Published Mar 18. 2012 - 12 years ago
Updated or edited Jul 13. 2018

Nick Laferriere

When Canadian Nick Laferriere is not on the water, he's blogging, tying flies, and drawing fish. Recently he started combining the manual drawings and digital processes to create a new expression.

Nick Laferriere approached me after having seen our series on fishy artists and I fired off the usual round of questions. I soon had his replies and a bunch of samples of his art.

Bull Trout -
Lake trout -
Lake trout -
Muskellunge -
Smallmouth bass -
Digital and manual
Nick Laferriere

An avid fly fisher

Nick is an avid fly fisher hailing from the prairie region of Canada, namely Manitoba.
He tells that although Manitoba isn't a well-known or sought after fly fishing destination, the province does have a very active fly fishing club and some world class stillwater fishing.

Nick says:
- Our fisheries are diverse, with fantastic opportunities for warmwater species like bass, walleye, pike, carp, channel catfish, and rounded off with some great stillwater trout fishing for tigers, brookies, splake, browns, and rainbows.
- Phil Rowley has chosen the Parklands region of Western Manitoba to play host for his spring and fall workshops, so it must be good, Nick says with a smile.
- It is here where I've grown up and was first introduced to fly fishing.

Blogging, tying flies, and drawing fish

When Nick is not on the water, he's blogging, tying flies, and drawing fish.
- It's an obsession that has a strong hold on my life, as he says, and continues:
- My art has always been a mainstay in my life but it wasn't until I started fly fishing that I started to draw fish.

Great Lakes Brown Trout Pair -
Tiger Trout w/ Goddard Caddis -
Lake Trout -
Pencil
Nick Laferriere
The drawing board -
Framed -
\"Eye Spy\" Northern Pike eye w/ walleye fingerling -

In part, fly fishing has helped him gain a better appreciation for the time spent on the water and the short time we spend with the fish, as he says.

- I am a catch-and-release fisherman and like to snap a few photos for reference. This has helped me in my drawing to ensure I'm getting as close to the real deal as possible.

Nick has been drawing since he could hold a pencil and the pencil is still his favorite. Most artists venture into paint later in their career but Nick has chosen to stick with pencil and watercolour pencil.
- I find this enough of a challenge and with patience, I can get paint-like detail and colour, he explains.

Gone digital

Recently he has adapted his art to include some digital art as well. It combines the hand drawn pieces with different computer drawn parts and digital effects.
Nick thinks that this contrast of traditional pencil art and digital art has proven to be quite attractive and unique, which you can clearly see on the images in the top of this article.

Brownie -
Rainbow -
Brookie -
Fish
Nick Laferriere
Nick with a beautiful trout -
Tatoo! -
Nick with a hefty catfish -
Nick himself
Nick Laferriere

Guiding

- During my summers I guide, Nick tells. Up until recently he worked throughout the winters, but this spring he has had the opportunity to focus more on the art. He explains:
- A nice way of saying, a big company let a bunch of their staff go!
- Nevertheless, it's allowed me to put as much pencil to paper as sanely possible and I've been able to explore with new techniques and new species!

Nick has had prints available in the past and will be printing even more eventually. He sketches his plans:
- For now I'm trying to build a catalog of drawings before the open water and guiding season begins! Then it's photo reference cataloging time and a chance for me to build up my vault of stories and experiences to share with my guests on the water, aka fishing time!

And as a final remark Nick admits, smiling:
- Yes... I have a huge brown trout tattoo on my back. I like to show people that picture to give them an idea of how nuts I am about fly fishing.

Contact

People can refer to Nicks blog for art updates and fishing reports, or find him on facebook.

Brown Trout -
Brown Trout
Nick Laferriere

Comments

I am fortunate to ca...

I am fortunate to call Nick a good friend, and what doesn't come across in this article is he is as nice and stand up a guy as he is an artist. Congrats on your recognition Nick!

i also do the same i...

i also do the same in my part of the world,i dont paint fish but scenery ,tie flies and salmon fish and its nice to see others enjoying the same things and thanks for sharing its really impressive.

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