I have been using the same taxidermist here in Ohio for over 20 years, he used to win all kinds of awards and then decided he had enough clients and stopped going to the shows. We have become friends. I traded a website design for some work years ago and we remained shooting and reloading buddies. Problem I am having is a few friends that use other taxidermists have commented that the skin/eye lids around the eyes are more grey in color than they should be. I compared my mounts over the years and they were correct. I can see a difference about 10 years ago of a brown wet look around the eyes and now they look much lighter and grayish brown. I can understand that when your mounting 200 deer heads a year you just keep going with what you used the day before and after a few years your colors could have changed drastically but never really notice it yourself. Now, he does great work and has a huge client base and can get all mounts done in 6-8 months which I think is huge in this business.
But how do I tell an artist that his work is not as good as it used to be and he is missing a few key details that I think can make his work standout again? I am a designer myself and we actually talked about me learning taxidermy and taking over his business someday. But I don't want to ruffle feathers with him as we have a great business relationship.
Thoughts?
But how do I tell an artist that his work is not as good as it used to be and he is missing a few key details that I think can make his work standout again? I am a designer myself and we actually talked about me learning taxidermy and taking over his business someday. But I don't want to ruffle feathers with him as we have a great business relationship.
Thoughts?