#90668
Ben1985
Participant
@ben1985

No backflips expected at all. This is an opinions forum where I expect people to post just that, their opinions be them good or bad.

Critism is all part of forums and if people can’t take them then they should stay away from forums altogether. I do indeed like my arm as it is and do actually think it looks better in the flesh, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading others ideas about possible improvements. You are right, feedback from those “outside the tattoo world” has been great and I am yet to meet someone that doesn’t like it (or is too afraid to slag it off :D).

Basically I just enjoy tattoo discussion in general and as this is my last piece of work, hey, why not discuss it right? I haven’t taken anything that has been said personally at all, I am waaaay too forum savvy to be like that. Tattoo’s are such a personal thing anyway and like it has been said, if the owner is happy, who else cares? I just thought it would be an interesting thing to discuss.

#90750
looney bin escapee
Participant
@looney-bin-escapee

shadow line

#90821
NeverBSatisfied
Participant
@neverbsatisfied

First off, I enjoy it. I’m not all for tribal since it is so common and overdone, but for what it’s worth, it’s pretty cool looking. Of course, you get the sense as to why people would view it as incomplete. My first thought was the same thing and would of thought you had at least another 3-4 sessions to go with it.

IMHO, this could turn out to be a fun adventure for you. There is a lot you can do with it. The only thing that looks odd is the lack of shading with major spaces and other tattoo’s just being placed around it when a sleeve should be a tight knitted piece that flows together as one.

My first thought would be to incorporate the tribal and fill it in maybe with something like a bio-mech tattoo or maybe an anatomy of the arm/flesh tattoo and have the already placed pieces around the tribal kind of acting like images within your skin signifying meaning and how it really would stick out with a direction like that. Kind of like a tribal meets biomech/flesh tattoo while the images placed around your tribal now will kind of look like what makes you tick and what’s important to you underneath.

Or you could just do some major shading of the tribal and in cooperate color around the tattoo and maybe come up with something as a background piece to make it flow all together. You can do a lot with it if wanted to but all it really needs is a certain flow and it would look sweet. You’d be surprised of what an artist could do.

#90853
Ben1985
Participant
@ben1985

Thanks for the reply – some good ideas in there. 🙂

Not far from being healed up now, so will have another look then.

#90855
looney bin escapee
Participant
@looney-bin-escapee

Whatever you do, try to keep that simplicity going. Too much would probably clutter the whole thing.

#90857
Ben1985
Participant
@ben1985

Simplicity is indeed what I am going for. Detailed sleeves look superb, but that isn’t what I was aiming for and I certainly don’t want everything filled so that no skin is showing. Really my aim was to have a tribal design with important meaningful bits dotted around inside it and with that aim in mind I am happy with the result and the spacing that I have. The coments about filling the tribal with various bits and about other ideas just to emphasise what I have have been good thoughts though.

#91571
Ben1985
Participant
@ben1985

Just a quick update…

Went back to my artist today to have a re-touch as I had suffered some fade – especially around the elbow. We had a chat and we decided that in the future I will return (when funds allow) and have the whole piece shaded a bit like this;

draft_lens1894771module8635623photo_1215332392shaded_tribal_tattoo.jpg

In the mean time, she has put in more shading so looks a bit more “complete” than before.

#91653
ArniVidar
Moderator
@arnividar

I think that would be a good idea. Would make it ‘pop’ a bit more, without going all horribly black.

#91729
ataraxia
Participant
@ataraxia

definitely fill the space in with some shading. maybe fill the tribal with some brights like reds and oranges, and fill the background in with darker colors like navy blue. my friend has a similar sleeve that looks great.

part of the problem with yours is that tribal looks a lot better if it’s filled in/shaded, rather than just an outline like you have. throw in the fact that yours is just wrapping around what seems like older tattoos, and i can see why most people are in agreement that the blank space needs to be filled in.

anyway, just my two cents.

#91746
orphansparrow
Participant
@orphansparrow

i think it would look nice if you got your old tattoos retouched a bit, so all the ink on your arm is the same color. i think that would lend to a little more unity.

#91754
Ben1985
Participant
@ben1985
orphansparrow;72643 wrote:
i think it would look nice if you got your old tattoos retouched a bit, so all the ink on your arm is the same color. i think that would lend to a little more unity.

Do appreciate that the tribal was done on the day the pic was taken so it will stand out more at the beginning.

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