#30×30 2026 : A Man Teaches Himself to Fish

Here is a very strange painting, for Day Three of my HEAVYPAINT half-marathon.

I’ve had this photo on my phone for ages, knowing I would sketch it someday. Just for fun I mentally combined it with this background. I know this probably makes it geographically unrealistic – but whatever :)

Here’s a snapshot from an early stage.

I used only two layers on this one – the man and the fish are one, and then the background – and then at some point I dropped into one layer (not sure why) and later wished I hadn’t done that as it became harder to tweak shapes in around his legs :)

This is one of the few things I do love about digital painting – the fact you can just start with any random marks, and just keep painting until you’re done. I mean – I suppose you can do this with oil paint as well, but clearly it’s impossible in watercolor.

So – one checkmark for digital – you really do have freedom to experiment right on the page, to scale elements and recompose, and to save a stage and revert back to it if you’re unhappy.

I’m not actually that impressed with this sketch, but that’s fine – it’s only Day Three. But I do like some of the brushwork that you can get with HEAVYPAINT.

It really does feel like oils to me!

So that’s my #30×30 for today!

Thanks everyone for bearing with my digital distractions!

~m