SCRATCH YOUR ITCH

 PRELIMINARY SCRATCHBOARD

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

scratchboard, nibs and holders, watercolor

For most of my 2nd year 2-d art students last year,

they had never had a chance to experience scratchboard.

And it's such a magical board to work on.

There are different grades from very inexpensive to high end pieces from England.

I do splurge on this assignment and get the high end board 

because it is thick enough to support watercolors,

the others warp too badly and discolor.

Then each student receives a small piece to try out and practice on.

Subject matter is up to them 

as long as they practice cross hatching and pointillism in a wide range of values.

Then watercolor is brought into the scratched away areas.

Senior Jazzarie Lo belongs to the cat,

middle row lt. to rt. junior Sam Tun, & seniors Eileen Lee & Ayesha Durrani,

and bottom bird is senior Malaya Sithichai.

A LITTLE TEASE

PRELIMINARY SCRATCHBOARD

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

scratchboard & watercolor

My boys took to scratchboard like ducks to water.

Scratchboard is posterboard thickness with a black coating over top.

Two different shaped nibs are used to scratch away the black to get to the whiteboard underneath.

Then watercolors are applied into the white areas.

But good quality scratchboard is hard to find.

My source here in the Southland is Westminister Art Supply Warehouse.

But it's expensive so be warned.

Senior Nathan Chong drew this beauty in it seemed like just a couple of minutes.

It was one of my favorite pieces of his all year.

And this was only his practice piece!!!

Know that these practice pieces are tiny,

only about 2" by 2" or so.

They have to be because of the expense.

Senior Jovani Garcia did this landscape with the fisherman.

Junior Jonathan Hsu drew this very expressive bird.

And we end with senor Michael Cantu with this magical landscape.

I'm looking forward to sharing the larger after pieces.

They are incredible!

Preliminary Scratchboard - Student Work

These two practice pieces by junior Michaela Platt.

My Intermediate 2-D kids love working with scratchboard, but before I give them the pricey material, I cut up very small pieces for them to practice on.  Scratchboard is a piece of heavy white board covered in black ink.  You draw with either a pointed or scooped nib.  You use the nib to scratch thru the black to get to the white.  If you make a mistake there are no do-overs.  That's why it's really important to practice first.  After finishing the drawing, I have the kids bring in watercolor onto the white areas.  The results are striking. 

The eye study was done by senior Halah Elsahhar, and the house/hut by senior Belinda Wu.

The bird belongs to junior Megan Yeu, who will be coming back next year as one of my strongest drawing/ painting students along with Michaela Platt.  

This last one was done by senior Kevin Tang.  I accidentally bought a piece of scratchboard that had silver instead of white board underneath, but the results are very cool as you can see.

Preliminary Scratchboard - Student Work

In reality these sweet little practice pieces measure only about 11/2" by 3" at the largest, but they are big enough that my 2nd year 2-d kids were able to learn how to work on this special board.  For their first attempt I feel they did a remarkable job.  From top to bottom:  sophomore Hanna Park, senior Elise Engly and sophomore Cindy Kim.  To view the real pieces, see post below from yesterday.

Preliminary Scratchbord/Watercolor - Student Art

These sweet little pieces were done by my 2nd year 2-D kids as preliminaries to learn how to work on the scratchboard and for testing out their watercolors over top. I feel like a couple of them are pretty darn cool and should be framed up. I really like the one in the upper left corner done by junior Jullian Kho of the little girl's face, and the one bottom right corner done by senior Brandon Dumais with the high tops walking up the wall. Clever piece Brandon!


This black and white prelim study was also done by Jullian. I really love all the ideas she is testing out. And below is senior Peraya Siriwong's final piece that she turned in for grading. I love this one so much that it made the cut for the District Art Show last month.