A loyal client.
After a sleeve, a calf, a thigh portrait, and an addition to an old tattoo, this loyal client decided to have me create a back piece as well.
As always, his idea was very clear: Death with an hourglass and a lamp in its hands.
I wasn’t entirely convinced about the idea of Death holding two similar objects, so I suggested combining the two objects by making the hourglass with luminous sand. This way the illustration would be more harmonious and interesting.
My suggestion was accepted, and all that was left to do was to create the design.
However, the work presented a couple of limitations, a cover-up of an old tattoo on the right scapula and a writing that the client wanted to keep. The old tattoo didn’t worry me too much; it was very old and faded, so I could easily camouflage it under Death’s hood.
As for the writing, I have to admit that the idea of incorporating it didn’t excite me, but despite that, by surrounding it with the design and enriching it with a contrasting outline with the palette used for the design, I managed to make it harmonious.
Large needles
I honestly thought that the work would have taken way longer than was actually necessary. The size of the design, the limited amount of details, and the large areas tattooed with needles ranging from 35 to 49 mag certainly accelerated the process.
The Forgotten Spider
Once the design was completed, the client asked to add a spider, but unless it was a giant one in the foreground, which would have completely changed the design, it didn’t make sense. It would have been too small and I couldn’t find a coherent placement in any area of the design. Therefore, the idea was put aside, but only until the completion of the back.
In fact, there was a detail of the old tattoo on the side that we hadn’t thought about. What better opportunity to dust off the spider and use it to cover that detail? I took measurements and by strategically managing the shapes I created the design.
Different times
If the back was completed in record time, the same cannot be said for the spider on the side. I don’t exclude that if the area had been less painful or if the anesthetic cream had worked better, I could have completed that tattoo in one session, but this was not the case. Too much pain and too much twitching, so we divided the work into two sessions.
Despite this slowdown, the work turned out well and unique, also thanks to the clear ideas that this guy always has regarding the subjects for his tattoos.
Below you can find images and a video of the working process.
