For rat hole did you draw in white on a black background
I tried this with the scratch paper before and can't make sense of keeping figures clear with so much negative space
No.
I drew it in black ink in an 8x10 notebook (Carlson paper for ink). I used both a dip pen with Hunt 102 (fine) nib and a Japanese brush pen for larger fill.
However, after it was pretty much finished, I went back with a white Jelly Roll pen and fixed some things.
Citing these fancy tools makes it sound like I knew what I was doing. On the contrary, I was just feeling my way through it the whole time and ended up pulling out nearly everything I owned in my art toolbox.
Scritch-scratch-paint/pause over 3 days.
I have never used scratch board to date.