Hey everyone,
I have several tattoos currently, including one on my hip, right shoulder blade and a chest piece and Im trying to plan my next one, which I hope will be 3/4 or full sleeve on my left arm.
My favourite book of all time is the faraway tree series by enid blyton, and I have very fond memories of my mum reading it to me over and over, at my request 🙂 So I have decided id love to plan a themed piece based on the tree itself. My husband and I are planning to begin our family in the next few years too, and I cannot wait to start reading this magical series of books to our children.
For those who arent familiar with the story, its based on three children who go on adventures up a magical tree. Up the tree live several quirky characters, and at the top there is always a magical land, which is always changing.
So the main tattoo will be the tree, with a ladder leading up, and within the tree shall be the windows/doors and several of the residents of the tree. I would like for it to stretch all around my arm, and then at the top have the cloud line with my favourite land at the top.
I am a bit worried about fitting it all in, So im trying to collect lots of images and do some sketches and then will take them to an artist and get his opinion 🙂 The tricky part is that most of the illustration and artwork in the books are from the 1940’s ish, and there arent that many images either, so Im going to collect some of the images of the main characters, but some will be left upto my or the tattoo artists imagination. I am very into colour, so want it to be high colour, and very magical looking.
We shall be residing in north carolina, USA So i am also starting to look into some good colour artists over there, have found one, who does good work, but trying to do as much research as I can. Below is a photo of one of the old covers. I want to give the tree a bit more of a modern look, but keep the vintage aspect too, so shall have the main children in the same clothing from the book
First of all, kudos on your choice. You’re thinking very much the same as I am about my sleeves, and I think that sleeve would be awesome.
BUT, my problem so far (and yours now) is that it’s very difficult to find a tattoo artist that actually creates cartoons of this genre. A good tattoo artist is all good and well, but if he isn’t actually into cartoons and likes drawing (from his own head) cartoons, then he’s useless for your efforts.
I really hope you’ll find someone that does the job, and I’d love to see how they do it for you.. I might need to visit them myself for my sleeves 🙂
BUT, my problem so far (and yours now) is that it’s very difficult to find a tattoo artist that actually creates cartoons of this genre. A good tattoo artist is all good and well, but if he isn’t actually into cartoons and likes drawing (from his own head) cartoons, then he’s useless for your efforts.
I really hope you’ll find someone that does the job, and I’d love to see how they do it for you.. I might need to visit them myself for my sleeves 🙂
Yeah very true, i do see your point. I do want to stick somewhat to the original illustrations though, so the imagination part will be moreso for the tree and the ladder etc which I didnt think would be too much of an issue.
I am going to print off the characters I want included, so the artist I find will have a base point for starting on, and then can discuss if he/she wants to put their own twist on them in some way. I don’t want it to come out looking TOO cartoony, I want it to have a more realistic look in some way, even though it is a fantasy based childrens book. does that make any sense? ahah i hope so lol.
I have found one guy I like so far, who has inked some of our friends over there and his work is good, but I do want to look around some more to be certain, then I can arrange a consultation to see if we are on the same page 🙂
Well, my problem is that I want to create complete scenes. That means drawing the characters specifically doing something and looking somewhere… accomplishing that with pictures from the internet it pretty much impossible. So the tattoo artists really needs to be willing to draw up full scenes, with the exact style and flavor of the original illustrations, without infusing any of this own ‘flavor’ into it.
Basically, what I need is a Comics/Disney-grade cartoonist doing Comics/Disney-grade artwork 🙂
Basically, what I need is a Comics/Disney-grade cartoonist doing Comics/Disney-grade artwork 🙂
ahh yeah I see your point.
I suppose I will need a similar thing, but thankfully some of the characters I want doing their actions are already illustrated, so there wont be that much tweaking needed.
Hhehe well I hope you find your artist too. When do you want your sleeves done?
When? Whenever I can find the artist and the cash. The cash isn’t exactly easy but finding the artist is probably worse 🙂
awww well I have hope hehe, you’ll find someone 🙂
Yeah true. Im hoping I get mine started on next year someone, and completed before Xmas but we shall have to see if both cash allows, an If my chosen artist has a waiting list 🙂
Im in no rush though, but I am very excited hehe
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