Artificially coloring fish

My final topic I decided on has come about through a process. I didn't know what question I wanted to ask but I did know what I wanted included in it.

nature/animal
color
line

I wanted to have high contrast in color and interesting marks in the drawing. I decided to come of the topic of Artificially coloring fish. Coloring a fish can be done through a few different process which include paints and dyes. A fish can be dyed by feeding them certain foods, dye injected, and finally dipping. Among these painted glass fish is a tetra. A tetra is originally found in black and white. The white are the most popularly used for dying. The big conflict among this is science vs. nature. Our technology and science is killing these fish with these dangerous methods. The artificial colors can raise there stress levels and make them susceptible to do disease, stunt their growth and development, and cause infections in the skin. The tetras are so popularly colored that they are also colored to go with holidays, black and white for halloween, green and red for christmas, and blue and red for the fourth of july.


After researching this process and what colors can be developed I have decided to do my project in multiple drawings. All the drawings will be on a black background with pastel for the marks. The first drawing will be a beautiful white tetra with strong lines and shape. The next few I'm not quite positive how they are going to be but I want them to be the bright colors that they can be dyed with, and finally end it with a overdeveloped in color and underdeveloped in size. I want my whole project to say a lot but be very simple in lines and composition. I think the question I would like to ask is in the idea of science vs. nature. but I am not sure how to put it or ask it. I think that this is something I can discuss in my tuesday meeting.

My idea of pastel on black has come from an interest of the way the black makes the colors pop. I research this and found an artist named Basil Halwagy. His drawing are really high contrast and have awesome line. He has a series on this idea called "Metamorphosis."


I'm still contemplating layering and how many drawings I want. I also am finding myself feeling like I want to narrate it too much or not enough. This I think is also something I can figure out today in our groups.