Angling and Art meld beautifully in Slackertide gear
At River King Fishing we want to shine a spotlight on a variety of fascinating topics and people from the world of fishing. This has led us to interview fishing guides, authors, photographers, and now added to this mixed bag of fishy content will be fishing artists. I could think of no better place to start this new line of features than with Richard Blanco from Slackertide and EddyRedd.
Located at a distinctive intersection of fishing, art, and pop culture that Richard created, Slackertide manages to bring out the best in all three. Iconic images of 80’s Hollywood films, classic rock and country music, SNL comedy legends in their most memorable roles, and more are viewed through the lens of the modern angler. It’s not just his talent for sketch but the truly uncanny skill Richard brings is in the pairing of characters, references, and fish.
Tangled up in BlueFlounder Pounder
If we possessed a sliver of this creativity, it would seem these fishing + pop culture parallels might be more obvious. As if already dwelling somewhere in the subconscious mind of a collective of serious anglers with an equally serious mental catalog of movie, TV, and music references. But like Picasso once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”. This feature should serve as inspiration no matter what you’re passionate about. What follows in my interview with Richard is proof that you can make something very real and significant from your own ideas, if you’re doing the work to make that vision come to life.
Tailer Sunrise
Tell us about yourself. How did you get started as an artist and angler too? Richard Blanco aka @Slackertide on instagram is an illustrator, graphic designer, and artist who just tries to make some funny and cool fishing art. I started using the name Slackertide because I thought it worked well with the art I was making. Most of the characters I draw are in some way slackers. My generation were often called “slackers”, and everybody knows slack tide is the best time to make art.
Although I’ve been making art my whole life, I only started mixing art and fishing about 2 years ago, so it’s been a pretty recent turn of events. I made an abrupt change in my style which just happened to coincide with me picking up a fly rod for the first time. Prior to that I was making mostly abstract work, and selling primarily through galleries. Nowadays its mostly all fishing artwork and graphic design done primarily for a brand I’m helping to launch called Eddy Redd.
What’s been your best fishing experience or that has provided you inspiration? Well my favorite day of fishing ever was on the flats off of Harbour Island in the Bahamas. I just couldn’t ask for better set up. Perfect weather, turquoise gin clear water, and I hooked into two nice bonefish… my first bones ever and on the fly too! The experience definitely inspired a few designs.
Ghostbusted
What are the unique fishing opportunities near you? I live in South Florida. So there is nearly every kind of fishing opportunity you can think of. There’s great freshwater fishing for bass. The inshore bite is superb. Walking the beach sight casting is always fun, and of course theres loads of offshore. If I could only fish my area for just one day, I would suggest inshore fishing the mangroves & docks. If offers the opportunity to hook into a wide variety of great fish from snook & jack crevalle to sea trout and smaller tarpon.
Richard’s work should inspire you. There’s creative, untapped potential in us all. Add to that, today’s internet age is leveling the playing field so everyone can make their own platform to create, speak, or to shout their message and share their talents. Marrying those talents with our passions can create impressive works, even entire businesses from what were once only thoughts in our mind. Whatever you’ve got cooking in your mind, don’t let it marinate up there anymore! Start serving that stuff up! Let people tell you it’s terrible, then make it better. Don’t lose another day to woulda, coulda, shouldas, or maybes!
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working
Pablo Picasso
Check out the link within their names to learn more about Slackertide and EddyRedd.
