"Percheron Power" - Scratchboard Drawing

This 5" x 7" drawing on Ampersand's Scratchbord (black scratchboard) is going to the "Art at the Classic" art show at this year's Draft Horse Classic, September 22 - 25 in Grass Valley, CA.



I usually work on white boards, but have recently been inspired by members of the WetCanvas Scratchboard Forum to try some black boards. This is only my fourth black board compared to countless white board drawings. I use a similar technique on a black board - scratching and re-inking to get the smooth transitions I want. I also added a wash of grey (diluted India ink) over everything except the chrome when I was finished with the scratching.

I took the reference at a Draft Horse Classic a few years ago. This is the greyscale version (not much different from the color version, with the exception of some red on the mane decorations).



I opted not to draw a couple of things from the photo as a matter of simplicity and design: the white ribbons hanging down from the mane and the one piece of bridle pulling upward on the horse's mouth. I looked at many photos of tacked-up draft horses and discovered that most every horse had a different tack configuration, so I figured it was ok to get rid of that one bridle component. I also shortened the length of leather on the chinstrap.

Following are various phases of the drawing with a few details thrown in.

This stage shows the white transfer lines and the initial scratching on the horse's head.




This stage shows scratching on the mane, some of the chrome and more work on the horse's head.


This stage and the details show most of the scratching finished.






These are details of the final drawing.