Book Illustration of a fishing lure sinking over time

• Status: Closed
• Prize: $65
• Entries Received: 9
• Winner: abouharoune20

Winner

Contest Brief

Project Title: Illustration of a fishing lure sinking over time

Description:
- I am looking for a realistic style illustration of a fishing lure sinking over time.
- The illustration should be in color, showcasing the vibrant colors of the lure.
- The sinking process can be shown either in stages or as a continuous sequence, depending on the artist's preference.
- The ideal candidate should have experience in realistic illustration and be able to create detailed and lifelike images.
- It is important to capture the movement and depth of the sinking lure in a visually appealing manner.
- Attention to detail and a strong understanding of perspective will be crucial for this project.
- The final illustration will be used in a book
- The deadline for this project is December 10, 2023.
Here is the book passage which this picture will illustrate:
Let’s assume that you have targeted a spot in the river where you think a fish would logically feed, based on all the ideas already discussed, and you have taken a guess how deep the bottom and hoped-for fish are. You have picked out a fly you think looks like what a fish would want to eat today. (There are entire books on that.) What happens after you cast a nymph toward that place is both simple and complicated. Simply, it either gets eaten by a fish or not. (Or it gets stuck on something on the bottom like a rock or a stick.) More complicated, it sinks at some rate of speed; it gets buffeted around by a variety of currents and turbulence; it gets dragged downstream by the line attached to your rod and the dry fly or a strike indicator on the surface (which is moving in a different surface current at a different speed), and it appears to a fish like either a delectable morsel or an alien invader. How can you improve the likelihood that the fly gets eaten?
Beyond hoping the fish is in a dining mood, the two keys to bettering your chances are for the fly to drift close enough for the fish to see it and bother to move a few inches to eat it, and to present it looking like a real, natural insect. These require you to imagine, plan and execute your offering in all four dimensions: the right place across the river that is in line with the fish so he doesn’t miss seeing it entirely; the right distance upstream from the fish so the fly doesn’t bonk him on the head, land behind him or fail to sink deep enough underwater for him to see it; and to dial in the complicating dimension of time, which changes where the flies are (across, up and down) and how fast they are drifting in the current.
Try to visualize this as if you are standing with Leonardo watching it happen in his glass-sided tank or as if you are scuba diving near a large trout. The fish is “sitting” two feet deep in three feet of water. The fly, tied onto the leader and tippet three feet behind a floating indicator or bobber, lands on the water and starts to sink. If the fly lands fairly close to the fish, or if the fly is fairly light, or if the current is fairly swift, or some combination of these, it will not sink deep enough in time for the fish to see it and eat it; it will drift unseen over his back.
[Insert Fig. 21.3]
[Insert Caption 21.3]

If the fly lands too far upstream of the fish, or if the fly is fairly heavy, or if the current is fairly slow, it will sink so deep that the fish will not see it or eat it; it will drift by below him or get snagged on the bottom, creating other problems. Obviously, the “Goldilocks” solution we want is for the fly to land quietly, just the right distance upstream of the fish, in just the same current line with the fish, and be just the right weight. Combined with the speed of the current the fish chose to sit in, in the few seconds it drifts downstream, it sinks close enough to his two-feet-deep face that he sees it and eats it. That’s a lot of things to get right at one time. If you think in advance about all those things happening out of view, like Leonardo did seeing them in his glass-sided tank in four dimensions, you will catch more fish.
. Visualizing this in advance by observing the currents closely, like Leonardo did, lets you plan how you will control the line, mending it upstream or downstream as needed to keep the surface fly moving the same speed as the surface current.
Most guides and experienced anglers will feel the weight of the nymph, bouncing it in the palm of their hand before deciding to use it. I like to also drop it into the water immediately in front of me once I’ve tied it onto the tippet, watching how quickly it sinks. If I’m using two nymphs at the same time, that gives me an even better idea of how fast each fly will sink after they hit the water. That is what I’m visualizing as soon as I cast and they disappear into the uncertain depths.
Leonardo discovered that there are rivers within rivers. Almost always, the current below the surface is moving slower than on the surface. Near the bottom and along the edge of the stream, friction with rocks or banks slows the current even more, so the top fly or indicator starts to stretch the tippet connecting to the nymph. Over several seconds, the fly on the surface can begin to drag the nymph along faster than the unseen current below is flowing. So, a drag-free fly at the surface may actually be dragging the nymph down below, turning your delectable insect into that whizzing, repulsive alien. One solution for that problem is a longer tippet which takes more time to stretch tight. Unfortunately, the slack you have now intentionally created underwater means a very slight delay in telegraphing to the top fly that a fish ate the nymph. The only solution I know to that problem is to watch the indicator fly very closely for the slightest unnatural movement and set the hook very quickly to make up for the fraction of a second lost to the slack. When I foul hook a fish in the tail or catch him in the chin instead of the lip, I know I was too slow and he had spit out the fly before I set the hook. All of this gets better if I’m imagining the fly sinking and I’ve guessed correctly how deep the fish is in the water.


- Please include a portfolio or samples of previous realistic illustrations in your proposal.
- Any additional creative ideas or suggestions are welcome.

Recommended Skills

• Graphic Design
• Illustration