hi, I have just completed my first black crappie and would love to know what I need to do differently, I was fairly successful skinning him out with minimal scale loss, he was missing a large portion on his tail and anal and soft dorsal, you can see this in the unfinished photo, but I used clear acetate on the tail and silkspan and fin creme on the others, thanks for taking the time to take a look, it is in an album with my other fish pics but it is the last 5, there aren't too many in there so it shouldnt take too long to download, thanks again
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/twiggy2151/album?.dir=/bc57
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I hand painted this fish with acrylics, i still live in the dinosaur age! oh well :o)
I am initially very impressed if this is your first crappie. If you want the nit picking...there seems to be a bit of patchy coloration in the background...a bit of a darker underlying patch behind the pectoral fin? Look closely at the dark markings on the fish or reference pic. Not so round, many are like M's and W? and connected MM's and WW's if that makes sense. Below lateral line seems like it should have more dark markings, again, less round. Overall, a commendable first shot, and with a brush yet!
thanks dennis, what I did with this fish is when he was dry I darkened his markings with an ebony pencil, I got that tip off of one of cecils posts, so those are his acual markings, he just did not have many spots on his lower side, the dark sploch is a bit of epoxy where I replaced scales, I hate trying to paint over epoxy, I just cannot seem to get it quite right, arg! I did paint the markings in though over the ebony, thanks for the tips, these are things I am gonna look for on my next one! every bit helps
I have never used an ebony pencil on a crappie. No big deal just want to set the record straight. Must have been someone else.
Here's my take on your crappie:
You may be hiding the natural markings with too much white. Very common mistake on a crappie is to use to much white or overpaint them. On a crappie the less paint the better. And your dark markings are not the way they are on a live fish. Check some good reference. And the use of an airbrush exclusively should soften your painting which is what you want. Here's some pics of live one to show the markings. Scroll down past the first one which is very dark male in exhibiting sexual dimorphism:
http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/black_crappie.htm
I just mist with off white on the belly and very, very, subtly up 1/8th the side. Then some pearlescent (I use chrome pearlescent but not very much over the white up the side. With the original black markings if you have to enhance them (if you don't have to don't) use some retarder and just barely ehance them. IMHO a marker or ebony pencil is to harsh. Don't cover the black markings up with white and pearlescent!
I would also make the dorsal surface a little green by using a base coat (not to heavy) of irridescent gold and then lightly with yellow to get the green you want. You fish is kind of bland. I also like to put in a little yellow on the pelvic fin rays.
On some black crappies I use some irridescent gold on the lower sides with some bright yellow shaded over that very, very, lightly. Some black crappies are like that. (See pics)
I like what you did with the fin repair and painting. If this is your first attempt don't dispair -- you'll get there just keep practicing.
thanks cecil for all of the advice, I apologize for being mistaken about the pencil, for some reason I thought it was you, sorry, I will take all this advice and use it to my advantage on my next fish, this is a great website, it is all I do on my pc! lol
you spread the caudal(tail fin) more. Remember when doing this, to keep the juncture between the peduncle( scaled rear most section of fish that adjoins the actual tail) as smooth as possible.Meaning, as little height change as possible between these two areas. Don't know if this makes sense to you but hope it helps. Good luck.