It all started with a compass.
That was in fact the first element of this arm, far from the idea that it would become a full sleeve.
A simple design with minor adjustments to make it more personal (like the letters on the compass needle) which I completed in approx. two hours.
Successful, but nothing elaborate.
Good Wolf and Bad Wolf
A year later the same client came up with a far more interesting and demanding request than copying a few pictures from the internet.
Something that I enjoyed, both creating it on paper and drawing it on skin, and which I’ve already written about on the following website:
https://jerrymagni.com/en/good-wolf-bad-wolf/
Ever since that second tattoo, I had a feeling that my interventions wouldn’t end there.
In discussing this with the client, it seemed clear that he had the intention, sooner or later, to complete the entire sleeve, but despite my advice to prepare a harmonious project, the client tended to be evasive, as if it were something that would probably happen but he would think about later.
Memento Mori
Before the end of the year he returned, not to design the entire sleeve but to add an expanse of skulls on the forearm.
Theme borrowed from one of my most successful pieces: Doomsday Clock.
It was now clear that this wasn’t going to be my last intervention on that arm.
In my experience, many people start with a small tattoo and then expand the work in an organic way to an entire sleeve and beyond, which is why I insisted on preparing a structured project rather than proceeding piece by piece like a puzzle; both for ease of operation and overall coherence but also for aesthetic reasons.
A work that flows harmoniously is way better than a number of elements inserted by force in a context that is perhaps inconsistent.
Once again, however, he remained evasive and after the “sea of skulls” we said our goodbyes, although I was pretty sure I would see him again soon.
A Space-Time Gap
I can find no better way to describe the contrast between the subject that, a year later, I designed to complete the empty area between shoulder and forearm.
On the shoulder a Celtic bas-relief with an ancient flavour, like the compass on the forearm, and what about the skulls with an ax in the middle?
None of these elements have anything futuristic, even less so if they are done in black and grey.
In direct opposition to these a coloured space landscape, with spaceships and a sci-fi construction that stands out against the galactic background, was exactly what we needed 🙂
I don’t exactly remember how we came up with this idea but I liked it. The only question was how to merge all these subjects, which I solved by taking inspiration from the geometry of Jesse Rix as regards the transition between the bas-relief on the shoulder and above the compass on the forearm, while the skulls already perfectly simulated the horizon from which the large planet stands out in the sky.
It was exactly this detail which inspired the title of this piece, as if an extinct species had left its remains on a planet (by now arid as well), to perhaps evolve into something different and venture into space.
The final result is definitely original.
Below you can find the various stages of processing, from the first tattoo to the last.
