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Have you ever drawn a picture in the sand with a stick? That is the basics of scratchboard art - scratching away the surface to leave an image.

History of Scratchboard

Before modern photographic methods for printing in publications etching on metal was used. In etching a metal plate is covered in wax, the wax is scraped off to leave the metal exposed, the metal is then dipped in acid so that the lines are "etched" into the plate. Images can then be printed from this metal plate, showing the image in reverse.

During the 19th century (and I can't find a more exact date then that!) people started to use a chalk or white clay covered surface which was in turn covered in ink. Once the ink was scraped off the white surface of the clay would show through. This process was so much like the metal etching that the process and the finished pieces are still called "etching".

The benefits of scratchboard over metal plate etching were many. It was cheaper, it could be printed in the same printing process as the text in a publication, and the artist could draw directly onto the scratchboard surface. The fine detail was ideal for natural history publications and were available at the same time as the boom in interest of all things botanical and zoological.

Scratchboard went into a decline once photography was used for illustrations in publications.

During the 20th Century artists again discovered scratchboard, this time as an art form in it's own right. Although it does make wonderful prints, now the actual board is the primary piece of art.

With watercolor, transparent oil colors and inks scratchboard has been bought to life in living color with an unbelievable realism. Nature still lends itself well to the medium, and you will find that many scratchboard artists concentrate on animals, wild and domestic. But scratchboard is not limited to subject and anything that can be created in two dimensions can be created with scratchboard!