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December 21, 2005

Blues Guitarist Scratchboard Illustration

Well Mr. Porkpop has done it again — by mentioning that my Station Inn sketch looked a bit like scratchboard art to him, he got me thinking about some actual scratchboard work I'd done in college. Checked around the old files today and I found a piece to share here on the blog:

I can't quite recall if this art was done to explore the technique alone, or if it appeared in a publication. I was working for the college's internal art department at the time and for the MATC Times newspaper, so it very well may have been published somewhere. Whatever the case, it brings back very fond memories of that time in my life and the fun I had doing scratchboard artwork.

FYI: scratchboard art is literal scratching of black emulsion that's been sprayed onto thick, smooth board to reveal a white image, rather than laying down black ink in a normal sketch.

If you're interested in trying the technique, you can find scratchboard at a local art supply store, along with scratching tools, though I was pretty good at using a standard exacto blade for my work — so be creative if you give it a shot.

Technorati Tags: blues, mikerohde, scratchboard, illustration, music, sketches

December 21, 2005 11:52 PM | Sketches | add to del.icio.us

Comments

Very cool Mike. I like it. I also feel very honoured that it was me that sent you back to the old files! I'm surprised at the amount of detail that you can get in a piece like this. I love the highlights on the guitarist's jacket, and the shadow around his face and behind him. It must be quite a shift in perspective to get used to doing _less_ work for the darker bits, and _more_ work for the lighter bits. I've never tried anything like this myself. You've got me thinking now ...

Posted by: Neal dench at December 22, 2005 2:52 AM