Tuesday 7 August 2012

Tattoo Design - Part One

My friend Brad wanted a new tattoo so he asked me to design it. Tattoo design isn't something I'd done before so I was excited but also a bit nervous about doing it.

He wanted an interpretation of his wife Jen and their dog Ferris.
This is what I came up with.

Quite rightly, Brad thought the dog could do with more sci-fi/steam-punk type embellishment. The trouble was that I had raced ahead and finished the shading on the original pencil drawing in one sitting and couldn't really add anything new on top of the pencil drawing without messing the drawing up.
I've had a light-box stored in my loft for well over a decade so I thought this would be a great time to bring it down, clean it up and use it again. So my plan was to draw the extra pieces for Ferris on a new sheet of paper that was laid over the original drawing which in turn was resting on my newly restored light-box.
Here is the result

And then when the two images are combined in photoshop we end up with the final design
Here's a photo of Brad before starting the first tattoo session and another one just after.
Apparently he's got another six to nine hours of pain before the tattoo is shaded and finished. Ouch! I'll post part two when it's all over.

1 comment:

  1. I can't thank Anthony enough for the cool design, I won't lie it bloody hurt but I was warned that the ribs particularly do. I'm looking forward to the finished piece and would do it again in a heart beat. I'll send more pics to Bliz as I go. It's really cool to get someone to design the tattoo or if you're good enough do it yourself, otherwise you'll be wearing something for life that everyone else can get out of a book. Nice one Anthony, you the man!!

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