able to capture it and these are perfect.  Enjoy...

Illustrations with Scratchboard Drawings

French Canadian Illustrator Nico Delort draws these magnificent illustrations using inks or the scratchboard. (this is how wikipedia describes it: Scraperboard or scratchboard refers to both a medium, and an illustrative technique using sharp knives and tools for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink.)  Given the quality of his work it is not surprising he has clients like, Blizzard Ent. - Games Workshop/The Black Library - Quirk Books - Tor.com - Solaris Books - Lucasfilm - Penguin Books - Mondo.

Scratchboard Drawings of Wild Animals

Allan Ace Adams is an American Scratchboard artist, we have seen this technique before here on DesignStack.  Just go to the top right hand corner of the page in the "Search this Blog" just insert Scratchboard and then search, you will get all of the posts we have featured.  The Scratchboard can be summarised as, sharp knives and tools that are used for etching into a thin layer of white China clay, that is coated with black India ink (Wikipedia).  This is Adams' definition "I explain to people that I'm scratching in the Highlights instead of the "darks" like you would with a graphite drawing".  Enjoy these lovely drawings of these beautiful animals.

Wild Animals inside Scratchboard Drawings

Chilean Artist Ricardo Martinez, has created illustrations for publications, advertising agencies and comic books for a long time now.  He has worked for the biggest companies and brands in the world and is the creator of Goomer, a satirical comic strip.  Scratchboard is defined by Wikipedia as "Sharp knives and tools that are used for etching into a thin layer of white China clay that is coated with black India ink".  For the coloured images, more layers of clay in different colours are laid, so that the deeper the incision the more colours are available to the artist.  If you want to see more of this art, go to the top right hand corner of this site, in the "Search This Blog" enter Scratchboard and you will be able to see all of the posts concerning this beautiful form of art.

Animal Drawings Scratched out of Ink with the Scratchboard

Drawings that look impressive, which are going to fascinate you, when you find out how they are made.

Wildlife Scratchboard Drawings

To emulate this form of art, you will not need a pencil, pen, paintbrush or airbrush for the main structure, just a scratching tool.

Hyper Realistic Scratchboard Wild Animal Drawings

Drawings that are scratched using a china clay board, see more in the post.

Wild Animals Scratchboard Drawings

Scratchboard is a very interesting style and medium, through which you can express art.

Hyper-realistic Animal Scratchboard Drawings

American Graphics Designer and wildlife lover Heather Lara creates these lifelike drawings using a Scratchboard.  The Scratchboard derives from a board coated with a thin layer of fine clay.  The picture is made by scratching away the ink with a sharp blade or tool, it is then painted or airbrushed with ink, colour pencils or watercolours.  For the colour pieces, several layers of a diluted ink wash are added during the scratching process to build up colour and contrast.  We have included a video to show how it is done (the video is not from Heather Lara, it is just used as an example).  To get the best effect, once in the article you can enlarge the image by pressing it (not the first one).

Animals and Creature Scratchboard Drawings

Scratchboard drawings of animals and fantasy creatures.

9 Ink and 2 Scratchboard Drawings

A great mixture of techniques for this post, read on to see more...

Scratchboard Portrait Drawings

A great technique, put to great use by this talented artist.

Lines and Cross Hatching in Portrait Drawings

A portrait drawing style that impresses from afar and especially up close. The cross hatch is a style I truly like.