Gyotaku-style Fingerprint Fish
By Melissa Restuccia
Gyotaku is the Japanese art of making
fish prints. Long ago, people began
making fish prints to record the
size and type of fish that they caught. Today, gyotaku
is
also considered an art in itself. There are two ways to make gyotaku.
In the direct
method, a fish is painted with ink, then paper
is pressed onto it to create a print.
In the indirect method,
damp paper is pressed on a fish and left to dry, then
the paper is
removed and ink is rubbed on the fish impression.
Gyotaku black-line art courtesy of Valerie Vogel.
have fun by following these steps to make a
fingerprint fish, as shown below.
What You’ll Need:
- paper
- pencil
- ink pad or poster paint
- plastic-foam tray
Photo by Charles Cary.
How to Make It:
-
On paper, sketch an outline of a fish.
-
Find an ink pad or squeeze some poster paint on a plastic-foam tray.
-
Press your fingertip into the ink or paint, then press it within the fish outline. Repeat, overlapping your fingerprints to look like fish scales.
-
Add final details (fin lines, an eye, and a gill) with darker, overlapping fingerprints.
