My Attempt At Tattoo Art

Mes3

So I've always been fascinated with tattoos and tattoo art. I myself have most of my right arm covered in tattoos. I love American traditional and Japanese traditional. So here's my thread where I post my attempts at this great style of art.

Traditional American style rose...


Owl (which seems to be very popular in tattooing now-a-days)



And FYI, my scanner sucks. The pencil shading I did looks like crap. Maybe my pencil shading is just crap?!?

Anyway, tell me I suck or tell me I'm good. Both critiques are welcome!

BloodySloth

The hatching on the petals of the rose doesn't really tell me anything or help represent its form in any way. Otherwise, it looks great.

The owl is great, too, but half of the rearmost cross-bone/branch is missing.

Mes3

BloodySloth wrote: »

The hatching on the petals of the rose doesn't really tell me anything or help represent its form in any way. Otherwise, it looks great.

The owl is great, too, but half of the rearmost cross-bone/branch is missing.

Yeah, I'm not real sure what the hell I was trying to do with the hatching. Just trying something different and your right, it doesn't work. As for the owl, the bone isn't supposed to be complete. Its a conscious choice.

ManonvonSuperock

every line should be essential.

especially on a tattoo, because every line adds money, time, and pain.

incomplete bone a bad conscious choice. people will always look at the tattoo and go 'he didn't finish it"

Mes3

The only reason I didn't finish the bone was because that side of the owl would have become too crowded. So I decided to leave it be as is.

Aaaaaanyway....

ANGRY COCKATIEL!!!!


Hahahahaha! I amuse me!

Mes3

Resurrection!

I still suck!

NightDragon

Mes3 wrote: »

Resurrection!

I still suck!

Revelation: Look at a skull next time.

Mes3

NightDragon wrote: »

Revelation: Look at a skull next time.

You really think I was going for realistic? Really?!?

NightDragon

No, but I understand you were going for stylized, and the skull looks odd in some areas, despite that. Also, the top of the skull is pretty damn squished. I'm not sure if you meant for it to be falling back in space (looking at the skull at an angle), but if that's the case, the placement of the candles doesn't make much sense.

General rule of thumb is if you understand that which you are trying to stylize, the stylization will be that much more convincing/good looking.

Mes3

Yes, the candles don't work. The perspective is off in correlation with the skull. Yes, the skull is a bit compressed, thats how I wanted it. I normally draw em like so (which is just a quick sketch, btw).

ManonvonSuperock

so far, the worst part about your stuff is the subject matter. we're talking about tattoos and you're drawing skulls and roses? the only way it could be more stereotypical is if the skull had a knife in it's mouth and the rose was on a heart with a mom banner scrolled across it.

Loomdun

with a snake coming out of the eye

ManonvonSuperock

and the snake has a teardrop tattooed next its eye, and underneath it, it says "4 Life"

Mes3

Yes, what I'm doing is stereotypical. Thats the point, haha.

Mustang

Tattoo art doesn't have to be stereotypical, it can be awesome.
I know you know that, but it was worth pointing out. The skulls and dragons and bullshit tattoo art is one of the big reasons I hate tattoos.

Mes3

Mustang wrote: »

Tattoo art doesn't have to be stereotypical, it can be awesome.
I know you know that, but it was worth pointing out. The skulls and dragons and bullshit tattoo art is one of the big reasons I hate tattoos.

The part of tattooing I really like is the cheesy side.

I agree though, I should probably be a bit more original, but man am I stuck in a rut. Maybe someone has an idea or two to spark some sort of creativity?

MetroidZoid

I have to say though, loving the angry cockatiel. Just throwing that out there.

npc.EXE

You can ink me any day...:winky:

Jokes aside they look great. Maybe it is just the perspective on the rose but it seems kind of... flat? Like the bottom got chopped off so it would sit upright on a table.

As to the whole tattoo thing: simplicity is key a lot of the time. Tattoo work can and often does hurt (especially in certain areas which will be left to the imagination) so beyond special requests starting there is a good idea. I'd love to see your concepts when branching away for the 'stereotypical.'

sgt scruffian

Try gas masks. No one gets tattoos of gas masks.

But seriously, think about what you would want permanently etched on your body and roll with it. Even if it's skulls and roses and bones. People will still pay money to ink stereotypes onto their body, because people are stereotypical. It's the detail in the work that customers get excited about and if you can slap the most bad ass skull imaginable on someone's body, then they're going to go to you for all of their wicked awesome skull tattoos.

Also, bones aside, I like that owl.

Mes3

I need a new scanner. Blah.

ManonvonSuperock

It's like your stuff is so stereotypical it's expected to be satire, but not quite...

Mes3

ManonvonSuperock wrote: »

It's like your stuff is so stereotypical it's expected to be satire, but not quite...

So more goofy then?

ManonvonSuperock

if that's what you're going for, then yeah, I'd say try it. Like a skull/scroll/flame/knife could be more humorous as an adorable skull, scroll, flame, some-other-prop that's out of place

Mes3

Yeah. I just need to put some thought into what I'm doing. Instead of drawing random crap.

Mes3

sgt scruffian wrote: »

Try gas masks. No one gets tattoos of gas masks.

This gave me an idea. Thanks.

Mes3

Yeah, yeah. Its not creative, but I'm running on E over here.

Mustang

God it looks exactly like one of Earthworms.

Prospicience

Pretty cool Mes (speaking of which I saw another Mes tag yesterday in Co. Springs, it wasn't Mes3 though, so you're in the clear). Only qualm is the perspective on the ship is pretty wonky. The bow doesn't really match up with the rest.

Mes3

Mustang wrote: »

God it looks exactly like one of Earthworms.

Its called Sailor Jerry style.

Mes3

Prospicience wrote: »

Pretty cool Mes (speaking of which I saw another Mes tag yesterday in Co. Springs, it wasn't Mes3 though, so you're in the clear). Only qualm is the perspective on the ship is pretty wonky. The bow doesn't really match up with the rest.

Yup, your right. I realized that as soon as I inked it (doh!). There's a couple other things wrong I noticed after I scanned it.

My biggest problem is I try to get stuff done ASAP and don't think about perspective (or much else) too much. I just need to take my art more seriously, I think.

[edit: Drinking while I draw doesn't help either. Haha.]

Mes3

Hey everyone, I still suck....

ManonvonSuperock

You should do a run of obscure "why in the fuck would anyone want a tattoo of that animal" animals.

try a platypus, koalas, honduran white bats, sugar gliders, ferrets, etc.

Mes3

ManonvonSuperock wrote: »

You should do a run of obscure "why in the fuck would anyone want a tattoo of that animal" animals.

try a platypus, koalas, honduran white bats, sugar gliders, ferrets, etc.

I'll get started on a koala ASAP. I wanna hug one of the those little guys before I die.

lyrium

That's a good idea. You could do it stealthily too. You know how people will get tattoos of a tiger wrestling a snake wrestling a unicorn and stuff like that? Have a tattoo of a tiger wrestling a tapir or a hagfish or something.

The Black Hunter

Needs more unicorns

CatnipCat

ManonvonSuperock wrote: »

You should do a run of obscure "why in the fuck would anyone want a tattoo of that animal" animals.

try a platypus, koalas, honduran white bats, sugar gliders, ferrets, etc.

I already know a girl with a superglider tattooed on her arm. You have to remove that from the list

Mes3

The Black Hunter wrote: »

Needs more unicorns

Test, just a test.....

ManonvonSuperock

try making it look less tough-ass

also, the horn doesn't look like it's attached to or sprouting from the head. it looks like it's behind it.

and back to the "make every line count" advice

Iruka

I realize you aren't going for realistic when I say this, but you need to study some references. Your stylization seems uninformed in some places, its particularly noticeable in that horse. You have the motions of ink weight down, but Your horses eye looks like a forehead nostril, and your bird wings like folded paper.

A combination of looking at pictures and studying other great tattoo artists would help. If you're already doing this I'd step it up a little, and spend some time following examples more closely.

ManonvonSuperock

NightDragon wrote: »

General rule of thumb is if you understand that which you are trying to stylize, the stylization will be that much more convincing/good looking.

Mes3

Yeah, I definitely need to step it up quite a bit. I'll be the first to admit it. I should probably spend a lot more time studying and referencing pictures for stuff (like I did with the horse). I just wish I had more time...