My first scratchboard illustration

Nine hours, an Xacto knife, and possibly a few expletives later and we have a fairly successful first attempt at a scratchboard illustration. It was such an interesting process and I will definitely be taking a few more stabs (pun recognized) at this technique later. Right now other projects are calling.

Scratching an itch

with an Xacto knife. It's called scratchboard and it's the next illustration technique we are delving into in Illustration for Graphic Designers. I have never done this technique (well, there was that one time, but I was 8 and it didn't involve drawing with sharp blades). It's a little bit intimidating. You have to reverse your way of thinking and focus on pulling out the highlights instead of the shadows that I focused on in the stipple illustration.

The source photo above is by local photographer Alicia Dickerson of Four-Legged Photo. She was kind enough to give me permission to use her work for the project and of the few I picked, this is the one that my instructor favored. Below is about four hours worth of work.