What do a hedgehog and a morningstar have in common?
If you are stumped, we’ll go ahead and tell you – each of these items has specific kinds of shapes that take some skill and technique to render in two dimensions, not to mention on the glorious canvas of the human frame.
Let's step back a bit. On this blog, we have talked about a lot of design elements, because at Grape Ape Tattoo, there's an art to what we do. Ink is a very artistic business – it's not just the same humdrum thing over and over again and accepting money for services rendered. It's a very unique contract between an artist and a customer, very much like some of these non-fungible tokens we've been hearing about attached to digital artworks.
So back to today's design topic – what about when you have these geometric shapes, these quills or spikes or revolving spokes around a wheel hub of a car or bike, or what have you? What’s important in this kind of job, to really deliver a higher standard?
Spacing
One of the artistic choices that the tattoo artist has to make is around spacing. Optimal spacing means that these items will look natural when drawn – that they'll either be more universally spaced, or spaced in a natural way, as you would have seen them in nature…depending on the item in question. We like to say that a “study” in actual real-world models is useful for the kinds of 3d work that many of our customers are looking for.
Irregular spacing can make some of these designs look pretty silly. This is an aspect of this type of design where professional experience matters!
Contour and Shading
You also have the relief of the spikes or spears or protrusions in question. There has to be some type of line or contour shading to make the thing look three-dimensional, or you basically just have your mediocre ink drawing. Our customers come to Grape Ape Tattoo to get beautiful and intricate artwork on their skin, not just stick figures.
There's a lot more to say about this, but you can look back at other various blogs that talk about theme and concept and design and much more. We take time to talk to our customers about all of these things because again, we are a top artistic and creative ink shop in the Tucson area. Stroll on in and see us, and let’s talk about the best designs for your body!