Welcome to the Third Edition of the Frequently Asked Questions series where I answer, in greater depth, all of your burning questions about scratchboard and my wildlife artwork, specifically. Let's dive it! #1 Where Do I Find the Extra Thin (or Mini) Fiberglass Brush? My favorite tool is the small fiberglass brush. I use it for EVERY piece that I create. It is the most VERSATILE tool in my kit. The brush can be used to create soft and fluffy fur textures, smooth skin and the

Basic Scratchboard Drawing Techniques Scratchboard artwork requires a lot of patience and time, but also experimentation with the tools to achieve the textures that you desire. Some techniques also combine two or more of the strokes I'll discuss in this post to accomplish. The first graphic in this post shows the same stroke with different tools - the fiberglass brush in the first column and the X-Acto knife in the middle column - the third column highlights a little of both

Scratchboard Tips and Techniques - Take One! I get asked all the time if and how it is possible to draw a black animal on a scratchboard that is already completely black. Well, today I am going to dive into that very topic and explain how to scratch into the board to create black fur, hair, or feathers. The key to creating the illusion of black fur and still retaining the realistic quality and details is to focus on the LIGHT! Think about a black dog or cat, especially if yo

African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Quick Facts: Status: Threatened Population: 470,000 Height: 8.2 - 13 ft Weight: 5,000 - 14,000 lbs Average Lifespan: up to 70 years Habitat: Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests, Flooded Grasslands and Savannahs, Miombo woodlands, Acacia savannahs Range: Central and Southern Africa Diet: Herbivores - roots, grasses, fruit, and bark; they consume up to 300 lbs in one day African Elephants are the largest land animals and are sl

Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Quick Facts: Status: ENDANGERED Population: 10,000 - 50,000 individuals Height: 28 - 35 in Weight: 68 - 86 lbs Habitat: Rainfoorest Range: Congo Basin Diet: Frugivores - half their diet is fruit, supplemented with insects, worms, eggs, and small animals The bonobo, also known as the pygmy chimpanzee, is smaller, leaner, and darker than the chimpanzee with pink lips and a smaller head and ears, though they both share 98% of their DNA with humans - making

Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) Quick Facts: Status: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED Population: around 60 individuals Body Length: up to 5 feet Weight: 70 - 105lbs Lifespan: 10 - 15 years Habitat: temperate, broadleaf, and mixed forests Diet: roe and sika deer, hares, badgers, mice, and other small animals The amur leopard, the world's rarest cat, is found in the northern-most part of the species' range, Far East Russia. This rare species has adapted to life in the temperat

Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) Quick Facts: ENDANGERED Population: 40,000 (down from 60,000 just a decade ago) Height: 4 to 5 ft Weight: 73 - 180 lbs Arm Span: males may stretch their arms up to 7 ft Average Life Span: 30 - 40 years Habitat: tropical rainforest Range: Sumatra and Borneo (the only species of ape to come from Asia) Diet: fruit, leaves, bark, insects, and on rare occasions, meat The long-haired, orange primates are closely related to humans (sharing 97% of the same

Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) Average Weight: females - 5-8kg, males - 6-12kg Grouping: predominantly solitary with complex social hierarchies based on a dominant male with territory that overlaps several females and sub-ordinate males on the periphery Range: Australia - NE Queensland to Eyre Peninsula in the south Habitat: temperate, sub-tropical and tropical forests, woodlands, and semi-arid eucalypt areas Population: fewer than 80,000 in the wild, may be as few as 43,000