Scratchboard Workshop

Unleash your creativity in this exciting two-hour art activity where you’ll learn the art of scratchboard.

Arte Workshop: Scratchboard: Aztec Dieties  

Facilitator: Stephanie Ayon  

Date: Sunday, May 25th, 2025 

Length: 120 Minutes (From 1 PM – 3 PM) 

Power Point PresentationDownload

Outcomes/Goals for Lesson: 

Scratchboard lesson planDownload
  • Learn and practice making an intricate design with black, white, and mark-making.  
  • Learn about positive and negative space 
  • Scratchboard vocabulary: Scratchboard, texture, value, stippling, hatching. 

Workshop Outline: 

  1. Welcome, introduction, and acknowledgments.             5 minutes 
  1. Presentation 15 minutes 
  1. Workshop 1 hour 35 min 
  1. Closing/Wrap-Up            5 minutes  
  1. Gallery Walk Through                                      

Materials needed: 

  • Scratchboard, carving tools(example: exacto knives, toothpicks), masking tape, sharpies, a ball point pen  and an image  

Optional Materials: glassine paper, scratch dual pen 

Introduction

The Arte Workshop series welcomes community members to engage with Arte Américas through both viewing and creating art at Arte. Visitors are encouraged to explore the inspiring exhibitions in our galleries and then join in making art themselves. Each workshop features a range of artistic mediums and techniques, from traditional methods to inventive approaches using common household materials, making art accessible to all. 

  • This workshop is inspired by several art pieces in F. John Sierra’s A Retrospective, more specifically in the Día del Muertos and muslin works. Some prime examples are Calaca-ca-ca and Hitchhiking to Fresno all done on scratchboard. The connection to John’s muslin works is Aztec deities. Some of examples would be: Quetzalcoatl’s Return, Mezcal Diety, Xipe Topec.  
  1. Markmaking: Texture, Value, Lines 

Mark making describes the way artists produce different lines, dots, marks, patterns and textures. Mark-making can be creative and experimental.  Different types of mark-making techniques include: 

  • Hatching: Using parallel lines  
  • Cross-hatching: Cross hatching lines 
  • Stippling: stipples or dots  
  • Scribbling 

With any of these techniques, if you place the mark making closely together, it creates lighter or “brighter” areas compared to if they have more space in between them, it leaves a darker, more shaded area. When using a variety of markmaking techniques, you start making a difference in Value using Contrast.  

  1. Value and Contrast  

What is value? It refers to the lightness or darkness of color.  

What is contrast? The creation of a major visual difference between two or more things. High contrast is a big difference between light and dark. Compared to low contrast, there isn’t a big difference, and they’re more similar. 

Materials

– Scratchboard paper: The board itself is a cardboard or panel with a thin coating of fine, white clay covered by a layer of India ink. 

-Scratchbord Knife/ Exacto knife: Drawing and fine details. The Scratch Knife is the best tool to select when trying scratchboard for the first time. It works great for drawing and scratching fine details. Comes with one nib each: point and curved. 

-Scratchbord Line Tool: Easy cross-hatching: Use the Line Tool for cross-hatching, adding highlights, and for softening sharp details. It makes five parallel lines at once. 

-Scratchbord Wire Brush: Hair, grass, and fur. The curved stainless-steel wires of the Wire Brush tool are perfect for creating random textures like grass and fur. 

  1. TIP 1: Be mindful of anything sharp around your board and how you handle your tools. If mistakes happen, we can fix it with sharpies.  
  1. TIP 2: Work light to dark. It is better not to remove all that you need and go back later to fix it. 
  1. Tip 3: No outlines. Use a variety of strokes as you scratch. Small strokes are best –  it is easier to control the scratching process 
  1. Tip 4: Pressing too hard on the tool will rip the paper. 

Activity

  1. The goal for today is to create an Aztec deity from scratchboard art. I have a few printed Aztec deities you can choose from.  
  1. Coat the backside of the drawing with white chalk. Or use a ballpoint pen to trace over the image to create an indent on your scratchboard.  
  1. Start carving! I recommend starting on lighter areas and gradually moving right. Don’t forget to use a variety of mark-making techniques to give more movement/ value.  
  1. After a while if a lot of black ink has piled up, lightly brush it away with light pressure to avoid scratching unwanted areas.