Artful fish projects
Fish come in many shapes, sizes and colors. Creating a model of a real fish with art supplies offers a great deal of variety and choice. Once you know the basic parts of a fish, creating an imaginary fish can be an interesting art activity. If you are a teacher whose students are studying fish, have them create a whole school of fish to place on a bulletin board or hang from a ceiling.
Sculpture
You can create sculptural fish using a variety of methods. Make fish from recyclables such as plastic bottles by flattening and painting the the bottles, then adding some fins created with a couple of cuts. Another three-dimensional way to make a fish is to use a lunch-sized paper bag. Stuff it slightly, tie off the end of the bag to create the tail, add some paper fins and decorate. Origami fish are a project for older children to make while glitter play dough flattened and cut out in the shape of fish makes a suitable activity for younger children.
Print or Paint
Print a fish on paper or cloth using ancient Japanese gyotaku methods in which you traditionally use a real fish, paint over it with paint or ink, then press paper or cloth over it to create a print. You may also create fish prints using pieces of foam similar to those butchers use to package meat on and a pointed stylus. Draw the fish outline on the foam, paint over it with ink or paint, and then press paper over the ink to leave an impression or print.
Draw or paint fish using ink, pastels, charcoal, markers or pencil. Fish have a great deal of texture that you should recreate as closely as possible when drawing to add interest to your creation. For a multimedia effect, draw a fish outline with dark crayon on white paper while pressing hard to create the fish outlines. Mix salt with watered down tempera paint the consistency of watercolors then paint over the crayon lightly to create a watercolor and crayon relief fish with a sparkly effect.
Collage
Make collage fish with textural effects. Cut out fish shapes or draw fish outlines on paper. In the style of the book "Rainbow Fish" glue small pieces of tissue paper to cover your fish, then paint over the entire creation with watery glue to create for a shiny finish. In the style of author Eric Carle, do crayon rubbings in various colors on white paper placed over different textured materials. Afterwards, cut out the shapes of fish from the textured rubbing paper and glue on blue paper for an underwater, textured creation. Another way to create collage fish is to make the picture entirely from cut out geometric shapes where ovals become fish bodies and triangles become fish tails and fins.
