Fish for Critique

[c2taxidermy]

Hey all, These are the fish I did at school.   Don't take it easy on me, I think I'm harder on myself than anyone else could be.
These are the first fish, or anything for that matter, that I have ever mounted.   They are all skin mounts with cast heads and hand-carved bodies.
Also have a Brook trout that I will be repainting because I think it looks horrible and a repro Yellow Perch that I will post pictures of when I bring it back from school.
Thanks.

First fish - Bluegill




Second fish - Largemouth Bass




Third fish - Rainbow Trout




Fourth fish - Brown Trout




Fifth fish - Largemouth Bass




Thanks for the look everyone.
Chris

[fougair]

Hey from a non pro i think they look great paint is awesome.If i had too pick something the rainbow looks like a little too painted and the vent looks weird .

[Speckled Trout]

1)  Try to rebuild the fins and give them a fleshy look instead of leaving them looking dried up.  Applying caulk can help accomplish this.

2)  The first largemouth's head is "drooping" downward a little.  When you're positioning the head to dry, make sure the junction between the head and body flows in a natural manner.  The fish's paint job lacks detail, as well.  Overall coloration isn't that bad, though.

3)  The bluegill body, just in front of the caudal, looks very long.  Did you have to stretch the skin to get it to fit the mannikin?  And, the tail looks a little thin.  Some additional caulking can be added to give it a more fleshy appearance.  You could even do now and go back and repaint the area.

4)  A lot of little things would help to detail the rainbow and add realism.

5)  I really don't think you did a bad job on the brown, considering it's your first one.  It does seem to have a lot of heavy spotting, though.  Did the real fish appear this way?

6)  The last largemouth looks the most natural, to me.  If you added some scale-tipping(gold) you'd be surprised how much difference it'd make.

7)  Actually, scale tipping woud help a lot with each.

Keep at it,  I guarantee, a lot of people would be happy if their first several fish looked as good.

[c2taxidermy]

Thanks for the comments.
Speckled Trout, to answer some of your questions.

The body of the bluegill infront of the caudal was troublesome for me.   I don't remember needing to stretch it, but do know that it was an area I had trouble shaping.

The spotting on the brown was very heavy like that.   I painted the brown from photos of my original fish as well as the paint schedual we were given.   Actually the rainbow I believe was spotted real heavy like I have the brown painted, but being the first trout I painted I went base off our demonstrations and the paint schedual.   I'll see if I have any pictures of the original fish and post them later on.

And a question about the scaled tipping.   I think all these fish were tipped.   It's not very brightly done and shows even less in these pictures.   The last large mouth does show it in the last picture I believe.   The question is, do you think I need to make my tipping more vibrant.   I'd have to go back and look at my notes, but I think in atleast some of these I did scale tipping and then put more layers of paint on after tipping.   I may have painted too much over my scale tipping.

Thanks again,
Chris

[copper]

Remember to use reference all the time. Buy a couple of Rick Kranes dvd's and some pearlex powders and soon enough you'll just keep getting better and better. Good luck.

[Jim L]

Reference will bring your work a long ways

[rorrer]

I'm pretty new at taxidermy myself. I think all of the fish look great. Keep up the good work!

[KAMoHunter]

you need to learn th concept of toning vs. painting. when fish dry they have differnt tones to them. if you add the color back in mall amounts.... then it wont have the painted appearance

[andy 27]

i agree with cooper

[Bill Dishman]

pretty darn good for first fish. all have some good points and all have a few things that could be better, mainly painting issues but you need time to develop a good working relationship with your airbrush. One thing i liked is that your fins arent "flagged" they are tight against the body.
keep at it, every consecutive fish will be better than the last.
BTW, Good effort on those halo spots on the brown trout!

[WILD BROOKIES]

the real test is going to be when your on your own and not under an instructors eye then post  pics and we will critique then

[c2taxidermy]

Thank you all for the advice.   Just got my compressor for Christmas, so once I get my other fish supplies I will start on my own.   Have some different fish smaller fish to start with and then some steelhead to work on.
Thanks again,
Chris