Last year I started illustrating fish. A challenge online to complete illustrations in set colours got me thinking about fish. I had never illustrated fish and never really thought about them. I wanted to work on crustaceans, lobsters, Crabs and suchlike, but never lent a thought to fish! The first scheme was green and red and I illustrated a Pandora, followed by Blue and Yellow and I chose a Black Sea Bream. Little did I realize that latter choice would be a precursor to the Ukranian War.

I chose initially Sea Fish and wanted to represent them more graphically than botanically, giving an opportunity to learn more about the symbolism or folklore surrounding them. I chose too, pastel tinted papers to emphasis or compliment the design and to challenge myself to working with these colours that effect the tones of the pencils used, for example blue tints cooled down and contrasted lovely with the shades of red or yellow pencils.

So began a steady project that will continue, encompassing Sea and Freshwater fishes, aquarium fishes and sea creatures, crustaceans, shellfish etc. I am hoping to pull them altogether in a book at some point and I have met a few fish enthusiast friends along the way, so it’s been a wonderful project from the outset.

Enjoy this video and a little insite into how I work.