Comments on: Scott McKowen

By: Mark Penta

Mark Penta — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:06:35 +0000

I recently saw a full display of his classic book covers at b&n and was blown away. I want to buy a print- but sadly he has no site, which I can’t understand.

By: cskate

cskate — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:46:07 +0000

I’m reading 1602 right now and did a search of Scott on Google and found this blog. I’ve been a scratchboard artist for years and I’ve never seen anyone with such great control of the medium. I wish I knew what brand of board he uses as his lines are so clean, I’ve yet to be able to come close to it.

By: CM

CM — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:52:43 +0000

I worked with Scott for years, check out The Shaw Festival Theatre before 2002, he did all of the art direction for years, working closely with Christopher Newton Artistic Director and David Cooper; Photographer. I’ve personally watched him doing Scratchboard, so Barb from BC, it is truly authentic..and quite incredible I might add.

By: Barbara from BC

Barbara from BC — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:40:57 +0000

The true test of his work would be to view it without the overlay of colour. If the highlights and shadows are still visible, then he’s a master of scratchboard. Truthfully it’s hard to judge based on the computer image alone.

By: P-chan

P-chan — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:12:37 +0000

Scott most certainly uses scratchboard and with a magnifying glass too. This is verified by a friend of mine who has worked for him. He does use a computer to colourize and sometimes merges two versions of a piece together if he’s not entirely happy with a certain portion of one.

By: Barbara from BC

Barbara from BC — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:19:09 +0000

Correction: I meant to say the parallel lines, not the horizontal lines.

By: Barbara from BC

Barbara from BC — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:40:39 +0000

While I find his art very impressive, it’s not really authentic scratchboard. The highlights are done with overlaid colour, where scratchboard uses line thickness to indicate light and dark areas. If you look closely, you’ll see that the horizontal lines are all the same width in this artist’s work. I doubt that scratchboard was used, it seems like entirely digital artwork.

By: Charley Parker

Charley Parker — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:18:37 +0000

The B&N Famous Authors series was done by Mark Summers, who also works in scratchboard.

By: Larry Simmons

Larry Simmons — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 07:06:30 +0000

I’ve always been impressed by his work. I’ve seen the pieces done for the classics, and they are wonderful, if limited. I do believe he’s done more work, but I can’t place it right now. Didn’t he do the ad work for Barnes & Noble? The “famous authors” series?

By: Detlef

Detlef — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 06:56:31 +0000

I agree, his work is very appealling - a noirish woodcut style.