Ty Hallock: From Starving Artist to Starving Biologist – and Back

Ty Hallock:

From Starving Artist to Starving Biologist – and Back

Growing up in the serene enclave of Whitewood near Sturgis, South Dakota, Ty Hallock’s artistic journey took flight at the kitchen table. Birds and fish were his earliest muses, nurtured in the family’s art-adorned dining space.

High school’s graphic arts class introduced him to airbrushing, and college days at Northern State University were initially dedicated to pursuing an art major.

Settling in Casper, Wyoming, Ty’s connection to art took an angling turn. Guiding on the North Platte River, he found himself capturing the essence of fly fishing moments through his artistic lens. As he shared the river with clients, he captured more than memories – he gathered a wealth of reference photos that breathed life into his paintings.

Today, Ty Hallock’s art is an intricate dance of brushstrokes and memories, inspired by the world of fly fishing. With each stroke, he captures the essence of the waters, the thrill of the catch, and the magnificence of the fish. His canvas is a portal to a world where every ripple and glint of sunlight tells a story of the outdoors, an artist forever entwined with the angler’s spirit.

Full name: Ty Hallock

Home Country: Midland Michigan, USA

Website: www.tyoutdoors.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/Tyhallockart

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into doing artwork?

I grew up in a small town near Sturgis, South Dakota, called Whitewood. So small that the one cop we had used to patrol the entire town by walking the streets. I started doing art while sitting at the kitchen table while my mom was making salt dough Christmas ornaments. While she was hand-painting eyes on little Santas, I would sit on the other side of the kitchen table drawing whatever I could think of.

I started out drawing a lot of birds and fish while sitting at the family art/eating area. Once I got into high school I got into airbrushing in my graphic arts class. And after high school, I thought I was going to college to major in art. I went to college at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota and started out majoring in art.

I got married to my high school sweetheart after our sophomore year. Thinking that she didn’t want to marry a starving artist I switched my major to Environmental Science and became a starving biologist. During our first few years of marriage, I did a lot of seasonal positions all over the United States. I had some fun jobs and made a lot of friends all over the US. I was always doing art along the way in my free time.

I started carving ducks and fish, but still I was drawing and painting a lot. Most of my art in these first few years were given away for gifts and thank you’s to people I knew. My wife and I moved all over the West Coast after graduating college.

Holding the fish in my hands helps with scale and color combinations

I eventually took a job in Burns Oregon at Malhuer Wildlife Refuge with the USFWS. Here, I started noticing and getting the opportunity to take pictures of fish and birds up close. While at the refuge, I had an abundance of free time, so I really started to paint. Mostly with acrylic paints but I was always focused on birds and fish.

My wife and I started to increase our family and moved closer to the Black Hills again. We settled in Casper Wyoming for 17 years. While in Casper, I started to get in to guiding on the North Platte River. I really loved this job, and I would take a bunch of reference photos for my paintings while on the river with clients. Now my focus of art was all fly fishing and the fish that my clients and I landed.

Have you developed a specific painting technique along the way?

My painting- and drawing style really started out of boredom at an outdoor show while working at a booth with the Ugly Bug Fly Shop. Blake Jackson and I were sitting at the booth in Denver and the show was pretty dead. The area had gotten a bunch of snow the night before and people were not showing up to the show.

Blake suggested that I draw on the Cliff fly boxes that were in the booth. So, I ripped off the stickers and grabbed some sharpies and drew a brown trout and a rainbow trout that were sitting in the booth. As soon as I got them finished the two vendors on either side of our booth bought the boxes. So, sharpie markers are now my choice for mixed medium for most of my drawings.

I started out drawing on fly boxes and YETI cooler lids and figuring out how to seal these drawings was a major issue that I worked hard on getting figured out. Eventually I found some other plastics to start drawing on and now it is how I do the majority of my work.

What has compelled you to paint fish and fly fishing motives?

What has compelled me to paint and draw fish was my job as a guide. I came up with a fun way to make money in the winter once the guiding season had finished. During the season I would sell my products to my clients.

Also, if they caught a particular nice fish while on my boat, I would offer to do a catch and release drawing of the fish they had landed. So, fly fishing was giving me art to do and money to make it through the off season of guiding.

I really enjoy the catch and release drawings for my clients. Wall mounts are very expensive, and overtime become a pain because of all the dusting and maintenance that comes with them. With the drawings they would have a story about the art and the guide that helped them land the fish and then draw the fish. Adding that these drawings are done with sharpie markers adds a wow factor to the art I feel. Not many people are using sharpies to do the art that they are selling.

How did you get started fly fishing and why?

I started off in fly fishing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I spent my summers playing baseball and I had a friend on the team that taught me how to fly fish. We would play ball and chase fish every summer in the lakes and streams in the hills.

I really got into fly fishing when I moved to Oregon and started chasing steelhead on the Columbia River. I really enjoy how a person can just melt away on a river and forget about all the issues in their world and just focus on catching fish. I have seen some amazing areas in this country while chasing fish with friends and family.

What is it about fly fishing that intrigues you?

Fly fishing is challenging and an artform in itself. When guiding on the Platte, I really enjoyed teaching people the art of fly fishing. It still amazes me that some people can pick up a fly rod and cast like they have been doing it for years.

It is also shocking how some clients never get better over time! (You know who you are!) I really liked giving tips and pointers to people in my boat and seeing how they would advance over the years while guiding.

Another aspect of fly fishing is just getting immersed in figuring out what fish are doing and eating while out on the water.

Studying the aquatic wildlife while fishing is a detailed part of fly fishing that I also enjoy. Different bugs that are hatching and what the water is like during these hatches are an intricate part of fly fishing that is intriguing to me.

In college I took an aquatic vertebrate class and got to draw all the organisms that we found in wetland ponds and creeks. I think my professor is still using my notebook as an example in his class!

How do you split your time between fly fishing and painting?

Splitting my time now with art in fly fishing has become harder. My family has grown, and we have recently moved to Michigan. There is so much of this state that I have explored with my family and so much more to still try and get to.

I have three girls that are involved with so many things that it keeps my wife and I pretty busy. I think doing art in the meantime still links me to fly fishing.

While drawing, I am always thinking of the next body of water that I am going to fish. And while working on drawings I am always thinking of trips that I have been on. Or the sharpie fumes are taking me to a far-off place while sitting in my studio, I don’t know!

I have also traded artwork for guided trips so that is how my two worlds are always connected to each other.

This winter a friend and I got to go to Huma Louisiana and landed some incredible redfish. Along with reference photos my artwork helps pay for the trip.

In your opinion, do fly fishing and painting complement each other –and if so how?

Fly fishing and painting are very similar. They are both art forms and every person that does either has their own style of doing it. Fish art is different from person to person, some people focus on details while others are very abstract. Casting is the same way. People focus on the light details of throwing a small dry fly to a rising fish or doing a chuck and duck on the Platte to catch a fish. It is all different and each person has a unique way of getting to the end result of a fish on canvas or a fish in the net. Both things are relaxing and stressful all at the same time.

With sharpies I don’t really have the option of painting over a mistake or erasing an error. That is why I really love using these markers! With paint I can keep going over it and never finish the painting. With the markers once I hit an area with color there is no going back!

Has fly fishing helped you become a better painter – or vice versa?

Fly fishing and guiding has made me a way better artist. Having the subject matter in my hands and looking how each fish is different has improved my art. I look back at my art over the years and the detail is just getting better and better.

Time and technique have allowed me to get more details in my drawings. Holding the fish in my hands helps with scale and color combinations.

One of the hardest things on a fish is getting the eye to be a part of the head. Sometimes the angle of the fish really makes the eye hard to get to look right. The eye is flat and blends so well with the head and if that detail is off the fish never looks right. I almost always start with the eyes. If the eyes are wrong, then the fish is not going to look right.

What are your aspirations as a fly fisher?

This is a hard one! I want to keep helping people with their fly fishing skills. That is the biggest aspiration of mine. I want to assist guides with getting better with their jobs in fly fishing and help educate people on fly fishing.

I would love to get more involved with the industry and find a way to help everyone get better with this artform of fly fishing. Introducing people to fly fishing is a passion of mine and will continue to bring people into the sport.

One of my biggest goals is to get my wife and youngest daughter into fly fishing more. My smallest daughter loves to be the net girl, but I want her to get the fly rod in her hands more.

Do you have any cool projects coming up; fishing- or art wise?

I have some new projects in the works with Montana Fly Company, Bauer Fly Reel / Winston Fly rods, Orvis, and commission pieces. I have been working on a series of drawings that are fish species with flies they are chasing to eat. These series of drawings have been picked up with MFC.

I am working on more of these drawings with different combinations of fish and flies. I have been making canvas wrap copies of these drawings in limited runs of 10 prints. My first trout run has sold really fast. I am also working on getting a warm water- and saltwater series printed for sale with the limited numbers of 10 prints.

I have been drawing more waterfoul in the last few months also. I really enjoy drawing them and all the different colors and angles you can draw a bird with. I also have an art fair in downtown Midland that I am going to be in. This will be my first art fair in Michigan.

As for fishing, there are so many spots to explore and things I want to do again. Last year I did a streamer trip with Russ Maddin where I landed my first King Salmon in Michigan. It was an amazing experience!

Any advice to fellow fly fishermen, who aspire to do fish art?

Any fly fishing or art advice that I try to give and go by, is always to challenge yourself to get better. I have been trying different techniques and subject matters to expand my skills. One of the ways, I have been challenging myself, is to draw dogs for people.

When I first started off drawing, I made a rule that I was never going to draw people and pets. Poeple have an emotional connection to pets and people they know. So, if the art is not perfect, they will not like the finished product.

I am still sticking with the no-drawingpeople-part but the pet drawing is a great break from fish.

Challenging yourself also works in fly fishing. This can range from researching euro nymphing to trying to learn how to spey cast.

Challenge yourself and try to get better with every trip out. I am always learning something in both fly fishing and artwork.