Are you the type that loves tattoos? Me too!😂 Being able to not only make a piece of art, but make something that someone loves so much that they want it engrained into their physical bodies seems like an ideal thing for any artist. I've always held the opinion that creating art is like giving birth. You give your sweat, tears and blood in order to give form and life to something never before seen in this world. A work of art is a part of the artist as well as its own being with its own personality.
For tattoo artists, that reality is enhanced because not only is their work of art a part of them and its own being, it's also a part of the canvas (the person getting tattooed). Their blood runs through the flesh that the work of art inhabits, so they're like the perpetual mother providing all the tattoo needs in order to survive, like a fetus. Deep and off the rails, I know!😂 Great idea for a movie though, huh?
Being an artist, I've always toyed with the idea of becoming a tattoo artist. In 2020 I started to practice what studios (as in tattoo shops) would most likely have their apprentice tattooists do - coming up with designs, tracing pre made designs to build muscle memory, things like that. (And yep. I did my research before I even attempted anything😂.) I did not, however, purchase a tattoo machine or anything like that! I may not be in the industry, but even I know better than to play around with needles!😂 Once I felt comfortable enough, I sent out some feelers to local tattoo studios to see if anyone was on the look out for an apprentice. Eventually, I got an offer.
After talking with an owner of a local shop, the guy asked me to come up with a design. I forget, exactly, if it was he who gave me the idea of a dragon and a flower or not, but I did have the idea. But, I didn't want it to be just a dragon with a flower like so many other designs I'd seen. So, I thought, why not have a Japanese dragon (Japan being my favorite country and the dragon being my zodiac sign 😂) coming out of a dragon lily? Below you'll see the sketched design, followed by a digitized version I made at a later date. I tried to combine realism, traditional (for the dragon) and illustration just because I'm a glutton for punishment😂.
