Tattoo: Vinnie's Celtic Bear

This final tattoo design, I created for my friend Vinnie.  Initially It was designed for his left arm, but he is considering having it placed on his back between his shoulders.  Time will tell.  He wanted a bear in profile surrounded by Celtic knotwork that was made of stone and covered in lichen.  The first bear image I created was almost a three quarter view, but Vinnie was concerned that it would be difficult to read as a bear once it was translated onto his skin.  I created the second bear image you see above to solve that problem.

Tattoo: Worlds Within

Here we have an echo of sleeping Vishnu and a visual record of a time of personal recuperation.  The black and white piece was Originally posted on Wind of the Gods, but I refurbished it with fresh color for the Asheville Tattoo Festival.  Hmph - I just noticed a Mayan glyph quality to this image. I may have to explore this square construction more.

Tattoo: Krampus as Mescalito

Originally drawn for a Featured Creature post, here were have an image of Krampus transformed into the consciousness expanding Mescalito.  When I started adding color to this piece, I began with red skin.  I didn't care for that direction and wasn't sure where to head next, but when I accidentally inverted the red layer to green in Photoshop it set me on the right path.  I'm very satisfied with the intensity of the finished image here and will probably be creating more Mescalito images soon.  :-)

Tattoo: Skull worm

Tattoo: Valknut

I was attracted to drawing the the Valknut initially because of the design aspects, but I've always had an interest in Norse imagery and mythology.  I also enjoy celtic knotwork so that was how I approached this piece.  However, looking at some of the history of this symbol, I may do another piece of the Valknut as the Borromean rings.

Tattoo: Batman Throwing Star

Here's a tattoo I created for a friend last year.  He wanted to reproduce one of Batman's throwing stars from the Christian Bale Batman movies.  He wasn't sure about the size he wanted the finished image to be, so I created it in Adobe illustrator for lossless scaling.

Tattoo: Man in the Moon

Drawn in 2001, here is a man in the moon image refurbished and toned for a tattoo design.  This piece was Originally posted on Trail of Breadcrumbs.  I removed the background for a cleaner more easily reproducible image.  When I was adding tones, I had initially given the image a cast of color, but upon reflection I chose to use only the black and white tones.  With only the black and white tones, if anyone wanted to add color later a variety of color choices could be made.  With each of the Tattoo images I am posting this week, I'm including the original line drawing so that tones or color can be addressed separately from line work in the tattoo process, if necessary.

2nd Annual Asheville Tattoo Festival, March 14-17

Later next week, the city of Asheville, North Carolina will be celebrating it's Second Annual Tattoo Festival.  Check out their website for a full listing of the festivities and information on the cool guests coming.