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Tattoo Illustration02.05.07 | Free Tutorials
When you think of tattoos you almost immediately think of bikers or gang bangers etc. Well, at least I do. That stereotype has changed drastically over time however and tattoos are no longer considered seedy in mainstream culture. Many people from all walks of life get them.
This download will walk you through the entire process of creating a killer tattoo illustration. Also included in this download are several resources where you can purchase decal paper for producing your own custom temporary tattoos as well.
(Tutorial Includes Notes in both ‘English’ and ‘Español’.)
Keywords: Tattoo, Skull, Tribal, Rose
File Size: 12.3 MB
alonso wrote: February 9, 2007 at 10:24 pm
What can i tell , exquisite work, love the technique, love the color scheme, the final design.
Von. R. Glitschka is a total pro!
thanks for the tuts
alexisnicolem wrote: March 7, 2007 at 9:01 am
A friend of mine recently requested a tattoo design from me, so I found this very useful.
Couple questions: I thought it was interesting that you tend to prefer Freehand. What about the ‘live trace’ feature in Illustrator? Have you found it helpful? I personally have not…like you said, Illustrator can be clunky.
Also, a tip: I’ve been printing out your notes, and then follow along while viewing the images in Adobe Bridge. As you’ve named them they appear in order, so it works quite well. Just wanted to pass that along!
admin wrote: March 7, 2007 at 11:14 am
Unless CS3 drastically improves the fundamental core process for building vector shapes in Illustrator then I’ll continue to use FreeHand to build at least the foundation for my artwork becaue there is no getting around the fact that it’s at least four times faster.
That said I use CS2 on almost every project to do things I simply can’t do in FreeHand. Everything I show and document though applies to any drawing app though even if my screen captures tend to be FreeHand based.
Bridge is a great idea, I’ll add that to the site so others can use it too. Thanks.
admin wrote: March 7, 2007 at 11:17 am
And no I never use ‘Live Trace’. Years ago I’d ink my line work then scan it and use ‘Streamline’ but I found myself spending hours cleaning up the trace so I just manually build what I need it works better in my opinion.
If you want an oganic texture using a bitmap tiff will always look better then an auto-traced equivalent. A lot less memory and easier to handle too.
alexisnicolem wrote: March 7, 2007 at 3:40 pm
That’s what I have found too…it’s too much work to re-work the traced file and clean it up. I might as well scan it as I like it and ‘draw’ over it myself in Illustrator. Thanks for all your (quick!) feedback, and the tutorials in general — it’s great info!
minxlj wrote: May 3, 2007 at 9:39 am
“…tattoos are no longer considered seedy in mainstream culture. Many people from all walks of life get them.”
Ah, so as a 28-year-old graphic designer with a good education, great taste in design and a 160 IQ, I’m not considered seedy anymore? I’m so disappointed! (LOL, just kidding)
Tattoos have gone through history being revered by royalty in some cultures and eras, and reviled by others – as an art form there are always some crappy examples, and some astounding ones. There are crappy designers, and brilliant ones, and controversy will always occur over the two. Culturally speaking it’s a rich and exciting art form! I myself have a few beautiful tattoos – including a full arm ’sleeve’ – self-designed, and I don’t consider myself THAT seedy
Anyway cool tutorial Vonster – I want to see who gets your design tattooed first! I actually draw my tattoo designs up in Freehand then actually superimpose them onto a photo of my body (or a friend if I’m doing it for them) in Photoshop.
A note for designers though: a great tattoo design should take into account the form of the part of the body it is intended for, and either enhance or be enhanced by its shape, curves and features. If you actually want your design to be used as a tattoo, or to work in selling your designs this way, consult a GOOD tattoo artist who will advise you on your design – some designs just aren’t feasible due to the medium of tattooing, and may need to be altered.
gato_perplejo wrote: May 19, 2007 at 10:15 am
Voster, thank you very much for this fantastic tutorials. I have bought your book in Amazon.com. It´s my way to thank you yours techniques
admin wrote: May 19, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Thanks I appreciate that. Make sure you email me directly and send a copy of your book receipt and I’ll give you access to download an additional ‘30′ textures not included with the book.
Anyone else interested can visit: http://www.texturebook.com