Reproduction Mount Bluegill

[AMCTaxidermy]

Just thought I would share a little "Behind the Scenes" work I did on a Bluegill Repro a few months ago.  This was a commercially available blank that I did after finding a picture of a really nifty and strange Bluegill on the web.  I wanted to replicate the fish in the picture, so I did just that.  The reproductions come unfinished in a white fiberglass material which is a total blank slate.  Unlike a skin mount, I had no faded pattern to start my painting with.  I thought you guys might be interested to see the work that goes into these things.  I didn't take a photo of the all white blank, and started my photos when I had hand painted the glass eyes and started putting a pattern on the fish with charcoal pencils.  This mount is painted entirely by hand and no airbrushing.  I probably would have stopped somewhere around photo #5 for a normal bluegill, but this one was a strange, dark fish.  Here's a picture from start to finished mount:

 

 

 

[chris n]

that is awesome!

[BowhunterNJ]

Wow that is sweet!  It looks like it would be a bit dark and the blue in the mouth looks rather distinctive and odd, but per the reference pic, looks like a very good representation!  That is indeed a very different kind of bluegill and I think you nailed it!

[AMCTaxidermy]

Thanks guys.  Re-creating a photo can be tough.  Especially when you only have one to go from at a strange angle like that one was.  It's even harder to photograph mounted fish properly!  The light never plays right or can capture the various paints, pigment colors and iridescence I use.  They always look better in person. 

[BowhunterNJ]

You make a good point.  I can tell you it's definitely a huge benefit to learn how to take and edit photos to help promote your work.  I take a lot of photographs, ranging from point and shoot to DSLR, and editing them properly makes a world of difference.  As much time as you spend creating your taxidermy work, you should also spend a good deal of time photographing it for presentation in your portfolio as well.  You worked hard to make it, you deserve to show it off in the best way possible (plus it helps your business as a whole)!

 

BTW, very cool picture by picture evolution...we could use more of that here for sure!  I find it pretty fascinating to see things take shape like that!

Maybe you can start up a thread or blog to show off those things.  A blog would probably serve it best, and I can help feature the blog to get your work out there (like you see my latest blog entry featured right now...which was really just to illustrate that I can feature a blog entry here on the site for anyone in hopes that others would start blogging to promote their work, business, adventures, experiences, etc).

[markbrit]

Very nice work!