Gyotaku

This is called gyotaku. It is a japanese form of art that started in the 1700's. Even back then there were haters, people who doubted other folks' "big fish" stories. So, the fishermen started to take ink and rice paper out on the boats. When they would catch a big fish, they would put ink right onto the fish and then put the paper over the fish. The ink would leave a perfect imprint of the fish on the paper. This was one of the first forms of taxidermy. Anyway, I thought that I would give it a try. This is my first gyotaku. I used an Erie steelhead for my first project. I painted the eye in and added a little detail with pen and ink. Since my buddy caught it, I put his name, the stream, and the date on it. He just has to come pick it up. So, whaddaya think?
 

dakota kid

That is a very neat idea. I think it may be quite useful in modern taxidermy, with regard to fish replicas.

What did you end up using for the ink? I was thinking of one of those oval watercolor pucks in the cheap dollar store paint sets.

Hey slab, have you ever tried using an airbrush? 

I used Speedball waterbased blocking ink. It's usually pretty expensive, but I found a set on Ebay for $2 so I had to buy it. Traditionally, the Japanese used Sumi ink which is alot like India ink. It's used for calligraphy and seems to only come in black. I should have done one of this chromer in black too.  I really want to do some crappie and perch like this. I wouldn't mind doing a bass and a walleye too. The cool thing about this is that it gives you a life-sized image of the fish, so there is no disputing how big the fish was.
 
I've never used an airbrush for anything. I wouldn't mind trying it sometime.
 
I was thinking about getting a little better at this and then offering to do it for others for a fee. Do you think many people would be interested in something like this? Helluva lot cheaper than getting a fish mounted. What do you think would be a fair price for doing one of these?

That's pretty cool. How big was the fish?

cbeagler

That looks downright--what is the proper word, oriental? I hope that's the right word. Correct me if I am wrong.
Seriously that is pretty cool.

Asian is the prefered nomenclature

KJH807

cbeagler

That looks downright--what is the proper word, oriental? I hope that's the right word. Correct me if I am wrong.
Seriously that is pretty cool.

Asian is the prefered nomenclature

 
OK, I thought it was Asian if speaking of a person, but oriental if speaking of an object, art, or style.

we arent talking about the people who built the railroads walter

The appeal to me would be if you could do it with a live fish, and the paint and the process could ensure a healthy release, but that doesn't seem feasible.  
 
Not bashing those who keep fish as trophies, but I personally never really understood the point in killing a fish to display as a trophy.  Animal taxidermy doesn't hold a whole lot of appeal to me either.  Maybe I'm just cheap.  
 
 
 

Thanks for your honesty guys. I wouldn't kill a fish just to make a print though. The cool thing about this is that you can make the print and then eat the fish. I can't afford to have a fish mounted, so this is a cheap and easy way to get an exact scale representation of a fish. I thought more of you guys might be interested in owning a print of a trophy fish that you caught. I was suprised by the answers. I'm really glad that I asked though because everyone that answered is a good representative of the fishing community in our area. I'd have hated to have had grand dreams of making money off of this and end up not getting any business. If I do more of these though, I'll continue to post pics for your viewing pleasure! LOL! Once again, thanks guys.

Thank you Sir!

Slabdaddy, nice work!  I think you did a good job on that.  The last time I visited Hawaii, I wanted to catch a Mahi Mahi, keep it to eat and also get a gyotaku done from this guy in Hilo:   www.takeogyotaku.com/portfolio.html
 
I would have paid for it but didn't get a chance to fish for Mahi though, only Tuna and didn't want a life size gyotaku of a 200lb fish.  Not sure I'd pay for an Erie Steelhead, but I'm sure someone who doesn't make it to the tribs very often and wanted a trout/steelhead painting for their home would. 
 
I think it's cooler than a photo.  It's a real life impression of the actual fish with artistry involved, kind of in between a photo and taxidermy.

Cool! That's a really good idea. I might just do that. Would it be legal or could I get in trouble for that?

And by the way, despite my personal preferences to to kill a fish for a memory (and I don't eat steelhead) it is a really cool piece of art.  If I had a trophy specimen of a species I was going to eat, I'd consider it.  Would be cool decor for a man cave or an office to have a few of those on the wall in some nice looking frames.