Scratchboard for Illustration

A longtime favorite technique of artists and illustrators, scratchboard is a unique example of “addition by subtraction.” Unlike most traditional drawing techniques, where the artist adds outlines, tones, and shadows, the scratchboard artist scrapes away the black ink to reveal the white surface underneath.

Scratchboard is currently enjoying something of a renaissance thanks to its popularity in graphic novels, comics, advertisements, and other fine art forms.

Legendary scratchboard artist and lecturer Ruth Lozner presents an in-depth look at this fascinating art form. Starting with the basics of scratchboard technique, Lozner discusses combinations of scratchboard with other media, and opens up this traditionally black-and-white medium to a whole new world of color.

Packed with illustrations by well-known and highly regarded scratchboard artists, Scratchboard for Illustration shows the remarkable range of this offbeat artistic technique.