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Claudia McGehee is an American children’s picture book author and illustrator.

Her mission is to create art and writings that inspire and connect people, especially children, with their natural world. Her distinctive scraperboard/scratchboard style can also be found in museum exhibits, packaging design, greeting cards, home decorations and fine art prints. She lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

In this blog she discusses what style is, how she found her style and shares her tips for developing and exploring your own style.

Finding Style

 

There she was, a familiar face, looking at up at me from the clogged street drain. I was startled, like unexpectedly seeing a loved one emerge from a crowded sidewalk. A fragment of paper no more than an inch squared, a piece of a to-go coffee cup that I had illustrated, had found its way as litter to the pavement. Yet I had recognized the tiny image as I might recognize a family member. Working in scraperboard, my images are similar to many different mediums in the printmaking world. And yet my illustration style, lying in the gutter, was easy for me, the maker, to identify as my own. Certainly no one else seeing this teeny scrap would say “Ahh, that piece of rubbish is Claudia McGehee’s illustration work!” But this chance observation got me thinking…what is it about our style, a certain look and feel we create in any given medium, that makes it stand out as our own, to us and to others?

Discarded piece of coffee cup featuring an image of a lady by scraperboard artist Claudia McGehee
Style, as it applies to illustration, is an elusive topic. It’s a visual expression created from one unique set of hands and their collaborating brains!  Medium, an artist’s chosen art material, is also important here, the foundation that style sits upon. Style is a masala of medium choice, technical skills and subject matter, but beyond that, style is a distillation of an artist’s world view, projected from mind to matter. An illustrative style may take years to evolve, but once you have one, your work identifies you in the crowd as individually as a fingerprint. It is your visual brand.

In art school, we were encouraged to try many traditional forms of media; watercolor, oils, pastels, gouache, pencils, pen and ink, printmaking, etc. Usually a specific medium was assigned to each class project.  Although this helped survey what media called to us, it also muddied developing a clear style right away, for different art materials demand different kinds of thought process and results varied, as we soon found out. My fellow art students and I all seemed to have separate “looks” in each media. We called these attempts at different media use to “Dial-a-Style”; we could call up any look with the switch of media (although not always with success!). As budding illustrators though, experimentation is never without value. We honed our illustration skills and when we found a medium that clicked, the path to finding our style began.

Later in the year at school, we finally had an assignment in which we could choose a medium on our own. We were to create a made-up illustrated brochure for a real company. I picked “Crabtree and Evelyn”, the home and bath product company, and because of the emphasis on nature in their product line, I wanted to try some form of printmaking.  Not too far into exploring options, I found Essdee scraperboard (referred to as scratchboard in the States) at my local art store (Daniel Smith in Seattle). I was intrigued with the product’s possibilities of woodcut like images without the major technique hallmarks of print-making (working in reverse, required inking steps, using a press, etc). I gave scraperboard a try. Scratching away on my first image, there was a sense of adventure I immediately adored. I liked the energetic lines I created. I liked the instant look of a woodcut-like image. I liked carving out white areas, puzzling through what I would leave black. I liked the physical sensuousness of scraping, the feel, the sound…I knew from that first work on that I wanted to continue with scraperboard. It just seemed to fit. When I finished art school and struck out on my own as a freelance illustrator, I used scraperboard to build a portfolio. Twenty-five years later, I am still happily challenged and satisfied by it. Time devoted to one medium helps focus a style!

Scraperboard work in progress of blue and yellow birds by Claudia McGehee

A lot of about creating a style comes under that mysterious combination of soul + media substance + skill set. Researching other artists and their like mediums can also open style avenues.

Scraperboard users will find familiar that many often mistake our work as some kind of print-making method. The confusion comes from the same reason I was attracted to scraperboard in the first place. Scraperboard marks can be so convincingly print like, from the chatter (the lively lines you leave behind in the wake of scratching an image) to the infinite ways line can be created by pressure, varying tools, etc. It makes sense our styles borrow generously from printmaking techniques.

My individual scraperboard style owes a lot to works of others that I’ve admired along my artist journey. I believe we cannot create without some influence from the past. Vocational ancestors are important in determining what look you are drawn to. I have spent thousands of hours looking and studying art via illustration annuals, art history books and classes, everyday commercial packaging and magazine and picture book work, and of course, social media sites. I owe many centuries of wood-engravers gratitude for their images that helped me sort out what type of line and textures I was most interested in creating in my sister scraperboard medium.

My style lineage has links with rustic wood-cut artists. Think 18th century’s Thomas Bewick or Joseph Crawhall, or the 20th century example of Eric Ravilious to name just three. I like unfussy, thickish lines, a focus on natural detail, and the narrative, storytelling sentiments of these artist’s works. Often I’m inspired to experiment with textures and patterns. I am happiest when reviews of my work include the words ”sturdy” and “earthy”, as I love conveying a feeling of strength and an “of the land” quality in my style, all of which my vocational ancestors taught me.

Scraperboard illustration of a child looking up at a large oak tree by Claudia McGehee

An exercise that I found helpful in defining my style was to cut extra prints of my work out and collage them into a familiar structure to me, the Latin alphabet. For each letter, I used a different example of texture or patterning (or mood!) created in my original scraperboard pieces. The result gave me a quick analysis of my own style, the forms of the letters helping me inventory elements without laboring how to measure this. Plus, a pleasing new piece was created!

Scraperboard alphabet by scraperboard artist Claudia McGehee

I have the gift of time to see how my own style has evolved over the years. With every major project, I try to add new techniques that still complement and stay consistent to my style. I recently hauled out my books on English woodcut artists and had a good peruse. I was craving ideas on marks and scratches and remembered I used to look to these masters for inspiration regularly. Again, I felt buoyed by my vocational ancestor’s visual voices. I’m at a point in my style that ideas I see translate to my own language rather than be referential. We are born to carry on threads of visual thought. I am constantly surprised to discover an artist unknown to me, that reminds me of another artist, that I discover studied under the first artist! The pedigrees are always astonishing, and we get to continue them.

Coffee cup with a scraperboard design by Claudia McGehee
Exploring your style never ends. Absorb everything you are excited by. Google the artist you admire on your next museum visit (or virtual website). Take photos of that packaging featuring the cool tea cup. Capture the graffiti that morphs into an idea in your head. Or that line in the granite bathroom floor in your hotel you spy as you are brushing your teeth! Or that cloud that floats above. It’s all there to inspire. The goal is to let go of the trapeze and fly on your own at some point. Move to the board (or wherever you create), and bring yourself to your work. That’s when you will find your illustration style. And then don’t be surprised if you meet your style on the street sometime!

 

Website: claudia-mchehee.com

Instagram: claudia.mcgehee

Facebook: Claudia McGehee Illustration

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OTHER ARTICLES

Got 5 minutes? Have a read of one of our other blogs for more inspiration!

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Educational Art and Craft Supplies Ltd Privacy Policy  Introduction Educational Art and Craft Supplies Ltd (also known by our brand name Essdee) are a manufacturer of art and craft material, and offer a range of Scraperboard, etching tools, block printing tools and materials.  We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Everyone has rights with regard to the way in which their personal information is handled.  During the course of our activities we will collect, store and process personal information about our customers, suppliers and other third parties, and we recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of this data will maintain confidence in the organisation and will provide for successful business operation. This policy sets out the basis on which any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.  Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it. Becoming a customer or your provision of any information to us constitutes your acknowledgement of the terms of this privacy policy.  Please do not send us any of your information if you do not want it to be used in the ways described in this privacy notice. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current.  Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.  We would however appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance. For the purpose of UK data protection laws, the data controller is Educational Art and Craft Supplies Ltd of Frederick Road, Hoo Farm Industrial Estate, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, DY11 7RA. We can be contacted on 01562 60787 and info@essdee.co.uk. The data we collect about you ‘Personal Data’ is any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include anonymised data where identifying characteristics have been removed. We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:
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Purpose/Activity Type of data Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To register or subscribe you as a new customer (a) Identity (b) Contact Performance of a contract with you
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To administer and protect our business and our website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
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To enable you to participate in a prize draw or competition (a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers and prospective customers use our products, to develop them and help grow our business)
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  • Our outsourced IT services provider, together with the providers of wi-fi, IT and system administration services to our business and on-line cloud and data-room providers
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  • Transport providers such as logistics companies and freight forwarders
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However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond the company for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime. Transferring data outside of the EEA We do not currently transfer your data outside of the EEA, except in the case of our use of a marketing automation platform (currently Mailchimp) which we use to transmit emails on our behalf.  As part of our commitment to protecting your data we strive at all times to ensure that full and GDPR-compliant arrangements between Educational Arts and Craft Supplies Ltd and our chosen automation platform provider are in place. Data Security We strive to maintain appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Ways in which data is protected include having in place a Data Protection Policy, adhering to Data Retention Protocols, restricting access to data to only those staff who need to access it as part of their duties, using password protection, applying firewall protection and encryption technology, using disposing of paper documents containing personal data by shredding, using lockable filing cabinets and training staff in the importance of data security. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and the ICO of a breach where we are legally required to do so. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure.  Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk.  Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. Data Retention We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The length of time that we will store your data will depend on the ‘legal basis’ for why we are using the data, as follows:
Legal Basis Length of Time
Where we use/store your data because it is necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us We will use/store your data for as long as necessary for the performance of the contract between you and us
Where we use/store your data because it is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject We will use/store your data for a long as necessary for us to comply with our legal obligations
Where we use/store your data because it is necessary for our legitimate business interests We will use/store your data for as long as it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, or such earlier time as you ask us to stop.  However, if we can demonstrate the reason why we are using/storing your data is more important than your interests, rights and freedoms, then we will be allowed to continue to use/store your data for as long as it is necessary for our legitimate business interests
Where we use/store your data because you have given us your specific, informed and unambiguous consent We will use/store your data until you ask us to stop
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitive personal information, the potential of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data.  This is explained in the section about your legal rights below. In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes.  In this case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you. Your Legal Rights Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.  If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out below you should contact us. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances. We may need to request specific information from you to help us to confirm your identity and to ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response. We will endeavour to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. You have a right to:
  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
  • Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. 
Updated March 2021
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