The Drawing Designing Tattoo Art Creating Masterful Tattoo Art from Start to Finish by Fip Buchanan, Marc Balanky

Use Details to Add Emphasis Theseorchidsarefinelydetailedwithspotsandlines, justlikereal ones.Theirbright colorsareemphasized wi ...

Location Matters Whendecidingwhere to placean imageon thebody, you haveto determinewhere theshape of thedesign would fit best. F ...

backgroundaddstotheoveralleffect.Thebackgroundis often key in giving large tattoos movement. The Japanese depictions of wind and ...

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Establishing Placement Thephoenix’s headis theprimaryfocus ontheinner arm.Thedecisionwasmadetoplaceitthereinsteadof theouter arm ...

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Add Interest from Every Angle The backof the arm isshown withone of the wings visible along with the tail feathers running up an ...

Phoenix, Detail Inthisexamplethemainbodyofthephoenixwasputon thechestin thetraditionalshape of aJapanesechest panel.Thetailfeath ...

Japanesefolklore.Theideaforthecompositionwasthe client’s. ...

Transition from One Area of the Body Into Another Theoverallsideviewshowsthetransitionbetweenthe chestandtherib. Thefeatherstwis ...

Overcoming Common Obstacles SIZE Sometimesthesheersizeofanartprojectcanbevery overwhelming and intimidating. Whether it’s a gian ...

TIME CONSTRAINTS Whendoingbigtattoos,it’sbesttosetupbiweeklyor monthly appointments in advance with the client to encouragethemt ...

REFERENCE Don’t let your ego get in the way of using good referencematerial. Ifyou’re not surewhat something lookslike,taketheti ...

thenewtattoo.Eachcaseisdifferentandhastobedealt with accordingly. Sometimestherearesomanypre-existingtattoosinthe areathatyouwon ...

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No Problem Too Big Thisisagreatexampleofhowthesheersizeofapiece canbeintimidating.Whenthisclientcameinhewanted hisentirebackdone ...

Use Just Enough Detail to Keep It Interesting Thischestpanelisaverystraightforwarddesignwitha windbarbackground.Simple,right?But ...

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Working Around Previous Tattoos The solid black tattoos were already there when the client decided he wanted a sleeve done with ...

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