Scratchboard, also known as scraperboard, is a black-and-white drawing medium. The board itself is a cardboard or panel with a thin veneer of fine, white clay covered by a layer of india ink. The drawing surface starts completely black. The drawing is made by scratching white lines through the ink with a sharp tool, such as an etching needle or a scratchboard nib held in a pen holder. The more lines that are drawn, the brighter the picture becomes. The clay coating under the ink allows the sharp point to remove the ink easily without tearing the board support. A scratchboard drawing is often very highly detailed and can resemble a wood engraving.

I love working in black-and-white but it is not always appropriate for every assignment. In order to add color to my scratchboard illustrations, I developed a technique of photocopying the scratchboard onto acid-free paper, mounting the paper onto a more stable board, and adding color with watercolor. This painting is the original art I deliver to a publisher.