I'm back again, with another half sleeve tattoo design in Samoan inspired style.
On Facebook I've had a lot of compliments and comments on my previous design, so I decided to create a series of these drawings in the same style.
Well here's a picture of the first basic lines I drew:
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| Pencil sketch of a Samoan tribal sleeve tattoo |
I start with a circular shape at the top that follows the upper part of the shoulder and then drew a few tapering lines to add some motion. The spearheads are a common pattern in the Samoan style, symbolizing strength and power. There are many kinds of spear- or arrowheads, so I usually combine different ones in one design to keep it as intricate as possible.
Mostly I try to draw a few layers on top of eachother, running above- or through other patterns.
This gives a sense of depth and it makes the design flow.
Here's a second sketch, you can see I traced parts of the drawing with a black marker and fineliner:
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| Traced a few patterns of the Samoan tatoo |
Normally I first draw the full design with a pencil and then start tracing it, but sometimes I get a little impatient and cannot wait to see how it turns out :)
This photo shows the upper part almost traced and finished:
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| Upper part of the Samoan tribal tattoo |
After a lot of sketching, erasing, and redoing the lines, I finally finished this flash design and took some photos with my Canon EOS 400D:
Another picture shows a digital mock-up of a shoulder with the sleeve projected on it. It's not a 100% accurate, but gives you an idea on how it will look once it's tattooed:
I made a Youtube video of the total design process, so you can see a kind of time-lapse on how the design evolves. Please subscribe to my channel if you want to see my latest videos:
And last but not least, you can order this high resolution flash design right here!
