12. Scratchboard

In this project, I had to recreate an image that I took, on a scratch board. As a warm up for this project I had to create a value scale with a strip of scratch board paper. I did this by scratching more and more in each box until it went from completely dark, gradually up to light. After this I had to choose a picture for my actual project. I chose one of the MLK memorial in Washington D.C. It had a good amount of contrast so I thought it'd be a good picture. After choosing the picture I put it in black and white and then printed it. Then I took a piece of scratchboard the size of the picture and traced the pictured onto the scratch board. From there I scratched using a couple of techniques like cross hatching, but I mostly used stippling. I also created a value scale on scratchboard as a warmup.

I chose to use this picture because it was open of my favorite things to visit in Washington. I especially liked the patterns on the rocks, and the way that they were shaped. Additionally, I thought it would be good for the project. The pattern mostly on the rock was a indented/dotted pattern, which I realized would be excellent for stippling. Up close the stippling looks unique and detailed and from far away I would say it looks a lot like the picture.

I really enjoyed doing this project and I'm happy with what I ended up with. At first I thought it would be very hard to replicate the patterns on the rocks with just stippling, but after a while it began to really take shape, and I got more comfortable doing it. I feel like I could've done a better job on the right rock, as it was a little rushed but overall I think it looks accurate to the picture.