The Spider and the Scraper board

One of my current projects is making an image for ‘the School Magazine’ (New South Wales, Australia). I have been working on an image for a story by Barry Smith about a 7 legged spider. For the illustration I have chosen to use scraperboard as it had a nice spidery feel about it. The process is simular to my approach to working in chalks when doing street art. I plan the drawing by working stages from dark to light. The scraperboard is black and when you scratch the surface it reveals the white underneath. To ensure that my image comes out as I plan, I start with a pencil sketch onto the surface to the scraperboard. Then using a sharp tool I start scratching away at the black where I want it to go white. You can see how the illustration of the spider and web progresses from the image here. I should explain that I have no formal training with this medium, like most things I just play around with it until I am comfortable using it.