Drawing Flies 52 Keys-style tarpon fly. Old-school, with a bit of flash thrown into the wing. Nothing fancy, but it would work…

Tech info: 8-1/2″ x 11″ recycled inkjet paper, inked with an Office Max fine-point roller ball pen (only 79-cents!), and colored with watercolor pencil, watercolor crayon, and a dash of Prismacolor marker. Decided to go with a splash of color this time around and also go water-soluble (even the paper qualifies as water-soluble, believe me).

So, I yanked a sheet of bulk recycled out of my trusty Epson and tossed a mish-mash of media onto the table. I wanted to try these odd little Caran d’Ache watercolor crayons that I had lying around (cringing yet, Jeff?), as well as get the pen involved as more than just a source of line. Since this whole project is also a running experiment, I figured why not try some new things as I go?

I inked in the “snout” of the fly  first, and then loosely framed the hackle (including a few dark contrasts). I then worked in the saddle hackles for the wing, trying to resist the temptation to “draw” them too much (hard for an old-school technical-pen guy to avoid). I think I overworked the feathers, but hey, lesson learned. I then curved in the hook, and added the bits of flash material through the wing.

Color was next, with a marker on the snout, then watercolor pencils for the hackle and through the wing (pencil was laid in, then liquified with a wet detail brush). I also dropped some water onto the dark accents of pen in the wing, and allowed the pen to naturally diffuse for a few minutes. Once I tortured saturated the fly enough, I grabbed the watercolor crayons and added more color detail around and in the fly. Rather than try to “paint” directly with the crayons, I wet the tip of the crayons, then used a detail brush to transfer the pigment from the crayon to the paper. A slick way of making it work (I think), and it allowed each crayon to be used as a micro-palette of sorts.

After 20 minutes I figured I was done. I ran about 5 minutes longer than I should have (overworking!), but the fly still has some life to it and I got in some good experimentation that will be useful in the future. The lesson for this third fly: Stop while you are ahead!

Available for purchase? Yes, if you really want a fly drawn on recycled paper (contact JB).

And a bit more…

I wanted my hand to get the “feel” for the DF52 Keys-style tarpon pattern (and quirky crayons) before I got out the good paper (ha!), so I spent a few minutes messing around. I had thought of going with an eye on the fly, but then decided to use a simple and traditional “blind” pattern. The fly was already going to be drawn partly with crayon and I didn’t want it to be any more “cartoonish!”

Update: Just saw Jeff’s fly. Looks almost exactly like what I expected. That is to say vibrant, rich, orange, and seemingly impossible in 20 minutes. I’d like to watch you paint plein air, Jeff!

Looks like a Boss is next. Lotsa metal…