African Fish of late...

Been drawing up a storm on African freshwater fishes lately. An interesting family of those fish is the Elephantfish family, which includes the comic looking Campylomormyrus Elephantfish, but also a variety of other interesting fish, many of which are (harmlessly) electric.  They likely use electricity to find dinner and to locate other members of their species in the dark and muddy waters of the Congo and other African rivers. A large member of this family is the Cornish Jack Fish, with a small flat mouth, and teeny tail, though I took the liberty of picking a color scheme from the Rift Valley lakes. I also did up the Baby Whale Fish (a marketing trick of the tropical fish industry, just like those 'Asian shark' catfish), which is an elephant fish with no trunk. I began picking on the African cichlids, most of which are very pretty, like the Banded Jewel Cichlid, especially the small species, Ornate ctenopoma fish, etc. Not to be missed, I also drew the Giant Tigerfish, (Goliath tigerfish is a synonym) a species featured in many 'monster' fish TV shows. The Giant tiger is less colorful and has a deeper body than the typical African Tigerfish.  Both species are Characins, like the Piranha, though are closer to the Tetras (like the little Neon Tetra aquarium fish I grew up with). Look for all the new African fish as I draw them on the Old World Fishes page.

Enjoy,
B

If you hit my spoonflower site or Image Catalog (or Pattern catalog, now all mobile-friendly), you will notice lots of dizzying fish and dolphin patterns emerging...why may you ask? Because I did those two adult coloring books (now on Amazon, bn, etc.) :

Of Oceans and Rivers, Fishes and Whales: A Coloring Book of Marine Life for Grown-ups and other Children (available on Amazon here)

Of Oceans and Rivers, Fishes and Whales II: A Coloring Book of Marine Life Patterns for Grown-ups and Others (available on Amazon here)

In doing those two books, especially the second one (which is all patterns, black and white of course so you can add your own imaginative colors), I got inspired to make the natural full color patterns for stuff and fabrics/wrap/wallpaper too. 

What emerged are flowers, stars, swirls, wheels, and the like...which I hope you will like.

I might make a few into cool Hawaiian shirts for myself :0)

Calm Seas, Sunny Shores, and Tight lines,

Bryce

Adult Coloring Book project

Got a wild hare (or hair? as my Pop would say) and as suggested by my sister, created an 'Adult' Coloring Book ('adult'= requires the dexterity of an older kid or adult, the only thing naked in it are fish, whales, dolphins, seals, reptiles, etc.). Anyhow, took quite a bit of work to take various marine life scenes from my kids books, and turn them into black and white color-able images. 104 images later (and many false starts) lead to a 220 page book, 8.5" x 11" with a scene index. Why 220 pages?  because the coloring pages are really single sided, the back page blank except for a header about being blank on purpose, and a footer page number, plus pages of index, plus author notes, and a how-to note. Title data for said book:
Of Oceans and Rivers, Fishes and Whales
A Coloring Book of Marine Life for Grown-ups and other Children
ISBN-13: 978-1523855735
ISBN-10: 1523855738
target price is far less then similar offerings,
should be up for sale sometime before 12 Feb 2016.

Each image (scene) can be colored in using pencils, cut out, and framed if that is what you want.  You could also cut out the page, use markers or paints (ala paint by numbers, minus numbers) then frame or do whatever.

At a min, as you color in the images, you will definitely take a mental vacation while learning about nature.

Still working the myriad of other projects also...
calm waters and tight lines,
Bryce

By popular request, several American freshwater fish are now available on Spoonflower (http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/combatfish)  for purchase :0) These include crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, pike, and catfish.  Working on my Arctic and African rivers designs also, and trying to get good new eagle and ice pictures as the winter deepens.