- "Safety" 2
At this stage, everything has been scratched back to blend the rough look from the previous stage. I added watercolor to her eyes. The background is finished - through a process of scratching, stippling, scratching, stippling, etc. to get that textured look. It's much richer and almost velvety compared to the first stage, where the background was simply a layer of India ink. I posted this video of the scratching process to Instagram: www.instagram.com/p/BIYm9c4hROX - "Safety" 2 - Detail
A detail of the 2nd image in the series. - "Safety" 3
Washes of ink over the previous round of scratching. With the scratches underneath to provide texture, this layer of ink is smoother than the first layer. Still rough, but becoming more refined. - "Safety" - Final
"Safety" 7" x 5" Claybord (white scratchboard) with India ink, ink wash, watercolor (eyes), Pitt Art Marker (shades of warm grey) and a 7B pencil. I used the pencil near the end to add a layer of light shadow to the fabric on the right side. Scratched with a #16 X-Acto. This one took a LOT longer than I had planned, but I'm really happy with how she turned out. "Safety" received a Silver award (2nd place) in the Master's division of the 2017 International Society of Scratchboard Artists' Annual Exhibition. It also sold from the Exhibition. - "Safety" 4
Getting closer, the left side of her face needs more work, as does the lower right corner of the sleeve. Instagram where you can see me using a Pitt Art Marker marker to add grey: www.instagram.com/p/BIhG627BlO7/ - "Safety" - Framed
"Safety" framed I'm really happy with how the framing turned out. The 5 x 7 scratchboard is glued to an 8 x 10 Ampersand Gessobord that I airbrushed with warm grey mix of inks and then distressed (using various methods that I will probably never be able to replicate). The frame is simple, black wood. - K9 Yukon - #1
Just getting started ... Plenty left to do at this point, but good progress. - K9 Yukon - #1
Almost done with the scratching to the point where I can add color. The left side of his face needs to be scratched, then I'll ink to bring back dark areas, then add color. I'll also layer more fur over his "Sheriff" collar, but have to wait to do that until I have the color down first, so the fur can overlap that. - K9 Yukon - #3
All scratched - ready for color - K9 Yukon - #5
Not quite done, but really, really close. Needs watercolor over some of the scratched areas, then select scratching to finish the portrait. Compare this one to the previous image where the portrait was much rougher. The scratching has helped to blend & soften the fur and tones. This stage is lighter, but the last pass with watercolor will bring back some contrast and color. - K9 Yukon - Final
The finished portrait 10" x 8" scratchboard with watercolor - Ranger 1
Early stage of a 12" x 9" portrait of Ranger the German Shepherd Reference photo provided by my client Ranger loved the water, so that's what's going on in the background. It will taper off into black at the top, but otherwise it will look very much like the water technique I developed on "Determination" See it here: www.annran.com/website/gallery/pet-portraits/dogs/determination - Ranger 2
First layer of scratching on the dog is finished. Also some re-inking in a few places to add darks back in. Watercolor on the water too. That's streaky in places, but scratching in select areas will fix that. Next steps on Ranger will be scratching/re-inking to fine-tune and build depth. Then I can add color to him. - Ranger in Progress
This is a cell phone photo I took during the scratching process. It fits in between Stages 1 & 2 of the scanned images. - Ranger 3
More scratching on Ranger has softened his fur and blended some of the values. Some highlights scratched into the water has cleaned up the streaky look from when I initially added watercolor. Now Ranger is ready for color!