A Biomechanical Tattoo started from afar.
The story of this biomech sleeve starts long ago, about 9 years ago.
This client had a pretty bad tattoo on his shoulder blade he wanted to cover up.
I didn’t have much room for action as he didn’t want to go too far beyond the size of the previous tattoo. The only viable option was a small biomech, nothing particularly attractive but definitely better than the old one.
Soon after, probably having digested my remarks, he came back asking for a lion on the shoulder, half Biomech and half realistic. The Biomech half was going to connect to the cover-up done shortly before.
Unfortunately, as it often happens, instead of thinking about the project as a whole, as it would be better for a biomech tattoo, he decided to proceed bit by bit. So he ended up in the studio a few weeks, or months, later asking to expand the tattoo to mid-arm with a biomech!
Honestly I found the lion completely incongruent with a biomech tattoo (hence the title of the work) but at that point there was nothing I could do but continue, and it seemed like it finished there.
Unusual entries
Now, after almost 9 years, the guy is back with the intention of completing the Biomech tattoo sleeve.
He gave me carte blanche but he had a couple of requests that in my opinion had nothing to do with biomechs and that I saw as limitations. He wanted at all costs that I insert a clock with his daughter’s time of birth and a compass. I tried to dissuade him but with no luck.
In addition to these limitations, I had to try and create a design that was consistent with what I had done many years ago, which was neither impossible nor too demanding but still required a little effort considering I had to detach myself from my current style.
I sketched some ideas on paper and made the freehand drawing directly on his skin, exactly as I did the first time, in order to somehow connect with myself at the time.
Now that the sleeve is completed I must admit that the clock and compass are not so out of place, which makes me think I’ve done a great job.
Below you can see pictures of the working process, including pictures I took 8 years ago.
In the most recent pictures you can see the retouches I made to the upper part of the tattoo to refresh the shading and make everything more homogeneous.
