In today’s blog post I will be presenting and discussing a recent art project that I undertook. The project began with thoughts of block printmaking and fish, the latter being a common topic for printmakers. Perhaps because fish are a symbol of life, artists gravitate towards them, at least on occasion.
My foray into fish art started at the end of 2023 when I created a 2D digital fish for use on two 3D models. Both were done for fun. I made the fish in Affinity Designer and used many layers and a couple blend modes to enhance the color.

Sardine – Created by Don Cheke
After the fish was created, I produced a sardine tin label, also done in Affinity Designer. I added a sailing ship and two tomatoes to enhance the look, which I had found for free on Pixabay. I also added a red and yellow background and some text to complete the look.
Next, I created a 3D model of a sardine tin in TurboCAD and added the label in KeyShot where I rendered the results, as seen below.

Tin of Sardines – Created by Don Cheke
I was quite pleased with the results of the fish, so I decided that I would create a pub sign, where I could use it for a new project. As before, I created the signs in Affinity Designer and modeled the structure in TurboCAD. As usual, I rendered the final scene in KeyShot.

Three Fishes Pub Sign – Created by Don Cheke
Step forward to January 2025 and I am thinking about fish art again. Because I had printmaking on my mind, I decided to make a new fish design, using the basic overall shape of the fish seen above. You can see the shape is pretty much the same, but the inner design is different. An artist must adjust their thinking when pondering printmaking, because much thought must be given to what the artists wants to show on the substrate (i.e. paper) when the print is made. Anything raised will print, while anything recessed will not. If you are interested in learning more about the process, check out Don Cheke’s Design Talk #24 – Block Printmaking & Hot Melt Typesetting.
Below, you can see the fish design I came up with and my experimentation with color. I have created and shown other printmaking art projects on the artist forum I participate in, and folks there like the multi-view pieces I have provided, like this one. It is an art piece all on its own, in my opinion. I would frame this one and put it on my wall. It’s interesting to note that many printmakers that create fish art will often have one or more fish swimming in the opposite direction. I liked this idea and decided that I would follow suit. Somehow, it seems to symbolize being unique, standing out from the crowd, I suppose.

Fish Print 010725 x8 – Created by Don Cheke
As I have almost always done when creating art for a printmaking project, I decided to create a 3D render as well. Although the image below looks like a 2D rendition, it is in fact 3D, and the head-on non-perspective view, suited this piece best. As you can see, I added a 3D texture to the block and the fish. I think it added a nice touch. I love the color of this piece, the turquoise and yellow just pop on that black background.

Fish Print 010725 3D Render – Created by Don Cheke
While working on the computer, I decided that I would make another art piece based on the new fish. This decided, I created a digital watercolor in Rebelle, my painting software of choice. I first tried to recreate the fish freehand, but it proved impossible to get the crisp look I was after. It was at this point that I decided to use a mask, or a stencil as they are called in the program, to keep my paint within the desired areas. Using stencils in art is something that can be used in traditional art as well, as one can see with many graffiti artists, such as Banksy.
Below is the watercolor version. I was pleased with the outcome.

Fish Print Watercolor – Created by Don Cheke
It was time to move on to the printmaking part of the project. I decided on a two-fish design, both swimming upright, but in opposite directions. I brought the original 2D design into my MoI CAD program and 3D extruded the sketches to thickness. I also added a base. Once complete I exported in the appropriate format and 3D printed the printing plate on my MakerBot 3D printer. When making a printing plate, the artist needs to make the plate reversed to print on the paper in the desired orientation. I actually forgot to do that this time, but because the fish went in opposite directions anyway, it wasn’t a big issue. However, in my mind, I had wanted the top printed fish swimming to the right, and the lower one to the left, like it was in my original 2D design. Below the plate looks right, but it should have been flipped to get what I had intended. It took about 4 1/2 hours to print the plate, so I didn’t want to make a new one, as you can imagine.

Fish Printmaking Plate – Photo by Don Cheke
I needed new ink for this project, and with the cost so much these days, I decided that two colors would have to do. I decided to purchase and use black and red. Because the two fish had some separation, I decided that I could apply both colors and make the two-color print in one shot per paper. Below you can see that I have printed my first two. The first one is a bit light on ink, but I still like the effect.

Fish Printmaking in Progress – Photo by Don Cheke
Below you can see that I did 12 prints. I made six black and red, then I made two all red, two all black, and the last one I overlapped the red and black to try something unique. Although okay, the last one was nothing special, and only shows well on close-up inspection.

Fish Printmaking Completion – Photo by Don Cheke
Here are the 12 prints. If you look closely, the two all-red units have a touch of black in them. I didn’t get my printing plate clean enough when switching colors. I later found a better method to clean the plate, so when I switched to all-black, the transition was better. I also learned that a kitchen sink does not make a good place to clean up the mess from art projects; too much chance of getting splatter all over the place. A studio at this time in my life is, however, not an option.

Fish Printmaking x12 – Photo by Don Cheke
Once dry, I will add my signature D and the month and year to each print.
When I had all 12 prints laid out, I thought that if I were so moved to do so, I could lay all 12 out in a frame, for yet another complete art piece. I wasn’t prepared to pay for framing, so I decided to do a digital version. I did this by scanning all 12 prints in order of creation and putting it all together in my photo editing program. Even though all twelve were printed on the same paper, the scan left some with a whiter background than the others. I found a way, through image editing, to fix this. Because the fish are smaller when shown in a collage like this, I decided to enhance the vibrance, again by using functions in my photo editing software. Below are the results. I like how the unique look of each print adds to the overall ambiance of the artwork. I hope that you like it too.

Fish Print 010725 x12 – Created by Don Cheke
As you can see, an artist can do quite a lot with one design. Maybe even put it on a t-shirt….

AI Generated Female with Don Cheke’s Fish Graphics
Female Image from by Pixabay – Supplied by Teepresent
Donald B. Cheke – January 20, 2025