Bryce L. Meyer's Art Blog: nature

Redid my older drawing of the Megalodon, especially considering it is no longer considered just a large great white shark. Megalodons now have their own family which means 'megateeth'. As a result I redrew the monster shark, taking a guess at coloration, and guessing a few other details, given teeth and latest research. That reseign shows here:

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/13246411-megalodon-v22-by-combatfish

and here

https://www.cafepress.com/clownfishbutton/11854772

among other spots.

I also drew up an ancient freshwater shark, a true river monster of the distant past, the Xenacanthus. This beast was only around 4 feet or so, but had a giant spike on its head, and prowled through the Devonian to Triassic times. I again took some liberty with coloration, guessing that a swamp or river shark would likely be colored much like a bowfin or gar.

https://www.cafepress.com/clownfishbutton/17327440

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/13234248-xenacanthus-ancient-freshwater-shark-by-combatfish

then made some interesting combo patterns for the paleontologist or dino lover at home:

https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/13311629-10-extinct-sea-monsters-scatter-4in-on-cyan-by-combatfish

the added several more snappers and the like, including Emperor snappers (juvenille):

https://www.cafepress.com/combatfishingdeepseafishesshop/17333061

Then a combo like so:

https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/t-shirt/men/3-indo-pacific-snappers/1843851/

note that I also put all my combat-fishing gear on the design by humans site also:

https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/CombatFish/

Enjoy,

Bryce

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Gobies, and Chum Salmon

(FYI..all my single fish and other drawings (minus patterns) are here: https://www.combat-fishing.com/DesignFishCafeCatalog.html though patterns with the same fishes mostly go here: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/combatfish )

Drew up a few interesting gobies:

The Pinkbar Goby is another Indo-Pacific goby that is reef and rock oriented,

though

Bluebanded Gobies are a cold water fish found in the Pacific off California, especially near urchins and kelp forests.

I also drew up the last of my Pacific Salmons....the Chum or Dog Salmon. It is often considered lessor behind King (Chinook) or Coho (Silver) or Sockeye (Kokanee) salmon, though it is bigger then the Pink Salmon. Since my skill has improved over time it is the most real-looking salmon of the bunch. Note that Rainbow Trout (Steelhead), Cutthroat Trout (and Sea-Run variant), Golden Trout, Masu Salmon (Cherry Trout), Gila Trout, and Apache Trout all part of the Pacific Salmon and Trout Complex (i.e. Oncorhynchus).

tight lines,

Bryce

Thursday, July 2, 2020

More oddities

Oddities out finally...

In addition to lots of plankton and turtles hitting the Spoonflower side, I have started adding some fish I wanted to draw for a long time, because I catch them.
Goldeyes are a member of the Mooneye family, and are all over the northern half of North America, in the Mississippi river basin and Great Lakes drainages. Canadians like to smoke them into a fish dish, I just like to catch them on the fly, as they are a great 2wgt flyrod fish that is a jumper. They have a close relative that I have yet to draw, the mooneye. I also dropped in an Australian fishing fish, the Talang Queenfish ( a jack), and a fish I caught lots in the Florida Panhandle (especially Pensacola Bay), the White (Sand) Seatrout. The White Seatrout is oft confused with both the silver seatrout, and silver perch, and is a croaker, of the weakfish branch (as is the White Seabass in California, and the Tortuaba from the Sea of Cortez). There is some argument that the white seatrout is really a subspecies of weakfish that is minus spots. Whatever you call them, they are a fun fish that is roughly a pound and likes to bite at night.
I also updated the Master Catalog to make is load far faster.

Enjoy, tight lines, and be safe,
Bryce

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Suggested adds and some others

As I noted before I do take suggestions, and draw them up when I get a chance (i.e. night, weekends, off days, or really boring meetings...)

Added the Clown Knifefish (Featherback) which is native to SE Asia, but is loose in south Florida Canals (wanted to catch one on the fly for a while, seen some near Miami).

Also by request added the Ram (Butterfly) Cichlid, which took a while due to deep details.

Also added a common turtle that is in the wild around the Midwest (if you see these, lots of fish are also nearby) and also a common pet: Map Turtles, and the colorful Florida Cooter Turtle.

All in Spoonflower in a few weeks, but in Cafepress now.

More as I think of them....

Tight lines and Fair Seas,

Bryce

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Slow Revisions and Updates

As time allows and the mood strikes me, I have been redrawing some older designs to make them more biologically accurate. Many older designs from 2015 or before are a little cartoonish, and have giant splashy signatures. The new designs are still signed (usually near bottom fin or tail) but not with crazy large font, and have far more detail in the design to reflect the beauty of the real animal. Last time updated the Bull Shark and added the Sand Tiger and Sandbar Sharks.

The latest set:
Great white shark, biting and swimming (yes, looks dangerous now, though the old version is still in the cafe press shop).
Leopard shark (this version is drawn from one I caught off Oyster Point Pier)
(Common) Thresher Shark (yes, the tail is that long...like a tadpole. Seen them caught over the years and they are very powerful swimmers that jump. There are legends of threshers chopping heads of fishermen. ).

They will show in spoonflower for your projects in the next couple of weeks (delays in getting cloth to review due to virus stuff). Will be available on furniture and decor at the same time, same site.

Stay Safe and Enjoy,
Bryce

Cafe press shops: start here for sharks: https://www.cafepress.com/combatfishingoffshorefish
Spoonflower: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/combatfish
Main Catalog: All the species I have http://www.combat-fishing.com/DesignFishCafeCatalog.html
Shopping Site for everything I do: http://www.combat-fishing.com/shoppingmain.htm
some designs also go here:
Design by Humans: https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/CombatFish/

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Making Masks from Spoonflower cloth

Making Masks from my Spoonflower cloth

Turns out many of my spoonflower fishy designs are perfect for making masks!

To test this I sewed up a couple last night from a sample set of test swatches (i.e. my artist samples with white boarders, your orders may not).
The test swatch size is good for one mask, though a yard can be used to make many.

I tagged the ones that are best for the purpose, though any of my designs with smaller items (i.e. 2" per item or less) work well.

For my mask, I used two 10" pieces of cord, half a twist tie from a coffee bag (the thick ones), and a section of test swatch of this pattern:
https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/9575574-masu-salmon-cherry-trout-blues-by-combatfish

I made my wife's from this pattern, again 2 10" cord sections, and the twist tie:
https://www.spoonflower.com/en/fabric/9284464-flagtail-prochilodus-on-light-blue-by-combatfish

1) Fold over pattern, invert, then sew edges.
2) Invert to make pattern stick out, put twist tie in middle top and stitch in
3) stick in cords to make a loop (test on your face), then sew in and sew in edge. Repeat for each edge. Make sure it fits snug!

There are patterns all over the web but I sort of winged it and it worked out I think:

Saturday, March 28, 2020

More odd fishes and cool stuff

Deep sea fish are often 'red' fish, in that they have red, orange, and purple coloration, since red is the first color to get stopped by water...at depth these fish are close to black, but on the surface or in the shallows a cool array of sunset colors.

First I added two Cardinal fish...popular aquarium fish all over.

The Banggai cardinalfish is a popular aquarium fish but int he wild has a very limited range, on reefs around the Banggai Islands in Indonesia. It is not red, but just interesting in general.
A relative is more orange, the Pajama or Spotted Cardinalfish (fyi, they don't look like the bird or the churchman, wonder if they are important in something?), which has some orange on the fins.

A redder fish family is the Squirrelfish (big eyes = squirrel-like maybe?), which have scales and stripes, and are again a popular saltwater reef fish family. Drew two common types: Squirrelfish of the Atlantic, and the Hawaiian Squirrelfish of the Pacific. The Hawaiian model, like the Hawaiian shirt is a bit more colorful.

I also added the deep water Queen Snapper, a purplish-reddish-Atlantic fish caught in water from a few hundred to thousand feet deep.

The same fishes are on patterns and decor also at my Spoonflower site (or soon will be).

Tight lines, calm seas, and BE SAFE!

Bryce L. Meyer

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Sharks and Sharks

I took a chance to clean up a few older drawings and then add a new one.
Over time, my skills have improved, and I can take the chance to make the fishes look more real, and show their natural beauty better.
The Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) was one. The old drawing was rough and cartoon-like at best, but after redrawing this king of the rivers, I added many details, made the proportions work, added scales and deeper coloration, and met the short description. For those unfamiliar with the fish, you likely ate it when you ate salmon at a restaurant or or bought it at a store as it is heavily farmed. The wild fish are premier fly fishing targets, usually released, and inhabit legendary rivers such as the Skye, Ness, Spey, and at one time, the Thames. They are native to the North Atlantic, and spawn in rivers in North America and Europe. Landlocked fish are targets in New York, and some have colonized the Great Lakes. They are now found in the Southern Ocean in South America, New Zealand, Australia, and have gotten loose to a small degree in British Columbia. They are related to Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) which look similar when in the sea.

The Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) really needed an update too. It first appeared in my book Audrey's Amazon Rivers, and then in Cafe Press and other spots. My drawing was primitive and sported river colors. This shark can live in freshwater or saltwater, and is found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters, including far up the Amazon and Zambezi rivers, in lakes in Africa and Central America, and rarely in the Mississippi River up to Alton, Illinois. The new drawing is more color accurate, meets the description, and has the details such as fin edge markings that make it realistic.

Then I added the Sand Tiger Shark (Carcharias taurus). This is a very scary looking shark, but in reality is a fish eater, and is fairly benign to diver and swimmer alike, which is why many aquariums feature this fish. The teeth are snaggle-toothed, and a key feature is that this shark lives from the surf to continental shelf, worldwide.

In Spoonflower, look for my latest, mostly groupers and butterflyfish.
Look for the new sharks and salmon, and two new butterflyfish in a week.

Enjoy tight lines and fair seas!
Bryce

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Refresher: Where is all my art?

In addition to books (on amazon, look for my author page ),
my art is purchasable in these venues:

Housewares, furniture, drapes, tablecloths, bedding, covers, pillows, etc. at Roostery (https://roostery.com/e?user=combatfish)
Cloth, Wallpaper, and Wrapping Paper at Spoonflower (https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/combatfish )
Adult, baby, and kids clothing, and random housewares, shower curtains, pillows, cups, glasses, office stuff, wall art at Cafepress, multiple shops:

Offshore fish in action shop (Sharks, Tunas, Swordfish, Dorado, etc.)

Northern freshwater fishes including salmon, trout, walleye

If all that sounds confusing, there is a cool, pictorial catalog that has almost everything (some DBH, spoonflower patterns are not in it to avoid clutter): http://www.combat-fishing.com/DesignFishCafeCatalog.html

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Fishes, Space, and Apollo art into Fall

Hello all my art fans!
Finished up kids books last springs (Madison's African Rivers and Charlotte's Arctic Ocean) then got pulled into all my space farm papers and presentations. However, did take time to draw more fish, and some abstract designs, and flesh out a Design By Humans site on top of adding to my Cafepress sites and Spoonflower/Sprout/Roostery patterns. The spoonflower patterns (especially the ones with sharks) are very popular, and cafe press is popular too, but for a wide swath of species. I added a much better run at the peacock bass cichlids of South America, in DBH and Cafe Press (four species to be exact, including Spotted, Royal, Butterfly, and Tucunare) and plan over time to upgrade various species, and added more African and Asian species.
I also added a few spacey designs, like this one in spoonflower and this one in Design by Humans, and another science space drawing to show the route of Apollo 11 in commemoration of the 49th and upcoming 50th Apollo mission anniversaries.
Later, Tight Lines, and Explore!
Bryce