From top to bottom: 1. Untitled 2. Studio Tapu Efigy 3. Pollutopian sculpture concept 4. Pollutopia concept 2 5. Bebe Medusa 6. Pollutopian Dreamer 7. Bored at work four years ago - Vagrant
With these I looked at traditional Japanese style tattooing and I really like the way they blend the tattoo with the skin. The Japanese way is to get just one big tattoo like a whole arm or even torso so its like 'spiritual armour' for them.
My idea is to merge Japanese style with Maori style and create a tattoo that is specific to the individual, in this case of European decent. So basically to merge the three tattoo traditions or to create a European themed design in the combination of Maori and Japanese style. Yeah, its a challenge and it might not work out how I imagine it but it seems appropriate to try and start something new.
Anyway, these designs are for a friend but he just asked for a wave so I'm not expecting him to get a full shoulder necessarily....(you know you want to)....its just an excuse for me to draw up some of these ideas I've been kicking around.
Tattoo designs from a while ago. Just playing around with the Maori style of using positive and negative space to tell a story without actually copying a Maori design. The Maori aesthetic is sacred to the Maori people so I try not to copy anything specific. I'm trying to take the idea behind something like Moko and do my own version of it. Even though I've read a lot about it, and studied it I still couldn't even think of where to start. I tried looking at fractals for inspiration but didn't really understand those at the time either. I'm working on some new designs for a friend and I did some research on the Japanese style of tattooing so I'll post those shortly.
I liked the idea of of the Dark Sun God ( design 9) because it reminded me of Maori legends I read when I was little. Some of the other designs were based off art nouvelle images of floral paterns and the rest I just made up.