Today a man sits at home with a sore leg as his new tattoo settles in. His tattoo was the first I have ever designed. By the way, I’ve no idea if there is more appropriate tattoo-related terminology than ‘settles in’ so apologies if there is.
I was presented with a small pencil and ink sketch of a ‘church grim’ from a book on mythological creatures and asked if I could create my own version. Whilst trying to stay true to the various elements of the character I was tasked with also incorporating a facial expression reminiscent of Lord Flashheart portrayed by the late, great Rik Mayall in BBC TV’s ‘Blackadder’. A rooster, a suit of armour, a sword and a ‘Flashheart look’. Challenging but also fun.
Over the course of a couple of weeks and with several hours spent on each drawing session I put the design together. Not having any knowledge of tattoo procedures I wanted to keep the design clear and hopefully suitable for the tattoo artist to work from without needing to stop and examine parts more closely because I’d left a jumble of messy scribbles that were impossible to decipher. Meticulous attention to every line meeting a clear end or join was imperative and I was really happy to hear they had no such problems following my design.
The owner of this tattoo is – I’m relieved to say – delighted and even told me several of the tattoo artists said to pass on their kudos for the effort I’d put in. For someone who respects and is generally in awe of what tattoo artists do this means the world to me.
This has been added to my Commissions page.