# Scratchboard (スクラッチボード)

> Scratchboard removes black ink from a white clay-coated board, drawing light and contour out of darkness; blade width, crossing and retained black create fur, metal and nocturnal contrast.

- IndexStyle No.592 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/scratchboard
- Kind: Technique · Family: Hand-drawn · Era: 19th century–
- Mood: Rebellion, Luxury, Technique
- What this family collects: Images where each contact between hand and tool remains visible as line or dot density, and the method of cutting, scratching or accumulating matters more than uniformity.

## Defining characteristics

- Sharp white lines cut from a black ground
- Contour and highlight joined by the same blade marks
- Crossed lines and dots producing middle values
- Broad retained black with concentrated white detail

## Best used for

- High-contrast illustration of animals, machines and figures
- Giving dark packaging and posters a hard engraved light

## Composition recipe

- Typography & lettering: Use bold reversed headlines and keep fine copy in uninterrupted black fields.
- Layout & structure: Begin with black and cut only lit contours and focal detail into white.
- Material & texture: Ink a white clay board and scratch varied lines and dots with needles, blades and scrapers.

## Colour

Read off the reference works below, so a direction rather than a fixed palette.

- Ground: #F4F0E5
- The colour it is remembered by: #6F6458
- Text and outlines: #090909

## What to avoid

Inverting a black-and-white photograph is not scratchboard. Direction and width of cuts must describe surface and light.

## Application checklist

Work through this before calling a piece an application of this style.

- [ ] Visible in the piece: Sharp white lines cut from a black ground
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Contour and highlight joined by the same blade marks
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Crossed lines and dots producing middle values
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Broad retained black with concentrated white detail
- [ ] The layout follows: Begin with black and cut only lit contours and focal detail into white.
- [ ] The lettering follows: Use bold reversed headlines and keep fine copy in uninterrupted black fields.
- [ ] The material and surface follow: Ink a white clay board and scratch varied lines and dots with needles, blades and scrapers.
- [ ] The colour relation holds: #F4F0E5 as ground, #6F6458 carrying the style, #090909 for text and outlines
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Woodcut (木版画)** — Prints the surface left after carving, raising an image through line direction and the pressure of black and white. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/woodcut
- **Linocut (リノカット)** — Cuts the smooth block boldly, giving few colors and repeated figures a driving rhythm. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/linocut

## Compose it with something else

The dictionary can put this entry in a structural role and another in an accent role, and report where the two fight: https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=scratchboard+woodcut

## Further study

- Clay-coated board
- Subtractive white line
- Scratchboard engraving tools

## Reference works

- Smithsonian National Postal Museum — Scratchboard illustration — https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/trailblazers-and-trendsetters/sports

## AI interpretation

An AI-generated interpretation image exists for browsing convenience only — it is not a reference work: https://indexstyle.org/ai/scratchboard.jpg

## Source of record

- Smithsonian National Postal Museum — Scratchboard illustration — https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/trailblazers-and-trendsetters/sports

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/scratchboard
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/scratchboard/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compare_styles, compose_styles, find_related_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)