Caroline Church — Scraperboard Illustrator, London

Caroline Church is a scraperboard artist, and the perfect illustrator to approach if you’re after something with a vintage engraved look to it. Her imagery is ideal for packaging that has a traditional feel, she’s an expert when it comes to conveying atmosphere and fascinating results can be achieved when her historical scraperboard style is applied to modern themes and subjects.

Based in Twickenham, Caroline works from a pretty Victorian cottage, which ties in very well with her overall aesthetic. She has a BA in Illustration from the Chelsea School of Art and went on to learn wood engraving as a guest student at Royal Academy Schools. Her biggest influencers are the 18th century wood engraver Thomas Bewick and the 19th century steel engraver Gustave Doré.

Approach

Scraperboard is card with a layer of white clay covered in black ink. Caroline marks out an initial drawing using transfer paper and then scrapes away the white layer with a craft knife into the black, creating the look of an engraving. Her approach is meticulous and exacting, and when complete her work is scanned and submitted digitally. Amendments can be made either by going back to the scraperboard, or using Photoshop.

Key Software

Photoshop

Style

Caroline’s style is reminiscent of 19th century engraving and lends itself very well to projects conveying traditional and time-honoured values.

Client list

Caroline’s clients include London Essence, Williams Sonoma, HarperCollins and Pan Macmillan, Domino's, DDB Helsinki, Atlantic Books, Virgin, McCann Erickson Dublin, Waitrose, Envision, Marks and Spencer, DDFG Vienna.