Scratchboard

"Sig"
8" x 9"
Scratchboard

For this project, I was inspired by a picture of my dog named Sig. I used that picture of him when we first got him for my reference on this artwork. I chose the picture because I also used it for my charcoal project, which I never finished. 

I first started by printing my reference image (in black and white), then used a soft "B" pencil on the printed image which I had placed over my scratchboard. It created lines which I could go by to successfully create a realistic representation of my dog. Next, I started with easier details like the nose and fur which I didn't need to make too realistic. To do the hair/fur, I used a pronged wire tool to make multiple hairs at once. I also used a fiberglass "brush" tool which covered more area, and created a ton of lines with each stroke. To make more prominent details, I used a pointed "spade" looking tool.  After, I moved on to the more difficult details like the eyes. I finished the project off with the whiskers, and furthered the hair work to make it more realistic.

A few challenges I encountered during this project included messing up, and making the hair/fur. One way I messed up was by using the fiberglass brush tool too roughly, which eventually dug into the paper too far which made it start ripping. You can see this issue on the snout. For the fur part, I had trouble blending too much, making it look less like hair. With this, I also made strokes in the scratchboard that didn't look like hair (seen on the back part of my dog). I chose to make no background to make his head "pop" out of the page- and additionally, it would have taken me a long time to successfully recreate the very detailed background in my reference.  Overall, I like how my artwork came out. I am also very happy that I completed it early, which is a very rare ocurrence.