Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Drawing Flies 52 03_Tarpon Fly



DF52 03_Tarpon Fly - Watercolor, gouache and graphite pencil 5" x 8".

Original status: Available. Contact me for information.

Swing by Jason's blog to check out his rendition of the of the Tarpon Fly!

Tech Info- I started this one by sketching in my Moleskine sketchbook with my favorite 6B graphite pencil. To get the saltwater feel, I used a blue green mixture for the background water color. A very "Miami" color in my mind. This image took 24 minutes and 32 seconds to complete. Quick and simple fly that has a fun and dynamic shape to it.


Above is quick graphite sketch I did on a piece of bond paper. I do a number of these sketches before starting so I can get a feel for the proportions and shape. I humped the wing a bit to give it a more dynamic and flowing shape. I felt the image would needed some more dark shapes to liven it up a bit. To achieve this, I added the grizzly pattern to the wing.

Update 1: Jason's version with ink and wash is outstanding! This is one of my favorite illustration styles. I have a love of the line and then when you add a wash good things always happen.

Jason, how about a bit of chrome action for this next one? Let's try one that I had good luck with out in Idaho. Let's try a BOSS.

1 comment:

Jason Borger said...

Jeff—The color combo of the orange against that "deep flats" blue/green is so appealing (I very much like the "effects" inside the wash, too, always a favorite aspects of watercolors. I could have a wall-size watercolor of nothing but those types of wash effects). I think you very much captured the sense of how these types of flies look and feel in-hand.