Scratching with a scalpel blade

[beanpoleuk]

I have seen some amazing examples of textures and highlights achieved by scratching with a scalpel, tahe for example the fantastic Brad Pitt by Metty..

Try as I might I have never been able to scratch using a scalple blade or any other type of knife and usually end up destroying the paper, which is mostly 4G in my case.

Can anyone point me to a video or tutorial ?

 

[jord001]

Don't know of any tutorials but I always use a curved blade not the pointy triangle shaped ones. #24 I think

Lee

 

[Mr.Micron]

It is mainly what board you are working on.
I have been using just some cheap poster board and it scratches great , But on the Matt board or 4G board not so good.
Metal is great, I have used both the exacto 45 degree and 60 degree blades and #10 , 15 , 20 and 25 curved blades depending on what type of scratch is needed.
Like Lee I have not really seen a video that just covers scratching.

 

[RebelAir]

There is some out there looking at basic erasing which is the same principle really but erasing or scratching is more a case of trial and error, it wnt be long before you'll be doing it well as really there ain't to much to it..Get some charcoal, do some quick thumbnail type sketchs and practice on them maybe?

 

[Madbrush]

I have seen some amazing examples of textures and highlights achieved by scratching with a scalpel, tahe for example the fantastic Brad Pitt by Metty..

Try as I might I have never been able to scratch using a scalple blade or any other type of knife and usually end up destroying the paper, which is mostly 4G in my case.

Can anyone point me to a video or tutorial ?

Mr Bean, I've just recently bought some Items to try out different erasing and scratching techniques, I bought some Schoelrshammer paper, some come art paints and a range of different blades and erasers, previously I painted on MDF board with 4 coats of primer/gesso and relied too much on scratching which made my stuff too sharp in my own opinion, I wanted to combine erasing with the scratching to try to get a more natural look.

I have only been practising as yet, but with the combination above I was surprised to find that scratching is actually quite easy, it is necessary to use your blades off the handle to avoid being heavy handed, most of the time the blades own weight with very light pressure will suffice and as mentioned a curved blade works well although I will often turn the blade around and use the point for fine loose hairs and such.

I would recommend a little practice but it is important to understand that you can't always go through to white in one pass, it requires a lot of patience and carefully lightly scraping layers off of your paint, you are trying to avoid damaging the paper, once you damage the surface it is hard to fix and if you paint over that area again you end up with a darker shade than the areas around it since the paint soaks in more.

The portrait painting I did was just intended as a practice run with all the items I bought but I was so successful for a first go, I kept it, the image is an ideal one for practising, why not have a go at it and amaze yourself, I'm pretty sure with your skills, you'll have it down no time.

 

[AndreZA]

It depends on the thickness of the layer of paint. Too thin layer or with paint that is reduced too much it does not work great, even on Schoellershammer 4G. If layer is too thin then there is not enough paint to scrape. If too wet then you soften the board and you damage it. Fighting that same battle with the current portrait. And blade needs to be sharp. I've gone through 3 blades already.

 

[beanpoleuk]

Thanks for the replies guys,, MB and AndreZA in particular have given me some food for thought, I have been trying with thin layers of reduced paint , so will try waiting until the paint has built up in thickness and also wait until fully dry.

The little curved blade seems a better idea and 'off the handle' with light pressure..

Thanks..

 

[ad fez]

fibreglass pencils also work great, not a true single line scratch that you would get with a blade but some interesting textures can be made, i think foxystudio sells a 2mm and a 4/6mm pen

 

[AndreZA]

I got my 2mm fibreglass refills from a German company off amazon. It was the cheapest I could find. I just use my Faber Castell 2mm lead holder. It does work work with light layers but also damages the paper if you go over too wet paint.

 

[Mr.Micron]

Oh I forgot I also will use 80 grit sand paper on hair and fur Learned that from some DVD I watched so I had to give it a go.
but be very light handed on it or else you can ruin the whole piece.
I have not tried the fiberglass pencils yet might have to look into those

 

[Madbrush]

Thanks for the replies guys,, MB and AndreZA in particular have given me some food for thought, I have been trying with thin layers of reduced paint , so will try waiting until the paint has built up in thickness and also wait until fully dry.

The little curved blade seems a better idea and 'off the handle' with light pressure..

Thanks..

fibreglass pencils also work great, not a true single line scratch that you would get with a blade but some interesting textures can be made, i think foxystudio sells a 2mm and a 4/6mm pen

As fez said here, the fibre glass pen is probably a handy addition to your arsenal, I don't have one (yet) but I assume that it gives an effect somewhere between erasing and scratching which makes me think that it would be an essential in creating different degrees of depth, that has always been my problem, because I was almost always scratching, everything was just too sharp all over instead of the blur you would expect when something is further back, so a combination of your erasers, fibre glass pen and blades should allow you to achieve a feeling of distance in your work instead of the flatness I was getting at the start.

I should point out that I generally don't do any scratching until I reach a point where my painting is almost done for the same reasons Andre pointed out, so these days it's just for finishing touches.

Incidentally I read here somewhere that Marissa has been known to spray airbrush cleaner through her airbrush to highlight and create certain effects, I'm pretty sure if I tried that personally I would sandblast my whole painting, but, I have been toying with the idea of putting some airbrush cleaner into one my Schminke fine liners, these are similar to the refillable Moltov markers you've heard of, if and when that happens I will update it here.

In the meantime, why not have a go at the image I practised with, it gives you the opportunity to practice with everything you've got but without being daunting, you can find it here: http://www.airbrushforum.org/threads/jcd-drawing-sbs.10459/ just double click and "save as" , I'm pretty sure you would make a pretty damn good job of this one.

 

[AndreZA]

The cleaner trick only works with re-wetable paints. Depending on what you do, you need to start with texture as soon as you can. It's the building of layers that gives you depth. But you can paint it in as well instead of taking it out.

 

[beanpoleuk]

Lots of brilliant responses, thanks everyone, at the moment I am just practising between paintings and making sure I have the skills and tools in place before I have a proper go at a portrait..

MB, the reference you suggest looks like a good start

 

[Cuda]

I'm with you Bean, I've maybe done 2 paintings using scratching techniques and have gone through the surface on both of them !

 

[MeeshellMP]

Never even thought to use sand paper....hmmmm. but scratching, yeah, ive scratched through too, just depends on what im scratching, I can scratch on printing paper, just do it real SLOWLY

 

[airbrushtutor]

@beanpoleuk i couldn't get a blade to work on schoellershammer - it's fibrous and a compressed paper/ board, which blades don't work on. Instead it will start to lift the surface. There are some cheap boards out there which do a good job for 1 layer of blade erasing, but upon 2nd layer, they begin to destroy the board - that's when you know you need a better canvas.
I'm looking at a plastic airbrush board at the moment ideal for erasing but in the meantime i like to use 'claybord'. It's the best i've found for erasing so far and it's also slightly absorbant, which seems contradictory but that's the only way i can describe it. That's what i used in the latest step by step PDF's on the airbrushtutor site

 

[AndreZA]

Never even thought to use sand paper....hmmmm. but scratching, yeah, ive scratched through too, just depends on what im scratching, I can scratch on printing paper, just do it real SLOWLY

I like using used kitchen scourers. All the harshness is gone so you get smooth sanding.

 

[beanpoleuk]

@beanpoleuk i couldn't get a blade to work on schoellershammer - it's fibrous and a compressed paper/ board, which blades don't work on. Instead it will start to lift the surface. There are some cheap boards out there which do a good job for 1 layer of blade erasing, but upon 2nd layer, they begin to destroy the board - that's when you know you need a better canvas.
I'm looking at a plastic airbrush board at the moment ideal for erasing but in the meantime i like to use 'claybord'. It's the best i've found for erasing so far and it's also slightly absorbant, which seems contradictory but that's the only way i can describe it. That's what i used in the latest step by step PDF's on the airbrushtutor site

Thanks mitch, great advice as usual , i feel better knowing you also had problems with the 4g . I have downloaded the german step by step, and last week finally got some clayboard which is just about impossible to get in the uk. So I will give it a go.

Cheers

 

[AndreZA]

You guys must try and find Polyart paper. It looks like a paper for printing but I can get it this side from a paper shop.

http://www.polyart.com/

 

[NaamaEnkeli]

I paved the way for the platform myself by painting a thick layer of latex interior wall paint with a roller. Latex is soft and easy to scratc..
Createx paints are too hard to scratc, but E'tacs and com-airs works better.