The detail is so jarringly realistic in Brittany Johnson's work that the Virginia Beach artist hears the question a lot.
"You photographed all of these?"
A pelican that meets your eye with a beak full of character. A massive highland cow with a sobering expression. And dogs – so many beloved pets with gazes that sink into your soul and fur that looks touchable.
Johnson isn't a photographer. She's a Signature Scratchboard Artist, a distinction awarded to fewer than 80 artists globally. She is the lone artist representing that medium at the 68th annual Virginia MOCA Boardwalk Art Show Oct. 4-6 at the Oceanfront.
"Scratchboard gives you hyperrealism ability," said Johnson, who completed her initial scratchboard in a Cox High School art class. "I work with a magnifying light. The closer you get to my pieces, the more detail you see."
The scratchboard technique is a two-dimensional subtractive process that relies on using abrasive tools to directly remove or "scratch" a surface layer of one value (typically dark) to expose a second lighter layer (typically white). The actual board is a panel with a coating of white clay covered by a layer of India ink.
The more lines drawn, the brighter the picture becomes; precision is key. The image is created by taking something away rather than adding.
Before scratching, Johnson finds an image to work from and uses graphite tracing paper to transfer the outline of it before using free hand to scratch. Often she will use her imagination to enhance an image. A current scratch in progress of a deer features birds and even a mouse on its antlers.
Johnson focused on abstract painting while earning her fine arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. She dabbled in pottery, too, buying herself a wheel.
She returned to scratchboard to draw a Golden Retriever puppy as a wedding present for a friend. She posted that scratchboard on Facebook, prompting other friends to ask, "Can you draw my dog?"
Over the years, her tools evolved. Instead of drawing on thin paper, she uses a hard board, "a gamechanger," she said. "Scratching on that is a way nicer surface."
Instead of stippling with an X-Acto knife, her original method, she relies on several microblading tools, U needles for hatching and cross-hatching, fiberglass brushes and a single tattoo needle for the finer detail.
Johnson primarily creates in black and white but will add color using multiple coats of ink, scratching between each layer. She's put as many as 100 hours into a single project.
"It takes about five or six coats of ink to get that vibrant color," said Johnson, who usually has a sci-fi or fantasy audiobook playing while she works. Her schedule is busier in the fall and spring as she homeschools her three children.
Johnson's scratchboard of the stunning pelican against a watered background won first place at the recent Flowing & Flying Show at the d'Art Center in Norfolk, where she will have a solo show in January.
While she often leaves her background neutral, she thought the pelican and water would be ideal. Her water designs, each droplet so authentic, are worthy of stopping and staring.
"I knew it would be really cool," Johnson said. "I did not anticipate that doing the background would take me just as long as the pelican."
Exhibiting at the Boardwalk Art Show is a thrill. She attended the show many times when she was younger, and her mother went into labor with her while walking the Neptune Festival.
Johnson applied to the Boardwalk show previously as a painter and didn't receive an invite.
She's gotten juried in for her drawing as a scratchboard artist for the last three years. Her booth will feature a gamut of her work – animals, botanicals, sea shells and more.
She takes commissions, though she has a long waitlist. While she doesn't draw human figures, she recently started scratching ultrasounds portraits.
Johnson also sells a beginner kit, and her YouTube tutorials provide direction for budding scratchboard artists.
Johnson will seek to become a Master Scratchboard Artist when applications open next month. That's an even more select group with fewer than 30 people worldwide achieving that level.
