A while ago a friend asked me if I could do a tattoo design for him. Everyone who’s ever drawn anything can imagine the immense pressure of having to create something that’ll stand the test of any amount of time, let alone eternity. Some future space-archaeologist might exhume my friends body as the only surviving specimen of early per-ascension humans and place his decrepit husk on display for all the galaxy to see.

Those strange creature might study his pallid skin and discover the faded remains of my design, concluding that it is in some way representative of the art of our time and that some kind of code is most definitively hidden within its crude lines and child-like depiction of reality.

Needles to say (though I’ll say it anyway) I was apprehensive about forging forward in my usual manner but decided to give it a try since he was getting a tattoo anyway because why not. He had an idea about what he wanted; an owl on a gramophone -  he’ll tell you that it has no meaning and that’s why he got it. Personally I think he might be in league with the owls. I’m not judging though.

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So, first I did a quick sketch.

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And when he contacted me again and approved the design I cleaned it up and sent it to him again.

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This is how it turned out after the tattoo artist made some necessary adjustments, like putting it onto my friends arm.

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Sometimes I do commissions. If you want to order one and then have someone etch it onto your skin, you can do that, and if you tell me upfront I’ll keep that in mind when I draw it. I need to tell you a couple of things though:

  • Firstly, This stuff takes time and I don’t have a lot of free time, so it’ll cost you (probably more than you expected).
  • My time is pretty limited so I can’t do short deadlines. If you contact me a month up front I’ll be able to get the design to you on time and if I’m super busy and can’t, I’ll let you know right away.
  • Check out my gallery before you decide. Whatever you tell me to draw, it’ll be in my style when you get it. Keep that in mind.
  • And, yeah, no tribals of any kind. That shit is boring as fuck to draw.