So I was thinking this is the perfect basic design for my first foray into evil tattooery. Shall be working it up into a colour version. Ooo I am bad.
Before you ask: left shoulder.
Question: blue/indigo back and tail. Yellow or orange eyes and feet? Red leash? Oh, decisions, decisions. Help me out, fretmarketeers!
19 comments:
For what it's worth - ruby eyes and gold leash.
This is going to be great - regular updates, please.
Xtin thinks it should remain black and white, for sure. Hmm....
I agree, keep it simple, black & white.
Paul
Pluvi, is this an original Japanese design or your take? If not your own art, why not try your hand at it?
That's a really interesting comment, Matt. I will certainly play around with this design -- which is indeed from a Japanese woodblock -- particularly the foot, which bugs me royally. But there's something staying my hand re. designing my own. Something odd, as if it's not my place to design my own tattoo -- something a little bit self-indulgent about it. Plus, I am NEVER happy with anything I draw, and I would hate it even before it was permanent! Happy to design others' tattoos, though. Because that's different. You have got me thinking about drawing. Hmm. I will have to muse, and post.
So jealous-- have threatened to get one for years, probably from Mirror of Hawks.
I see the appeal of black and white but skin is neither. So I think I agree with John.
Black and white lasts longer. It won't fade as fast on your shoulder where you are likely to get some sun. I vote black and white.
Pluvi I hear you. I am more satisfied with my own artistic efforts when they are collaborative. But if I could draw a hawk's foot better than that one (you can, I can't), I would. This is forever. I would retouch the wingtips, too.
I think it would be cool to have improved and made more accurate an original hawk drawing than to settle with a problematic original. Consider the possibly that you may know goshawks better than that japanese woodcutter did, and that you may be a better artist.
Hmmm. The thing about tats is they don't wash off.
How big will the tattoo be?
Have you considered getting a design based on a photo of Mabel?
I still want to get my red horse inked onto my forearm but I don't think I ever will. My husband teases me that I won't stop there and eventually I'll have, like, twenty horses tattooed all over my body.
I'd vote for b/w too, it looks classy.^^
(I've designed a couple of tattoos for folks and the tattoo-parlor guys invariably screwed them up with fussy shading and stuff like that. It's skin, simple looks more natural.)
If I were to throw in my twopenneth, I would suggest that the design would look hugely better without the strap/tie/chain thing – ie. a stylised, perched Goshawk which 'could be wild' [and you could always add the strap thingummy later (ps the toes, especially the middle one d look the wrong length...). But, hey, it's your shoulder!
Mike W of WWN
I'm on the side of black and white simplicity too, but a flash of orange on the eyes would make a really striking, awesome counterpoint, I think. Just the eyes.
I'd also offer my hand at trying out a drawing for you... and wouldn't mind at all if your response was 'is it *meant* to be crap?'!
Is it a sumo hawk?
Look at some tattoo designs, compare, it's not a haircut.
Ha! I love that last comment. I *know* it's not a haircut. Bah!
I like the stylised nature of this hawk. Still mulling possibilities, though. Cheers to all.
I vote red for the ôo, or leash. Positive connotations (luck, joy, honour, etc.) in Japanese culture, plus it will pick up the red in the eye (which obviously would be my recommendation there). Then the ashikawa or jesses could be another colour--maybe blue to complement the plumage?
More thoughts-- my ideas of "color" are only accents for the eye etc.-- the rest I see as black and white. On the guards of Samurai swords, goshawks are a common theme. I have seen one with the hawk in blue steel but the eye and legs (as I remember) in gold.
I also have a Japanese hawk design on a Navajo silver buckle that Libby commissioned for me-- gold hawk, red coral eye. It works!
What's your skin like? Color? Do you tan? Are there more yellow undertones in your skin or pink? It affects what will be striking and what won't be a lot.
My skin drinks up ink- scribble on me with a Sharpie and instead of fading out over the next few days, it lasts a month or more. Depending on how your skin works with the ink and what natural tones are already there, some shades might fade in when you meant for them to pop out.
Also, it's important that the artist you select has a working style that matches what you have in mind- for the shop I use, I'd ask for different artists depending if I wanted something in color, something in bold tribal blacks, or something in grayscale. Most artists are pretty flexible, but choosing one with an expertise that matches what you have in mind means you're more likely to get lining, shading, and coloring that looks really good.
Me, I'd go with the color version (but then I'm pale and nontanning), and I'd make the feet yellow and the eye orange. Orange will be maximum contrast for the indigo, and it's preferable to have the eye drawn to the hawk's eye first rather than its feet. For the same reason, I'd make the leash a more subdued color than the bird.
Good luck.
Oh- one last thing- NOTHING fades into the skin faster than white. At least one artist I've met won't even use it. If you were counting on that to stand out on the chest area, revise plan. An all-black version with extra bold lining could work.
I don't see If anyone already write it, but this size Gos looks like a female, so the back have to be 70% brown and 30% grey. The color of the eyes you can select by the age of the Gos, If you want to look older bird - orange-red, If you want to look younger yellow-orange.
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