The Story of Joeseph Tomelleri's Art

Kansas City Artist Joseph R. 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 175,000 miles to collect live fishes for his scientific renderings.

His 800+ illustrations have appeared in more than 500 publications, including 100 books, scores of magazines, calendars, advertisements, greeting cards, T-shirts, furniture, posters, trading cards, newspapers, water bottles, 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 been published as Trout and Salmon of North America, written by Bob Behnke. Current projects include Fishes of Puget Sound and illustrations of the native trout of Mexico.

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, and a recent inductee into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.