Opinions please ( Koi art )

[greg]

All,

My partner has been doing some koi drawings and paintings of Koi and she has decided she would like some feedback from Koi people on them.

Previous ones have been done in pencil sketch form but this latest one attached has a silver leaf background and is painted over using glass paints.
It seems to give the Asagi scales some life.

Please note photo does not do this painting full justice so have attached a pencil sketch as well.

Honest opinions welcome,

Cheers,

[Tom C]

My honest opinion is I like the one with three koi a lot. The Asagi one looks like it has a goldfish tail. If the tail didn't look like that I would say I love that one also. A lady use to sell rocks on eBay with koi pictures. I always wanted to order one. I have not seen them for some time now. It would be great if you friend could make a living on her art work. She does do a good job at it.

Tom

[aquitori]

Pretty nice, this is coming from a guy in graphic design...With each drawing you do you can only get better. I like the Asagi drawing.

[mulberryjen]

Art degree grad here too.........very nice handling of the scalation and proportions of the fish. As Tom C noted - may tweak the appearance of the tail fins a bit. The silver leaf is an interesting idea - I bet you really have to see it in person to get the full effect. I wonder what it would look like to use silver leaf behind glass tiles and use paint on both surfaces to create the illusion of depth in the scales and fins? I don't know, might look strange.

Again, very well done, excellent draftsmanship. You really get the sense that the fish are 3-dimensional and have weight to them. Thanks for sharing her artwork!

[Nancy M.]

very nice.... Ask your friend if they are interested in drawing a few of my fish for me, if so I will email them some pics .. I would love to have a nice drawing or painting done for my husand. Let me know we can discuss his fees after he see's the fish I would want done...

Nancy

[Ruth Rice]

I like them too. A different look to them than other artists I have see - a good one

[MikeM]

Interesting ... like botanic sketches in picking up detail. Let me know when a Soragoi is ready for viewing.

[Tom C]

I just when back and looked at the picture of the three koi again. I have to say I like that one a LOTTTTTTT. The first time I didn't see the shadows of the koi. The detail is wonderful on it. I'm with Nancy, I would love to have one done of a few of my koi. Have her pop me a email on the cost to do something like the one with the three koi in it.

Tom
koicrazy@sbcglobal.net

[matt]

Nice work! The asagi looks similar to my asagi tattoo.



I really like the scales on the gosanke, really nicely done.



The only thing I think could be improved is the tails. All of the tails look a little stylized and bit out of perspective. If viewing a real fish they would bend in less symmetrical fashion, and the lower rays are often unseen, obscured by the top.



I've looked at a lot of traditional koi art over here in Japan, and it is really interesting how the convention here is to stylize the fish that breaks from their proper anatomy. Most commonly, Japanese artists usually extend the dorsal fin all the way to the base of the tail. I had to show my tattoo artist a lot of pictures of real fish to inspire him to do my work a little more realistic.

[greg]

Thanks for all your comments, I have passed them on to Nadine.

She has also done a sketch of that Soragoi (sp?) for you Mike but bear in mind it is also a sketch.

Nadine has also tried to adjust the tail in this one