Mind War, originally a graphite drawing in one of my sketchbooks, this concept fit perfectly for a client’s vision of anxiety and social perception. I wanted the pain in the face, the obvious struggle to show through.. I didn’t want this piece to be anchored specifically in illustrative structure, but more in gestural expression.
Translating the concept to tattoo was more about getting the expression and energy expressed on the first session, right out the gate. The second session expanded the value range and placed the lettering, “Normal People Scare Me”. This was a rewarding process focusing on gestural application within the context of tattooing.
DINO-WIZARD RITUAL
This was a challenging piece from the beginning, both with how it needed to be framed and the relative placement. It was a conceptual exploration into what would be a dino-wizard in mummy wraps manipulating space-time / reality.. tattooing and framing designs on the head poses plenty of obstacles, but this was a fun project from the start. The first session involved completing the outline, while the second completed shading and coloring…
WOLF AMONG DEADLY FLORALS / TREE SKULL GUARDIAN
The first exploration of this project was a wolf, a vicious wolf.. there was a bit of cover-up that was also involved in the process. I was going to be tying this in to some other work that the client had and she requested florals as the tie-in. We agreed on Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna), replaced the original forehead tetrahedron in the wolf sketch with rotating tetrahedrons in the tattoo and the project took off from there..
After establishing the wolf we worked up the arm to integrate the rest of the sleeve. I like creating environments, so we both agreed on a tree entity with the face of a skull taking center stage on the inside of the client’s arm. Growing from this entity would be a large cluster of mushrooms that would tie into other work that the client had previously on their outer, upper arm. This entity would be a forest guardian, lit by the moonlight..
