To get started on your fish-themed work of art, trace or copy basic fish shapes.
Because fish have distinct, instantly recognizable shapes, it is possible to create fish-themed art even if you are not particularly artistic. You really only need to be able to copy or trace the basic outlines of fish shapes, then use these as the basis for an underwater scene. With a few tricks, your one-of-a-kind fish art will be worthy of your signature in the corner and a space on your wall.
Instructions
1. Cover your work surface with sheets of newspaper. On a practice piece of paper, draw outlines of fish shapes, or copy or trace pictures from a book, poster, clip art or website. Choose fish with distinct shapes such as marlin, koi, clownfish or flying fish.
2. Draw faint pencil outlines of your chosen fish on a new sheet of paper. Add some background images by drawing basic outlines of kelp, seaweed or coral.
3. Dip a clean paintbrush in cold water and brush it all over your paper so it is dampened but not saturated. While the paper is wet--and wrinkly--create scales on your fish, one color at a time, by painting half-moon shapes facing the same direction. Where two colors touch, they will blur because the paper is wet, creating organic-looking patterns. Keep a picture of the fish you are painting alongside your work for reference.
4. Paint the background with various shades of blue and green, using long wavy lines across the paper. If the paper dries before you get to the background, re-dampen the unpainted areas before painting, which will create a flowing, watery look.
5. Embellish the seaweed, coral or other background images with torn pieces of tissue paper in an appropriate color. Stick the torn tissue pieces in place with a little white glue and overlap multiple torn pieces to fill in larger shapes. If you don't want to add tissue paper, use paint instead.
