It’s been a while since I’ve done a straight-up scratchboard piece. Even I get into the habit of dipping into the color well, so it’s a very pleasant change when I go back to the nibs, pins, and erasers of plain ol’ black & white scratch work.

111226-1-0226-Final-We-Fear-No-Elephants-800We Fear No Elephants” was a fun piece that evokes my sense of storytelling whimsy. I like the idea that a lion would want the comfort of a wee little mouse to ensure that the elephants stay away during nap time.

One distressing thing I found out when I was working on this piece was that the ink I used to repair wear and tear on the board is no longer manufactured…not that it was all that easy to find before. As Ampersand Claybord Black (aka Scratchbord) is coated with an ink that isn’t completely black, has a flat-satin sheen/texture, and scratches well (i.e. doesn’t flake off); the choice of a supplemental ink isn’t trivial. For now I’ve opted to use the ink that comes with Ampersand’s ink set — which is not optimal since the black isn’t available separately. Grrrr.

Detail01-We-Fear-No-Elephants1As I do with most scratch works, I scratch with knives, Speedball nibs, and pins. This allows me a wide array of line types. Since I usually opt for the character and density of lines instead of crosshatching — especially when doing fur — the variety of tools (plus erasers) helps a lot. I should note that I apply just one scratch at a time. No specialty multi-scratch tools.