I’m so excited to share this piece! This illustration was commissioned as the base design for a client’s sleeve tattoo. A sleeve tattoo! To be tattooed on a real person! I was given the desired subjects—a fox, roses, orchids, butterflies, and a skull—the suggested style of semi-old-school tattoo, and given free reign over the design. This piece was a lot of fun, and quite a step out of my comfort zone! I kept solid lines all around the piece (to reference old school tattoos) which is not usually how I apply linework, so it was fun to have new constraints. I’ll post pictures of the actual tattoo once it’s complete! Here are some close ups to show the textures and details:

 

And here’s a bit of process work!

From sketches, where I was trying to figure out how to fit the fox and the skull together in a narrow composition…

 

To the final sketches that I sent to the client for feedback…

To the final inked illustration (minus the wonky butterflies, which I was still figuring out) combining the parts of each sketch the client liked, to create one final composition…

To experimenting with texture directions for the fox fur…

To the final inked texture of the fox fur with a redo of the head… and then from there it was all digital magic! And I can’t waaaaait to announce the next thing I have coming up! I’m so excited about it—here’s a little sneak peek: