"The artist...is also a born adventurer. His explorations, unlike those of a tourist, are rewarded by the discovery of beauty spots unmentioned in the guide books, and with tireless curiosity and an exceptional proneness to wonderment, he will come upon objects of remarkable interest overlooked or even shunned by more disciplined observers."

Augustus John, R.A.




Sunday 3 April 2011

Scraperboard Step by Step

I thought it might be of interest to show the stages involved in completing a Scraperboard engraving.

I draw out a pen and ink cartoon the same size as the finished piece. This drawing although dated March 2011 is based on a quick sketch drawn in 1987. This is then carefully traced onto the Scraperboard. In this case I'm using white board. I prefer to use white rather than black as I find it more versatile. I can ink up the areas which I want to be the darker tones and leave the paler tones white. I'm trying to to make a drawing that has its own character, rather than replicate a wood engraving.



I then start to ink in solid areas of black. These will either remain black or will be engraved into with a stylus to reveal the white board beneath the ink.



Having established the black areas with a brush I start to draw into the paler areas, mostly with a fine pointed mapping pen but also brushing some marks to represent different types of vegetation.




The drawing stage (above) is now complete, so I put the drawing aside to let the ink dry before engraving into it to bring out the finer details below.


The Road into Conistone-Wharfedale. Pen and Ink Scraperboard.103mm x 149mm.

2 comments:

Sherrie York said...

VERY nice, Stuart! Thanks for sharing this process... I've never done scraperboard work myself, except to play around with some pre-fab black board a few times.

(sigh) Some times I really miss the "good old days" of B&W book illustrations.

Stuart Brocklehurst said...

Hi Sherrie,
Iknow what you mean about black and white book illustrations they give a book far more 'atmosphere'.
Looking at these I should have scanned each stage instead of photographing it. They would have been much clearer. I have another one to do so I will scan and post those as I do them.