Eva decided for her tattoo spontaneously, a few days before leaving NZ. It was her first tattoo, so before we did any work itself we sat down and I described how everything would go.
Eva first came to a consultation. She liked the free designs in my portfolio, but she wanted the tattoo more personal, individual, not just to choose from the finished designs. We talked about what a tattoo should express, how it should work.
The first idea of the client is often abstract and unclear, by talking to each other, we come to the personal and important details, from which I then created a proposal.
Eva wanted a round tattoo with elements of wood in the design, tattooed on the nape of the neck. Important to her were various plants and trees that symbolized her experiences or people.
After consultation, I made an artwork that I sent to Eva. On the day, we slightly modified the design to match Eva’s idea to a complete satisfaction.
Sometimes I would consult other colleagues on the design. Multiple views can be helpful… and Klarka at the Customer Service desk is wonderfully creative herself.
I always print the finished design in several sizes to choose the one that fits best. When we agree on the sizing, I then prepare a stencil. This is then placed on the spot where the tattoo will be and after that I transfer it on the skin.
The client sees the motif right on the skin before the tattoo is done, so we can see how the design reacts to the movement of the body and how it fits.
If something doesn’t seem right to us, we can re-stencil it again.
Just before tattooing, Eva had decided to use dark brown ink instead of black. It was more in tune with the motif of the tattoo. The use of other colors was left open for a decision at a later stage.
When I had done everything dark brown, I took a picture of Eva’s tattoo and we discussed whether to use different shades of green for details. We decided to go for it.
At the end I photographed the tattoo for my portfolio. Eva checking the artwork in the mirror. Happy with her new ink.
Finished tattoo including green details.
