This young guy contacted me wanting to turn his arm into a homage to the famous cartoon series *Dragon Ball*. I knew absolutely nothing about this series, apart from the fact that it was an Anime.
The client had brought several reference images, but none of them were suitable for a tattoo, and the quality of the drawings was rather poor. When you watch a cartoon, you get caught up in the story and emotions without paying much attention to the actual quality of the drawings, and that was exactly the case here.
I spoke with him to understand which characters were important in the series and, above all, which ones were most meaningful to him.
After selecting the key characters, we began a thorough search to find the right images.
Forced Choices
Despite my experience with comic books, Anime style is very far from my own. Trying to redraw them in a personal way would have risked completely distorting the style. In this case, using public domain images was inevitable. Thanks to his guidance and my aesthetic sense, refined over decades of work, we managed to find the right images. To give the artwork coherence and separate the characters, I decided to use lightning bolts, which apparently play an important and recurring role in the cartoon.
Final Additions
I took his arm measurements and took the necessary time to develop the composition, making the needed adjustments. The measurements seemed accurate enough, but during the process I realized there was still a bit of empty space around the elbow. Filling it in only with lightning bolts seemed like a waste. Not knowing what element would make sense with the rest of the theme, the client opted for the sphere with stars, a fundamental element in the saga.
Smooth Process
The process went smoothly. The client had enough endurance to allow me to focus on one subject per session, except for the character on the shoulder, which was too big to complete in a single sitting. Despite being an unusual theme compared to my usual work, I find the final result to be very impactful.
Here below you will find pictures of the working process and a video with the final result, one month after healing.
