The past returns.
This guy was impressed with one of my biomech tattoos from 2017: Vulsa Bractae, and he wanted something similar.
He was particularly attracted by the colours and by that sort of ovules part of the composition.
It was therefore a question of recreating the same effect and atmosphere without obviously copying the old one, which I never do and will never do, unless two people express the precise desire of having two identical tattoos, that in any case I wouldn’t recommend.
Freehand
For some time I have avoided freehand projects because I believe that having more time to evaluate the drawing allows me to do a better job, although I must admit that in some cases working freehand offers the possibility to follow the lines of the body more harmoniously.
In this particular case, however, since the biomech tattoo that had fascinated him was done freehand, I decided the best way to create something similar was to operate in the same way.
So, after drawing directly on his skin with markers and finding the shapes that pleased us both, I outlined the basic lines of the tattoo. Subsequently, I took the time to create some colour tests to submit to him, and once having chosen the best colourway we moved on to the following sessions until completion.
Sign of the times
I always give a title to my creations, ranging from cryptic codes for my biomech tattoos, to more explanatory titles for my illustrative and/or realistic pieces, up to the search for Latin terms for other work that doesn’t fit into the previous categories. In this case, however, I didn’t really know what title to give to this piece.
Finally, looking at those “cocoons” and that woody purple structure, I imagined it could be a sort of alien disease magnified under a microscope and, given the times we were living in when the tattoo was done, the Jungian word association was immediate.
Below you can find pictures of the creative process and a video of the healed tattoo one year after completion.
