Walleye Paint Schedule

NOTE! This paint schedule will work for lacquer or water based systems, but the two systems should never be used in conjunction with one another! Use either all lacquer paints or all water based paints! When using water based paints allow a little longer drying time between applications. The general rule of thumb for fish painting is less paint is best. It is easier to put more paint on than it is to take paint off. Perhaps a better term for air brushing a fish would be "tinting" not painting. Go lightly to achieve more realistic results!

1.     Using the applicable sealer for your paint system and spray a liberal coat of sealer over the entire fish. Wait until mostly dry and apply a second full wet coat. Allow this to dry before proceeding to the next step.

2.     Spray the extreme under side of the belly, throat and lower jaw with a heavy coat of cover white. Gradually fade the white up to but not into the markings on the lower side of the fish. Spray the mouth interior with a heavy application using care that the over spray is not allowed to escape under the gill cover and onto the side of the fish.

 

3.     Using bronze apply a moderate coat to all repaired areas on the upper half of the fish. You can also include the seam area. Do not spray any of the lower body.

4.     Spray a light coat of whitetail medium brown over the repaired areas where Bronze was applied earlier.

5. With dark green spray the same areas as steps 3 & 4. The whole idea of these 3 steps is to match the color of the repaired areas to the color of the skin tones surrounding the repaired areas. Go lightly and use only enough paint to accomplish this. If your fish dried showing more brown, use more whitetail medium eye brown. If green is the prevalent color, use more dark green.

6. Starting at the back of the fish, spray a light coat of yellow ochre on the back and down the side of the fish ending where the white ended in step 2. Include the head and cheeks as well as the both sides of all fins. Go extremely light on the dorsals and the tail!

7. Spray a coat of gold pearl over all of the body and head areas that were sprayed with yellow in the previous step. Fade this application into the white on the belly. Do not apply pearl to the fins or tail!

8. Spray white pearl on the areas covered in Step 2 above. Blend this color into the gold pearl on the lower 1/4 of the fish. Do not forget the inside of the mouth.

9. Apply a very light coat of transparent medium green to the top of the head and the top of the back, fading out approximately 1/3 of the way down the fish. Also include the top fins, and the tail. Also spray the mandible and maxillary bone.

 

10. If your fish shows more of a brown hue, mist a coat of burnt umber over the green on the head and back, but not on the upper fins. Spraying from an extreme front angle may highlight the lower fin and tail rays.

11. Spray a heavy application of gill red to the gills. Try to avoid over spray. Stuffing a paper towel into the mouth can sometimes help with this.

12. Using cover white, touch up any areas on the lower parts of the fish that may have caught some over spray. Lightly spray the trailing edges of the lower fins and the very bottom of the tail trailing edge. Respray the mouth interior and highlight the hinge areas around the maxillary.

13. Using flesh very lightly mist the mouth interior, lower fins, and anal opening.

14. Lightly blend the top of the head, and the back, fading out above the lateral line with jet black. Angle spray the side of the fish from the extreme rear. The dorsal fin rays and tail can also be high lighted in this manner. Spray the black patch found on the rear edge of the spiny dorsal. Highlight the bars on the upper 1/3 of the fish.

15. OPTIONAL: gold and green glimmers may be misted on the back, head, and sides of the fish as an added effect.

16. Clean the eye and spray with natures gallery gloss or for a deep wet look try Van Dykes ultimate fish gloss.

17. Van Dyke's taxidermy staff recommends our finishing and painting a walleye video.

 

This paint schedule was meant to be used as a guide only. Like colors may be substituted with good results. EXAMPLE: (Substituting medium yellow for yellow ochre or chocolate brown for burnt umber)

One of the best tools is good reference material!