Untitled. Scraperboard, 2007.

This scraperboard etching was the year-end project for my 9th grade visual arts class. The focus of that year was linear perspective. This piece uses both 1- and 2-point perspective to depict an interior view looking outside.

After sketching out various different concepts throughout the year, I finalized my composition and drew it onto a 24x36" piece of paper. Then, I trace-and-transferred it onto a scraperboard, which is a type of board with a waxy black surface. You use a scraper (a type of knife) to scrape this black wax off, uncovering a layer of white underneath.

Working with this medium was a challenge. In any usual drawing or painting the drawing surface is white, so when you draw on top of it you are working from light to dark. But here you work from dark to light. Also, unlike pencil which can be erased, once something is etched away on scraperboard no changes can be made.