Fish Rock Painting or, Finding Nemo (in a Pet Store)
My granddaughter and I went to our local pet store one day to get some new toys for the dogs. We decided to wander around and see what we could find. They normally have a couple of cats that the Humane Society has available for adoption. Sometimes they have bearded dragons and other small lizards. The store recently went through a remodel and they now have a large supply of freshwater and saltwater fish.
My granddaughter loved staring at the fish. I think we could have stood in front of those tanks for hours just watching them swim around. Some liked to hide behind the plants in their tank. There were others who liked to come right up to the glass and stare back at you. We talked for a while about the different types of fish at the store, their bright colors and how they are taken care of during their time at the store. We decided to take our fishy adventure home and create some fish painted rocks.
Fish Rock Painting Supply List
• Smooth, flat Rocks
• Acrylic Paint, Assorted Colors
• Paintbrushes of assorted sizes
• Acrylic Paint Markers, Assorted Colors
• Acrylic sealer, spray or paint on
• Other supplies: table cloth, paper plate, pencil
If you’re looking for suggestions for paint pens to use for rock painting, I reviewed some of my favorites here: 8 Paint Pens for Rock Painting – What I Use
Fish Rock Painting – Choosing and Priming Your Rocks
When choosing a rock for a project, keep in mind that the size and shape matter. I would not want to paint The Empire State Building on a tiny pebble. I normally purchase rocks at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon. Purchased rocks tend to be flatter and bigger than what I find out on a stroll in the park. But I live in Oklahoma, we are not exactly known for having an abundance of rocks.
The rocks I chose were about 2 to 3 inches long and had a flat surface. I will often put a primer coat of paint on the rock before painting the design. A primer coat helps to fill in holes, it provides coverage when your rock is a darker color, and will help the paint for your design adhere to the rock better. I chose not to use a primer coat on these. I am using some dark gray rocks that were not porous, so I did not feel it was necessary.
Here is some more information on priming rocks if you would like to read further.
How to prepare rocks for rock painting?
Fish Rock Painting Design 1: Nemo and Merlin
Like most four-year-olds, my granddaughter is very familiar with the movie Finding Nemo. She has seen it several times and she can tell you that Nemo and his dad, Merlin, are clownfish. Clownfish are white and bright orange with a bit of black on the tips of their fins. We decided that this would be a great place to start on our fish rocks.
I found two rocks that were similar in shape, but one was a bit larger than the other. The larger rock would be Merlin and the smaller rock would be Nemo. I began by painting two coats of white paint over the surface of both rocks. This will serve as both the primer coat and the white stripes of the clownfish. Using a pencil, I drew in the stripes of both fish.
I grabbed a bright orange Posca paint marker and filled in every other section of both fish.
Then I used a black paint marker to fill in the details, the eye, the fin, and outline the stripes. I added a light stripe of yellow to each borderline to make them a bit brighter.
Fish Rock Painting Design 2: Not Dory
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Then, I filled in the main part of the body and some of the tail fins with black.
I added a dark blue to all of the remaining white areas.
Using a gold paint marker, I added the scales to the body of the fish. I love the look of metallic paint markers.
Finally, I used fine light blue and black paint markers to add detail to the fins, eye and mouth.
Fish Rock Painting Design 3: Koi
I would have to say that my favorite fish is a Koi. They come in a variety of colors and sizes. I have seen small ones in tanks and much larger ones in ponds. This rock came as more of a challenge to me, so we are going to break this one down a bit and go one color at a time.
I started just like the others; two coats of white painted and then drew my design with a pencil. This rock not only has a large Koi in the center, but I am also adding a color-blocked water background and some color-blocked reeds.
For coloring, I started with the black body of the fish and the blues in the water. I used three shades of blue and was careful to spread out the blue colors.
Next, I added the color-blocked reeds. I used three shades of green for this step.
To start on the fish, I began with an orange paint marker. I colored the head of the fish, the first section of each fin, and a tail section. I also added some orange spots to the fish’s back. I found that a triangle shape was the easiest way to do this.
The next color I used was red. I added red to the fins, tail, and more spots of the body.
I finished the fish colors with some yellow on the fin, tail and body.
Finally, to finish, I filled in the eyes and outlining of the design in black.
Fish Rock Painting – Sealing the rocks
I decided to seal the fish rocks using a spray acrylic sealer from ModPodge. I made sure to do this step outside. Spray sealer can give off some strong fumes and you don’t want to have that linger inside the house. I set the rocks on a protective surface so I didn’t get the sealer everywhere. Using a paper plate or plastic table cloth works perfectly for this step. I sprayed a light coat of sealer and let it dry. Be sure to follow the package instructions on your sealer.
More Inspiration for Fish Painted Rocks
I found this entire school of fish at The Destiny Formula.
https://thedestinyformula.com/fish-painted-rocks/
Here is a fun kid’s craft with Katie at A Little Pinch of Perfect. She uses more than just paint on her project.
https://alittlepinchofperfect.com/painted-rock-fish-craft-and-play-idea-for-kids/
Louise at Messy Little Monster added some felt fins to her stone fish.
https://www.messylittlemonster.com/2016/06/painted-stone-fish-craft-for-kids.html
Fish Rock Painting – Top Take-Aways
1. What other animals could inspire a painted rock? A trip to the zoo could provide endless ideas.
2. Fish can take the shape of the entire rock or just be painted on the surface as a standalone.
3. Keep your colors organized by doing color blocking so you can easily keep track of where you are in the design.
Happy painting!