Sorry if this is an odd question, but how did you first go about learning how to draw and paint fish? Are there any books or tutorials you followed, or was it mostly trial and error going off of reference?
Not odd at all! Always keen to give advice for those who ask (´ｰ｀) In general I started practicing watercolor 7 years ago, been painting with goauche for at least 2 years now :-) With the help of short youtube tutorials, media content and just painting what i see irl, I got to this level 🫡
I was always scared of learning animal anatomy and anything animal related, at least i wouldnt practice that until I felt skilled enough to do it, trying every time to use references bc i wanna keep it as real as i can..here are some of my first fish paintings!
Been experimenting new things each time so i eventually got better at it,,,from previous years of practice you could say i already knew how to pick some of the colors, rn im just faster at mixing them, my mind just goes crazy when it comes to colors :P
My advice is to practice what you love, your favorite things, really makes the process a lot easier to bear, but not without forgetting the fundamentals of art, dont be scared to try new things when you’re practicing, you can always learn something new 🐚 JUST PAINT :D HAVE FUN!!