The bass will be used to make several more prints in varying colors and designs. The fish Roberts uses rarely go to waste — either she will clean them and cook them for herself or they will be used as bait to reel in her next subject.
Happy with how the print came out, Roberts placed the art piece on a drying rack in her studio that’s surrounded by framed prints of other animals and species.
An octopus, captured in black ink, anchors the gallery on her studio’s wall. Colorful prints of red snapper, mahi and minnows, some in the traditional gyotaku style and others in Roberts’ signature colorful style, are nearby.
Roberts’ bold color style is distinctly feminine, which is not typical of the gyotaku form, she said.
“It’s mostly just like middle-aged men or retired guys who love to fish. And it’s a great hobby,” Roberts said. “ I really wanted to lean into it and do a lot of color, and just try to make it as girly as possible.”
Liz Roberts examines a finished gyotaku print on Monday afternoon, July 14, 2025.
Some prints feature sayings and quotes with a message of attitude. “Girl boss,” one print says. A fish, captured with its mouth agape, captures its reaction to “when men tell me to smile more.”
“Mom, I am a rich man,” another print reads, a nod to the famed quote from Cher.
The handwritten notes make the prints “less about the trophy of a fish, and just a bit more artsy,” she said.
The fish Roberts uses are sourced locally, mostly from friends who go fishing regularly in Charleston. Sometimes she’ll print fish caught in the Chesapeake Bay area, where her family lives.
Prints by Liz Roberts decorate the wall of her studio on Monday afternoon, July 14, 2025.
She began printmaking in 2022 while she worked in remote sales. The first print, a trout, was a gift for her dad. Within a year after gifting that first bit of art, she made it into the Charleston City Night Market as a vendor.
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