- Off Duty? 4
With color (watercolor). I didn't spend a ton of time on color-correcting this scan. The dog looks pretty accurate, but the water isn't quite right. I'll take more time when I scan the final. At any rate, in the home stretch at this point. Next:scratching to add highlights on the dog, and separate him from the background. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
My trusty #16 X-acto. I used it to further scratch the area where I've used the tattoo needle. That breaks up the linear effect, I want a smoooooth effect on the hood. - Off Duty? - Final
Finished! 5" x 7" scratchboard (Ampersand Scratchbord), with watercolor and some India ink for re-inking & drawing long, black hairs. From my own reference photo taken at a dog play day many years ago. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
I used the tattoo needle in the lengthwise direction, then in an angled direction (but not 90 degrees to the other direction). - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
The section on the bottom left shows how it looks after I've scratched w/the #16 X-acto blade. - Chrome Rising - detail of process on hood
Close up of the eyebrow tattoo needle. It has multiple sharp pins that create a linear scratch pattern. - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 1
Here's the original reference photo. You can see the hood was white, but without a dark background, the contrast situation wasn't distracting. - Chrome Rising - Reference Photo 2
To give me a better idea of how to re-work the hood, I took that section of the reference and made it darker. That brought up some details that I could incorporate. - Chrome Rising - Final
"Chrome Rising" - 6" x 6" scratchboard. 1941 Cadillac hood ornament, from my own reference photo.
Scratched with a #16 X-acto & an eyebrow tattoo needle (on the hood of the car), re-inked (stippling) with a technical pen.
I was mostly happy with the previous version of this drawing, but the contrast between the hood & the background in the corner bothered me. It pulled the eye right off the edge. I re-worked the hood to make it darker and now it reads better. I stippled with a technical pen to make the entire hood darker, and then scratched to blend & add highlights.
Part of the reason I didn't anticipate the issue in the corner is that I usually erase the backgrounds in Photoshop to save printer ink and avoid distraction from the subject. This a case where that worked against me, because in the photo, the background was white, so I wasn't seeing that contrast between the hood & the solid black background until I was finished. See the next 2 images - my reference photos... - Scotia 7
Scotia's portrait with watercolor added to her fur & nose. Nearly finished at this point, but it needs some fine-tuning here and there, and to be a bit darker overall. - Chrome Rising 1
Early stage of this one, plenty left to do at this point, but I was happy with how it was going. 6" x 6" scratchboard drawing of a 1941 Cadillac hood ornament. From my own reference photo. - Scotia 3
Update on Scotia's portrait. That large black blob area needs to be scratched... - Scotia 6
Scotia's portrait with scratching to soften the ink I added in the previous stage. Also new: highlights in her eyes! - Chrome Rising 4 - Detail
Detail of stage 4 - "Tale of the Tail" - 2nd Scan
FInished with the first round of scratching. The drawing is much lighter, but also softer, & it has more detail than the previous stage. Even though it's so much lighter, I can still see my color "roadmap". Next... adding more color...