Crosshatching refers to a method of shading cartoons, or any artwork, for that matter, with crisscross lines going in more than one direction. It goes back hundreds of years to the time before printing presses had even been invented. Illustrations used to be done by engravers, who carved artwork onto metal plates, which would then be inked and pressed onto paper. You can also use this method to print fabric or any other flat surface. I got to make a printing block in middle school. The tricky part is that all your carving is a mirror reflection of what will be printed. If you've ever heard the shady but funny phrase "Do you want to look at my etchings?", those etchings undoubtedly contained crosshatching. You can also carve an image onto a linoleum carving block, which is what I used, or even a potato cut in half.
I was lucky enough to work at a place where the owner had collected many antique etchings, which he had framed and hung in the workplace. And I spent many happy hours, a minute at a time, memorizing every detail of those crosshatched beauties! You've probably seen plenty of crosshatching in the editorial cartoons of newspapers. I've also studied those for years, figuring out how they achieve specific effects. Political and/or editorial cartoonists are so lucky that their cartoons get printed a good size, so all those details can be easily seen by readers. By contrast, cartoons in the comics section get printed smaller and smaller, as the page numbers of daily newspapers shrinks, too. Unfortunately, fewer newspapers keep an editorial cartoonist on staff these days. That means there are fewer jobs for these talented cartoonists, now. Most of them work with pen and ink, and I marvel at their collective skill. I've read that newspaper syndicates prefer clean, uncluttered panels from their comics page cartoonists, and a minimalist style makes sense for a cartoon that's seen in such a small size.
Besides loving crosshatching, I chose to use it for Rock Garden because I thought it went well with the subject of "everything old". It definitely gives a retro look, more than any other drawing technique I know. I got to watch a documentary about an editorial cartoonist, and he crosshatched even the sections of the cartoon that would become solid black. He just kept adding crosshatched lines until the area became black.
There are some tricky aspects to learning crosshatching. It can look really bad if it's poorly done. The lines must be placed exactly where you need them, not every which way. I filled up many pages of notebook paper, practicing the strokes. I learned that my hand has a certain length of stroke when I draw. Trying to stretch it to make longer strokes than feel comfortable won't get a good result. So, I have to plan my crosshatching to overlap in a harmonious way. It's hard to learn, but that's part of the fun of it.
I don't know if I'll ever be in the league of the old time engravers, though. A close examination of their work reveals that they actually worked intricate patterns into their crosshatching. It's nothing short of the work of geniuses. I don't even think that I have that capacity within me, but I'm content to be a crosshatching student who hopes to keep getting better.
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