After finally finishing my 2D digital animated short, Veggie Propaganda a few weeks ago, I finally have time to focus on a few freelance projects as my impending maternity leave from The American University of Rome looms (November 18, 2011).
Just yesterday I created a tattoo design for a friend from my hometown of Swansea, Massachusetts. She had asked me to create a drawing revolving around “The Three Birds” song by Bob Marley. It was to go on the back of her neck and each bird would represent one of her children. Sadly, a few years ago she lost two twin boys about halfway through her pregnancy. Today however, she is the proud mother of a healthy three year-old girl.
I first played around with several compositions, with the most obvious choice being three birds sitting on a branch. However, I thought that her intended meaning might come through better if the two birds representing the twins were on the branch sleeping and in a protective pose over the flying bird representing her daughter.
Simple black and white version
I normally try to ask clients to give me adjectives to describe the type of drawing they want (example: somber, cartoony, morose, intricate, flirty, screaming, etc) or to give me a sample of a drawing done in a style that they like since I can imitate anything. My friend however wanted me to surprise her, so I did.
Normally when just drawing in my style, I use a lot of intricate lines and cross-hatching, but I figured a tattoo artist tracing over such an image on skin would want to kill me. I kept things very simple and somewhat innocent-looking. After all, my friend isn’t getting a battleship across her chest!
Sketchy color version
I ended up sending her about six variations with different color schemes as well as a few visualization images so she could picture how it might look on the back of her neck, depending on which size she wanted. I was expecting that she might want changes or have other suggestions, but this was the response she gave me for the designs:
I got them! They are perfect!! Just what I was looking for!! Didn’t get a chance to reply sooner-had to go to a work-skills-thingy. But, they are beautiful!! Just don’t know if I should do color or B&W??
Visualization Image 2
Whew! So I guessed right. It was quite a fun project and I hope to be able to do more digital illustration work in the future.
Cheers,
Kristen
I'm an artist and educator who helps unapologetic idealists to create meaningful change through art, design, and education. 
