Joseph Tomelleri
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Tomelleri graduated with an M.S. in Biology from Fort Hays State
University (Hays, KS) in 1984. After working briefly as a botanist,
Joe turned full time to illustration in 1986. Since that time, he has
traveled more than 150,000 miles to collect live fishes for his scientific
renderings. His 800+ illustrations have appeared in more than 350 publications, including 30 books, scores of magazines, advertisements, greeting cards, T-shirts, furniture, posters, trading cards, newspapers, and identification guides. One hundred sixty-one illustrations comprise his book, Fishes of the Central United States, co-authored with Mark Eberle. A compilation of Joe's work on trout and salmon has recently been published in Trout and Salmon of North America, written by Bob Behnke. Joe's drawings are executed in Berol Prismacolor pencils and are renowned for their precision. They portray the fishes faithfully with accurate life colors, scale and fin ray-counts, and a full spread of the fins in a manner that is impossible photographically. Joe is recognized by many ichthyologists as the finest scientific illustrator of fishes in the world. Joe employs a variety of methods to capture specimens, and frequently relies on the expertise of local professors and fisheries biologists. Methods of collecting fishes include: hook-and-line, gill netting, seining, electroshocking, and trawling. Joe prefers to photograph fresh, live-caught fishes in the field so he can accurately depict life colors. Occasionally, he will enlist the aid of friends who will photograph particularly uncommon species and ship the frozen (or live) specimens to him. These specimens are preserved for reference and ultimately are deposited in museums. Joe is an avid angler, formerly (before children) spending many of his hours with a fly rod in pursuit of carp. |
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