The Brown Trout

I spent my free-time over the last week working on this drawing of a 21 inch Brownie, caught by a friend up in the Dream Stream, the tail water between Spinney Reservoir and 11 Mile Reservoir in Colorado.

I used soft pastels on grey paper. It can be a challenge to work in small detail with large chunks of dry, relatively oil-less pastels.  After doing my initial cartoon, I gave a good fixative spray, which helps give some tooth and creates a nice base layer. After that, its just piling on layer after layer of small marks.

The photo reference was sufficient in details to base the work on. What a beautiful fish!  The deep spawning colors are quite magical.

See the finished drawing at my Trout Drawings page

Getting Started

Coming along

How I work