A quick sketch for a client today. The brief was to combine a rose and thistle to celebrate his English (the English rose) and Scottish (Scottish thistle) heritage so we decided to entwine their stems before they flowered.
Usually this will be refined a little, certain lines chosen and then when the final design is ready to be tattooed we'll probably have the rose in a red and add some purples to the thistle whilst keeping the rest of the piece in black and grey with some subtle shading around it.
Every tattooist works differently, I like to rough an idea out, finalise it with a lined piece on paper and then when the time for the tattoo comes we make the final decision on colours, this is just a part of the entire process but it's pretty important to convey the clients idea and make sure you're both thinking along the same lines. You can probably see I've done a super rough sketch in light green before penciling it the lines to bring it out a little.
When someone narrates an idea to you it's best to have a rough sketch before you finalise the piece because what they have in their head and the ideas that pop into your head when they describe it to you may be pretty different.
Peace Out
