I have painted a few fish using the Breakthrough fish painting encyclopedia and I wanted to know is this the best book to use for painting fish? The fish that I have painted came out pretty good but I just wanted to know if there are any better books than this one. Thanks for any information you can give me,
Drew
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You won't find any better BOOKS than Breakthrough. Ron Reynolds has Real Fish and it's good but limited in species. The fish guys will be very quick to tell you, however, that no BOOK is as good as your own paint schedule made up from the specimen at hand.
I honestly believe that "Paint Schedules" are the biggest contributor to stifling one's growth when it comes to painting. Painting fish or ANYTHING for that matter.
When taking an Art course, you study other Artist's styles and techniques. Yet, when you get right down to it, you do NOT paint a picture from another person's painting. Preferably you look at the object(s) you are attempting to reproduce in person. With fish, that is not practical. So some good photos are the next best thing.
A better investment - if you have trouble mixing colors is one of those color wheels/color charts.
Once you learn to mix colors simply look at a photo and begin to break down colors. What's the base color(s)? Go easy and don't get too dark. You can always go darker, but you can't go the other way. Once you have your base color(s) down along with your whites you begin to start putting in details. Then (typically) you'll do a light coat of ~base colors over the back and into the sides to blend those details. Touch up your whites. Add the pink fleshtones. Add some Pearls? Clean the eyes. Dry. Gloss coat and call your customer. Simplified of course!
Thanks for all of your helpful information
Drew