Why were tattoo artists invited to experiment with scratchboards for a book project?
There are some interesting parallels between tattooing and scratchboard. For starters, both media require a certain amount of planning and preparation in order to make a successful piece. Tattooing is famous for not being eraseable, and in some ways scratchboard is similar; although you can make repairs with India ink, ideally the goal is to complete the piece without needing to make any repairs, since the finished result will appear to be more perfect. Both media involve a certain amount of making small mistakes and cleaning them up as you go. And both skin and the sensitive clay surface of the scratchboard can be overworked and chewed up if care is not taken to prevent it. The key difference between the two mediums is the reverse positive/ negative relationship. This was liberating and empowering for some tattooists; several remarked that it was easy for them to approach the project as though the shading was already there. It seems that the scratchboard medium is one that tattoo arti
