A feminine tattoo.
This girl from Mantua had a clear idea of what she wanted. She wanted a half sleeve that was feminine, with lots of flowers, a clock and one or more hummingbirds, all in a realistic style.
Having a clear idea of what you want is certainly the best way to start and it also makes things easier for the tattoo artist.
The first thing that came to my mind was a branch that, starting just above the inside of the elbow, developed towards the shoulder, with flowers wrapped around the clock, which, in my opinion, had to be on the shoulder.
As for the hummingbirds, I suggested we only do one, this would have allowed me to take care of it in detail ensuring it would stand the test of time.
For the flowers the choice immediately fell on cherry blossoms.
As far as the hummingbird was concerned, I remembered saving a photograph many years ago, a really beautiful photograph.
When copying makes sense
As much as I suggest not to copy photographs, when multiple images are harmoniously incorporated into a completely new composition it makes perfect sense. Especially if you want to achieve something extremely realistic.
Unless one has the opportunity to photograph hummingbirds, one must necessarily resort to reference images.
As far as the watch was concerned, I suggested we take inspiration from Erik Freitas‘ fantastic watches, something she enthusiastically agreed to.
To make the clock more unique, I modified the dial and the hands.
It would have had the same kind of look without being a shameless copy.
The idea was ready, all that was left to do was schedule the sessions, move on to photobashing and send her the result, which she was excited about.
Patience pays off
There are people who want immediate tattoos done in an hour or less or in one session and end up “vandalizing” their bodies with all kinds of monstrosities. This wasn’t her case, she was perfectly aware of the fact that a job of this quality and with this level of detail is impossible to achieve in a couple of hours and that it had to be studied and planned carefully.
We discussed the tattoo in Spring with the intention of starting after Summer. She distanced the sessions within a month of each other and with the same perseverance and patience the necessary trips were made (from Mantua to Bergamo and back) in order to have this piece, which is definitely one of my most beautiful realistic pieces.
Second thoughts
I have been closing my larger pieces with graphics for years now, I could say that it has become a sort of signature. So I couldn’t appreciate the tattoo ending with standard shading.
Not having included this detail in the preliminary drawing, she wasn’t prepared, therefore the idea didn’t really convince her.
So I did a 3D mockup to show her exactly how I intended to close the tattoo on both the shoulder and around the elbow.
That was enough to convince her.
Technical issues
From a technical point of view this tattoo didn’t present major problems, apart from an excessive skin sensitivity on the inner arm, which is pretty common but in this case it was slightly above average.
Apart from this everything was pretty simple, though tedious (doing all those flowers with all those details and nuances is a rather repetitive job and took a long time, but it is part of the game).
A work of this level naturally takes time.
Final evaluations
When looking at a finished piece I sometimes find myself thinking I could have done something different to improve it, it’s part of every artist’s journey, but not with this piece.
The only regret is that pictures and videos don’t do it justice.
It’s probably no coincidence that this girl told me of people amazed by the beauty of her tattoo or of people who approached her, telling her that they couldn’t look away, or again, people telling her they had never seen anything like it.
A piece that makes me proud and happy to have satisfied yet another client, a client who I am sure is proud to wear this tattoo.
Here below the images of the working progress and a video of the healed tattoo after w few touch ups.
