Cesc Fabregas inspired tribal armband / elbow tattoo design

Hi,

I get a lot of requests on designing a armband tattoos inspired by the Cesc Fabregas tattoo (which I did a while ago), so I decided to create a few nice Polynesian armbands with a mix of Maori style.

In my previous post you can see my first armband/elbow design, which is the first of a series of 3 or 4 tattoos.

Here's the second tatoo sketch:

Polynesian armband design inspired by the Fabregas elbow tattoo

In the centre of the design you see one half of a tribal mask, with some koru Maori curles. I really like to mix different tribal elements and patterns into one aesthetic tattoo.
My designs don't have specific meanings or stories, it's only a graphic representation, inspired by the beautiful Maori, Samoan and Polynesian shapes.

Once I finished my pencil sketch, I trace it with a black felt-tip marker and a Pilot fineliner. 

Below you can see a picture of the traced drawing:

Traced the Polynesian armband tattoo with black marker

After it is scanned in high quality (300 dpi), I optimize it in Photoshop and create a linedrawing so your tattoo artist can use it to transfer the tatoos onto your shoulder/arm.

The design is seamless, which means that it totally surrounds your arm and has no beginning or ending. 

To make this visible for you, I created a cylindrical model in Google Sketchup:

Because not all arms are perfectly round, your tattoo artist might need to tweak/adjust the design for you, so it makes a perfect fit.

If you wish to order the high resolution design, simply hit the "Buy now" button.

After payment, I'll send you the high resolution design + a linedrawing for your tattoo artist.

Title: Tribal tattoo 201

Size: 30 x 12,5 cm (11,5 x 4,5 inches) 

(can be scaled to fit your arm)

Price: 35,70 euro (48 USD)

Any questions or comments? Just let me know!

Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

Polynesian / Maori armband tattoo (Fabregas inspired designs)

Hi,

I get a lot of requests on the Cesc Fabregas tattoo I created a while ago, so I decided to create a few new pieces that are inspired by his elbow design.

The armband tattoos have different circumferences and can also be used as legbands.

Here's the first sketch of the first armband tattoo that has a lot of Polynesian elements and Maori koru patterns:

pencil sketch Polynesian armband design

First I sketched the koru curles with a basic b2 pencil and added some rows of Polynesian symbols that you see in the foreground.
There's a tribal polynesian mask in the centre of the piece and also at the sides two half faces are drawn. Once it's totally around the arm, these sides will make one full tribal mask.

The lines of the different shapes were traced, this time with a fineliner, so I could make it really detailed and rich. After erasing the pencil and filling the outlines with a black marker the design looks like this:

traced Polynesian band tattoo 

After scanning the drawing, I digitally edited the image and optimized the design.
It's a seamless tattoo, this means that there is no end or beginning of the tattoo, it totally surrounds your arm or leg.
To make this clear to my customers I decided to make a video in Google Sketchup:

The original high resolution design is available for purchase right here. 

If you wish to order it, simply hit the "buy now" button and you can pay with Paypal or creditcard.
Once I receive your payment, I'll send you the high resolution tattoo and stencil in .jpg files by e-mail.

Item: Tribal tattoo 200
Size: 35 x 10 cm (13,5 x 4 inches)

Price: 35,70 euro (48 USD)

Note: Your tattoo artist might need to adjust the design a little to make it fit your arm perfectly, because all arms have different sizes and tapering.

Tomorrow I'll upload another armband / legband design in the same Polynesian style as this tattoo.

Any questions? Just let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm

Chicano style tattooing

Chicano style that surrounded him, a form of tattooing developed amongst Hispanic prison gangs with imagery like "Smile Now, Cry Later" masks that told a story about the bearers. "I never went to jail so I had to do my own interpretations of the stories I would hear from these guys," says the black-and-gray artist. "With time, those images changed from a pretty girl with a sombrero to a beautiful carved statue of an angel, and the 2-D drawings began to transformed into full 3-D drawings of religious subjects. All this happened after I realized that there was more out there."

With a name like Lowrider, the emblem of street style in Chicano communities, and urban vibe is evident at Lopez's studios. "Sometimes it makes people scared and curious at the same time," says Lopez. "All we ask for is the chance to get to know us." What you'll find behind the shop's doors is something special, a unity and dedication that makes his crew the real thing. "Tattooing is our life," Lopez says. "We sacrifice everything to get everything. We all have given our lives to tattooing."

Lopez also has given his patience. He'd rather work with someone who has character-even if they haven't developed their artistic abilities yet and invest time in helping them grow as an artist. But that's not to say the shops are low on talent. Lowrider is home to some of the next big names in the industry, including artists Klown and Jun Cha. Not only are they talented, they're the guys who have put their all into the shop, stood by Lopez, picking him up when he has fallen and encouraged him when he wanted to quit. "I could not do it without my boys," he says. "They Say if you have a strong belief in something and work very hard at it, even if you die without accomplishing it, someone else will do it for you. They are the strength that will keep Lowrider Tattoo going forever.

Drawing a halfsleeve Samoan tattoo design

Hello,

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:

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:

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:

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!

Size: 34,5 x 26,5 cm (13,5 x 10,5 inches)

Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

After payment, you'll receive the high quality design + a stencil by e-mail.

Any questions? Just let me know!

Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

Samoan inspired tattoo, shoulder sleeve design

Hi,

At the moment I'm working on a series of new designs for my galleries, to replace some 'old' tattoos.
I'm really inspired by the intricate Samoan patterns which have a lot of repetitive shapes and symbols and bold tattoos.

I started with a new tatoo, a halfsleeve tribal with some Samoan and Maori influences and shapes.

First I drew a basic layout of the tatoo to make it fit to the shoulder and upper arm.
Then I draw a few crossing lines, a bit tapered to give it a sense of depth.
On the left side of the tatou I added a koru fern, a national symbol of New-Zealand, aka "Aotearoa",  and created a line of spearheads. I traced it with a black marker and a steady hand ofcourse ;)

To get a sharp and crisp look, I use a lot of triangular shapes with a high contrast between the black and white patterns. The heavy black lines are drawn to divide the tattoo into smaller section, so it's not one "greyish" mass:

When the Samoan tattoo was finished, I made a few nice pictures with my Canon 400D DSLR, which has a nice depth of field, the blurry fades:

To show you the full design process, I made video that is some sort of time-lapes, where you can see it from pencil sketch to high resolution design:

This digital mock-up shows how the tattoo will look on your shoulder. It's not a 100% accurate, but gives you an idea:

The final design can be purchased from my blog, simply hit the 'buy now' button below and you'll be forwarded to the Paypal website. Use your creditcard or Paypal account for the payment and as soon as I receive it, I'll send you two high resolution images of this tattoo. 

The first is the full design with all patterns and black shapes. 

The second is a linedrawing, so your tattoo artist can transfer the tatoo onto your body.

Size: 25 x 30 cm (10 x 12 inches)
Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

Any questions? Just let me know!

Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

Shouldercap tattoo in Samoan Maori patterns

Hi,

I have been quite busy the last few months with a lot of different projects, with little time to write posts on my blog.
But to show you some new projects I've been working on; here's a new tattoo for my shoulder galleries. It's a mixed design with Maori elements and Samoan pattern. The images below show the design process in different steps. First I make a basic outline for the shoulder as a template. Then I use my pencil to sketch some flowing koru shapes. Normally I do the whole piece with pencil first and start tracing it when I'm finished.
Today I was a bit impatient, and decided to trace parts of the tribal shapes. You see some Polynesian turtle patterns and Samoan spearheads and stylized fish.

Here you see half of the design traced with a black felt tip marker:

And a few pictures of the finished shoulder tattoo design

I also made a youtube movie of this Shoulder tattoo 156:

The tattoo is available for purchase on my website here.

Tomorrow I will be back with another design process!

Regards, Mark

Pencil sketch of a Mauri-style shoulder tatou

Hi,

I get a lot of requests for custom tattoo designs, unfortunately it's impossible to do them all, but here's a nice tatoo project I'm working on at the moment.

My customer asked me to do a tattoo sketch for the shoulder and up to the back/neck. He wanted to see some original eagle designs with claws and wings in a tribal style. The big central curve at consists of two tribal claws of the eagle and at the bottom of the tattoo I made some realistic feathers that would flow onto his biceps and upper arm.

Here's the first pencil sketch I did:

The feathers needed some adjustments to run on the biceps correctly. I also made them more abstract to go better with the overall design:

I'm waiting for my customers response, so I can finish the pencil drawing and start on the final high quality piece.

If you're interested in my designs, you can follow me on twitter, facebook or check out my channel at youtube, simply hit the buttons at the upper right of this page.

Any questions? Please send me a message!

Mark