Guidance for art for a tattoo design

April 25, 2020 5:54 PM

Commissioning an artist for tattoo work - how to guide her

I'm going to commission one of my favorite comic book artists for a piece to get on my arm after the pandemic is over. I would like to offer her guidance for how to make a work that will translate well from her page to my left wrist (about 3x3"). I want her to do a Mjolnir.

What can I tell her for guidance? I sent several emails to my local shop and the artist that did my previous piece, but it looks like they're completely off line due to coronavirus and not answering email.

posted by plinth to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (2 answers total)

so in my experience, it may be hard for you to have someone that designs not for skin to do a tattoo that translates well to skin. There are a lot of medium considerations, for instance.

At a minimum, I would put the tattooist in touch with the artist - and also pair the tattooist with the type of art you want. If it's a modern looking comic book artist for instance, you probably want an artist that specializes in new school tattooing.

I would also give the tattooist a lot of latitude to change the design. the primary problem you may encounter are skin limitations, and longevity - heavy black outline is all that will remain one day, so making sure that's the core of the piece will be important. feeding this back to the artist is important.

Just a few thoughts - I get a lot of tattoos commissioned for me, and as an artist, there are a ton of skin limitations - a lot of comic book styles may translate, but a lot will not- google tattoo aging watercolor for example. Good luck!
posted by wuzandfuzz at 6:40 PM on April 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I would so like to put the artist and the tattooist in touch, but like I said, the business doesn't respond to email right now.
posted by plinth at 6:51 AM on April 27, 2020