Warning: include(/home/steve206/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache-base.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/steve219/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php on line 65

Warning: include(): Failed opening '/home/steve206/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache-base.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php54/root/usr/share/pear') in /home/steve219/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php on line 65

Warning: include_once(/home/steve206/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/ossdl-cdn.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/steve219/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php on line 82

Warning: include_once(): Failed opening '/home/steve206/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/ossdl-cdn.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php54/root/usr/share/pear') in /home/steve219/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php on line 82
Steven Noble Illustrations » Scratchboard technique

Archive for the ‘Scratchboard technique’ Category

Woodcut Illustration

Monday, October 18th, 2010

The Woodcut style is defined by simulating the old fashioned woodblock carvings of the 18th century and often re-creating a retro modern version to fit today’s needs for advertising, packaging design, publishing and logo identity purposes. The technique requires the use of the scratchboard medium which works most effectively to accomplish this end result. Furthermore, the style is mostly associated with “bold”, less detailed, line strokes along with loose uncleaned cuts along the outer edge of the illustration. This is a clear distinction from the other scratchboard styles such engraving, and steel engraving styles.

See woodcut samples: http://www.stevennoble.com/v/Woodcuts/

The original woodcuts (Xylography) from the 18th century were carved out from wood blocks with printing parts remaining level with the surface while non-printing parts are removed. The areas to show ‘white’ are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in ‘black’ at the original surface level. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface was then covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller, leaving the ink upon the flat surface and not on the non-printing areas.

portrait-process

In the present world, the woodcut style is merely simulated since there are often edits to be made by the demanding clients of today’s world. The level of detail is also specific to the size/scale of the illustration. For example, the Coors “waterfall” logo was accomplished by developing three different versions for three different sizes. One illustration version was created for use on the 12 ounce beer bottle label (.5’ – 1”) which was the simplified version, a second for use on the twelve and twenty-four pack cartons (2” – 6”) which was the middle version, and the third made for the delivery truck (6’ – 8’) which was the detailed version.

See logo samples: http://www.stevennoble.com/v/Logos/

The first step is to lay down the “approved” completed preliminary sketch onto a clean blackened piece of scratchboard by laying out the broad, general outline onto the scratchboard first. From there, pencil marks can be transferred to leave behind mark/outlines of the general forms from the sketch/drawing. Once this is completed, then the carving blade is used to scrap away the excess amount of black scratchboard around the outer area surrounding the illustration. The general lines are then scraped away to create the forms beginning from top to bottom. Afterwards, the shadows and details begin to take their shape through a process of improvisational line strokes across each of the forms.

The finished/completed reflective black and white art is then scanned from a flat bed scanner into the Adobe Photohop program and then cleaned-up using the magic wand command at a tolerance of 85 -100 and saved as a high resolution bitmap tiff file. To add color, the artwork is then saved in RGB and a layer is created (multiply selected) to allow color to be added behind the black and white line work. This gives more flexibility to allow for any quick edits and other adjustments such as color saturation and brightness and contrast.

Some New Work on the Web

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

From time to time one of my illustrations is featured on the web. The first is on AdPulp, where I did an illustration of Santa for Fentimans by way of ad agency Sell! Sell!. I also did a lobster for lobster.com… take a look and let me know what you think!

See article in AdPulp:
http://www.adpulp.com/archives/2009/12/santa_wrestling.php

Sell! Sell! in London is helping Fentimans, the independent Hexham-based soft drinks company, tug Coca-Cola’s long white beard this Christmas.
Created by Sell! Sell!, the ad depicts an old-fashioned illustration of a Fentimans Santa wearing the colours of Curiosity Cola and workman’s boots standing victorious over a chubby Father Christmas lying prostrate and dressed in his customary red outfit much championed and featured by Coca Cola.

Vic Polkinghorne, creative director of Sell! Sell!, commented “Fentimans make great soft drinks but they’re in a market that’s dominated by big brands and heavy spenders. To make their budgets work as hard as possible they need something cheeky or provocative to help them cut through the blizzard of Christmassy nonsense that’s spewed forth at this time of year”.
By the way, “Reet” is Northern English slang for “right.”

BrandNew posted a piece about the Lobster.com logo. They’re a very well-read and well-respected design blog:
“CRUSTACEAN AHOY”
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/a_clawed_orange_crustacean_is_worth_a_thousand_words.php

In a bold move, the logo doesn’t spell out the word “Lobster,” and instead it simply shows you one, an immediately identifiable lobster that works as a very charming rebus and turns a URL that could look like one of those generic catch-all web sites full of ads into a kind of leader URL. Nail hired illustrator Steven Noble to create the custom woodcut illustration of a Maine lobster and then added a slightly distressed, serif “.com” creating an amusing fusion of vintage illustration and contemporary technology. I don’t normally think of the Internet as a place where I would get my lobsters, not that I buy lobster ever, but now I know where to get some shipped right to my house after I’m done posting to Brand New.

Scratchboard Illustration Technique

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

The scratchboard (scraper board) technique requires very precise strokes applied from a precision carving blade (knife) whereby the artist works in a negative fashion by scraping away the black ink to reveal the white clay board underneath. It’s almost like reverse psychology. You have to think the opposite of what you normally think. You’re adding light and taking away the darkness one stroke at a time. Scratchboard is merely a medium and not a style. It can be translated into a variety of styles and treatments such as woodcut, pen and ink, engraving and steel engraving styles, as well as a variety of other stylized scratchboard techniques including very fine traditional “18th -19th century” vintage engravings.

See scratchboard styles: www.stevennoble.com

The Woodcut style is defined by simulating the old fashioned woodblock carvings of the 18th century and often re-creating a retro modern version to fit today’s needs for advertising, packaging design, publishing and logo identity purposes. The technique requires the use of the scratchboard medium which works most effectively to accomplish this end result. Furthermore, the style is mostly associated with “bold” , less detailed, line strokes along with loose uncleaned cuts along the outer edge of the illustration. This is a clear distinction from the other scratchboard styles such engraving, and steel engraving styles.

See woodcut samples: http://www.stevennoble.com/v/Woodcuts/

The scratchboard engraving style is more closely associated with the old traditional engravings of the 19th century with some slight variation. The line work is semi to highly detailed with the lines flowing in a parallel fashion with cross cuts to form breaks in the tapered tips of the lines and cross shaded lines to form the darkened shaded areas. The style encompasses what some people associate as the “Wall Street” journal style. Line engraving is a similar process in that the black and white lines are applied positively onto the “white” (un-inked) scratchboard. The lines can, thereby, be scrapped off to create broken lines in order to soften and taper an edge. The second process is accomplished by using a knife to negatively remove the pre-inked blackened scratchboard to reveal the white board in closely controlled and parallel strokes to create the effect.

scratchboard-stages-1

The “steel engraving” style is created similarly to all the above techniques. However, the line style is more closely associated with the “currency” bills such as the US Dollar currency and other bank notes. The “original” technique employed the use of a chisel and a steel or copper plates in which a small bar of hardened steel with a sharp point was used. This is pushed along the plate to produce thin strips of waste metal and thin furrows. This is followed by a scraper which removes any burs as they will be an impediment to the ink. It is important to note that engraving must be done in the reverse or mirror image, so that the image faces the correct way when the die prints. One trick of the trade was for engravers to look at the object that they were engraving through a mirror so that the image was naturally reversed and they would be less likely to engrave the image incorrectly. Steel plates can be case hardened to ensure that they can print thousands of times with little wear. Copper plates can not be case hardened but can be steel-faced or nickel-plated to increase their life expectancy.

Many clients request a customized illustration for their TradeMarks and logo identities because of their need for a very specific image that is closely associated with their corporate identity. For example, Land’s End required a very specific type of lighthouse to represent their company. Aerial Funds needed a turtle illustration that was closely tied to the central theme of their company which was the story of the “Turtle and the Hare.” The White House Historical Association wanted an illustration that represented the specific perspective that they wanted to achieve with the White House building.

See logo samples: http://www.stevennoble.com/v/Logos/