And we’re back! The tutorial last week covered hatching; this week we’ll cover cross-hatching. In my introduction to this series ”Getting Started” I gave an overly simplified (and somewhat mis-leading) description of cross-scratching: “a series of parallel lines and then overlap them with another group of parallel lines placed at right angles you are cross-hatching.” While this isn’t exactly wrong, you can cross-hatch like this, it isn’t completely correct either because you can make cross-hatching by overlapping the second (and third and fourth) series of lines at any angle to the first series. Yep, as clear as mud… let’s look at my eggs-ample below:
As you can see, each series of parallel lines is crossed by another series heading in a different direction. As with hatching, scratching lines more closely together clears off more black ink and makes an area appear lighter. However, you can also create lighter areas by layering an additional series of scratches over the area. You can see an example of this in the egg above by comparing the number and angle of scratches used in the highlight areas to the shadow areas. The highlight areas have many more layers of scratches compared to the shadow areas.
Cross-hatching can be used to depict a wide variety of surfaces: from smooth textures like skin to rougher textures like burlap cloth. In the portrait of my grandmother, I used cross-hatching to create her skin and jacket:
Elizabeth. Scratchboard, 8 x 10 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault. Private Collection.
As with the portrait example, cross-hatching can be used to depict two very different textures, even if they are overlapping each other, as I did with the teaspoon and placemat in “Meet for Coffee”.
Meet for Coffee. Scratchboard, 5 x 7 in. Copyright 2007, Tania Nault.
In the detail shot below: you can see I used cross-hatching to indicate both the hard, smooth metal surface of the teaspoon, as well as the softer fabric nap of the placemat underneath:
Meet for Coffee, detail.
And that’s how I use cross-hatching. Go ye forth and cross-hatch. And feel free to drop me a line if you have any comments or questions!
