Gladiator Pencil Drawing
The Importance to Draw as a Tattoo Artist
With the age of technology, it is easy to get disheartened and not see the point of drawing as a Tattoo Artist. Nowadays, all you need is an iPad, and you can mix and match all the images needed to achieve the tattoo required. Getting an image from google images, is what 80% of tattoo Artists are doing nowadays, however, practising and being able to draw, it allows the artist to give the client more of a natural and creative looking and custom tattoo.
Getting an image from google, and mixing with another images to create a tattoo, it ends up with a lot of images being repeated when tattoos are being done, that’s why in realism tattoos, you can see the same images, being repeated and repeated again.
One thing about dealing with tattooing, is that, you will come across issues, and problem solving, and the better you can draw, the quicker, and more precise, you will be able to deal with your problem solving. Every craft requires problem solving, and tattooing is not different.
Drawing it allows me to practise ideas on paper, before I attempt them on skin, it’s also a form of respect for the client, as clients are allowing your art work on their body for a life time, it is, imperative to be sure what you will place on their skin before attempting it.
In this drawing, I have practised, a lot of textures, which it teaches me to add texture to the tattoo without needing any reference, and it saves me from having to stencil every single texture from the image before applying to the skin. Drawing textures on a drawing, it also allows me to add textures where sometimes is not clear on the images. A lot of images we see, or images the client mite bring, it is not possible to see every texture that’s supposed to be there. So having a practise of textures on a paper, it allows the artist to add what is not seen, and it is supposed to be there.
That practise, it also allows you to work with a portrait, where the image is taken in the 90’s or 80’s, and you can not see the pores in the face. Every face has pores, and with the camera quality nowadays, it is a lot easier to capture those details in the face, however, understanding texture it allows me to add the details in a portrait, when I am presented an image from back in the day, where the cameras were not what they are today.
My inspiration for this drawing, was watching the latest Gladiator movie, I was very inspired by it, and enjoyed watching the battles in the arena, where they had ships and the gladiators were fighting each other, as an Entertainment for the king.
Tattoo Shop in Bury
