Another beautiful piece by Lori Dunn.
Category Archives: animals
Edward Rooks – Scratchboard Drawings
The turkeys are my favorite. Very strong image. Edward Rooks does nice work.
Tony Flowers – The Spider and the Scraper board
I ran across these illustrations today. I especially like how the rendering process is captured in the one of the spider.
Russ McMullin – More work on Charlie the Boston terrier – still WIP
I’m still working on this little 5×7. Once I get the boards in the background done I will work more on the details of the pup. The Olfa knife has been pretty nice to work with. The brass grip is comfortable.
Here’s an update:
I’m happy enough with how the boards turned out. A little more definition on the dog and I’ll call it quits for this one.
Russ McMullin – Charlie the Boston terrier – WIP
My wife’s cousin posted a picture of her dog on Facebook and I thought he would make a good scratchboard subject. The image wasn’t the best quality so I’m doing some guesswork when it comes to the direction of the fur. I’m having fun with it so far. I’m allowing myself some freedom to deviate from the photo, although I’m trying to keep the likeness accurate.
This is on a 5×7 Ampersand board. I’ve been using a new Olfa knife which seems to work well.
Francis Lee Jaques – My Wilderness – Yosemite, Half Dome and more
Quite a few years ago I found a little book at a used bookstore. It was entitled My Wilderness – The Pacific West, and Frances Lee Jaques was the illustrator. The images were black and white scratchboard, and gorgeous. The one that compelled me to buy that little book was a stunning rendition of Yosemite’s Half Dome. It is still one of my favorite scratchboard pieces ever. I love the way the snow is done in stark white without boundaries except where it touches the rock. The sweeping vertical lines are so effective in conveying the mass and height of the monument.
I found a nice blog post about the artist.
Michelle Dick – Star tree, woman, and turtle
Michelle Dick doesn’t have a lot on her own blog, but other people have posted quite a number of her works. Her designs are solid and I like the patterning she uses. The way the star tree is rendered, it looks a bit scary at first glace – then it takes on the appearance of a wonderful fireworks display. The stark white of the woman’s robe makes a beautiful contrast against the variety of darker tones in the rest of the composition. I especially like the dreamy swirls on the turtle.
John Agnew – Desert tortoise
I found this image posted on a blog by Sam Lacombe but the name on the image said “C John N. Agnew”. With another search I found John Agnew’s site and discovered some really beautiful work. This desert tortoise is super cool. The catchlight on the eyeball sure makes it come alive. The image is pretty large. If you right-click to view just the image you can get some idea of the detail.
Will Terry – fish hooked by scratchboard
My good friend Will Terry is a childrens book illustrator who used to work in acrylic and now does mostly digital painting. He sent me an email recently and I vaguely remembered he had once done a piece of scratchboard. It got me curious, and here it is:
I think it was a demo he did for a class he was teaching. It’s not his most polished piece of work, and I’m sure he could do a much better version if he spent the time. What I find interesting is how so many accomplished artists have tried scratchboard at least once.
Hank Porter – beautiful winter scene
This is a super nice piece by Hank Porter. The design and rendering are both fabulous. In addition to the scratches there is a lot of pen work, so I assume it was done on a white board with ink applied by pen and brush, which was then selectively scraped away.
To view the details, right-click on the image and choose something like “View image in new tab”. It’s a big image.
