Pencil Art On Fishing Tees

[Avenger]

Okay, another 2¢ worth. In post #16 I prefer #s 2 thru 8.

Mark, I think I actually like your pencil work more than the color pictures. In my own experience I prefer the shading and tones I can get with a pencil over ink as well. And I know that a digital scan does not always do an honest job of picking it up, so the real shirts should look even better than what we see here.

I also like Fred Archer's point of a single splash of color as an accent.

[Mark Ray]

I love doing the pencil stuff, and it's nice to get away from the canvas sometimes. I hope to spit out alot more pencils this year. Thanks for the nice comments.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Mark,

Roger all. I knew that you weren't getting grumpy. My post was meant to make it clear that I wasn't getting into some kind of contest with you and you certainly didn't post anything to indicate that, someone else did. I'm sure that you, like me, started out trying to learn how to draw fish due to our love for them and fishing. I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that it ain't easy, especially starting out and having no art training whatsoever and it still isn't easy for me.

I have been good friends with Guy Harvey, who I consider to be the most talented marine artist of them all, since he was a very young man, was studying marine biology, and started fooling around drawing. He was just a young student, hitching rides with some of us to go fishing at the time. When some of us, including Frank Johnson of Moldcraft and Scotty Boyd and some others in what we used to call "The Miami (fishing) Mafia" saw his early work, we encouraged the heck out of him to expand his art and start selling it. Then, along came Raleigh Werking, who had two small silk screen machines in his garage and was fishing buddies with Guy. They made a deal whereby Raleigh would make T-shirts from Guy's art and sell them and of course Guy got a commission.

Those of you who have met him realize that Guy is a wonderful, friendly, humble young (in my eyes) man, but what you may not know is that he has little taste for the rag business, while Raleigh did, so it was a perfect marriage and they both prospered. The T-shirt company became T-Shirts of Florida, a monstrous apparel outfit that featured the work of a lot of other artists other than Raleigh. He wound up selling it for a great deal of money and then followed his heart and traveled around the world doing what he really loved, light tackle fishing. He established a considerable number of world records in the process and is considered by many to be one of the best light tackle anglers ever. He is a quiet, unassuming guy and a very skilled angler. I hope he's still fishing.

Of course, Guy is still doing his art, but he has branched off into underwater photograpy and video work, where I think his heart really lies and always has - in the water and among the fish. I think it's a wonderful story that shows what can happen if you follow your heart and always give your best and you develop relationships with other good, honest people.

My greatest day ever when it came to my drawings was when guy asked me for autographed prints of two of my humble attempts at drawing. They hang in his island home. One was Grim Ripper. That meant more to me than any kind of commercial success I did or could have with my stuff.

This drawing is yet to be finished. It will probably be my last one. It is called "ICBM...Intercontinental Ballistic Mako". I love all of the gamefish, but hoo, baby, dem makos is special to me!

Picture won't post. Will try edit.

Website www.fredarchersworldoffishing.com