tribal tattoo design for the lower leg

Hi,

This week I slowly started on a new tattoo project, a tribal tattoo for the lower leg, wrapping around the leg from shin to calf. The tattoo design is symmetrical with koru curves and some nice repetitive patterns derived from polynesian and other tribal art.

I really enjoyed drawing this piece for a customer from Switzerland. The sketches are really flowing and have some rythm that I love to draw.










Here is the final tatoo design:











Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com

Tattoos I Know: Anna's Culinary Ink

Several months ago, one of my co-workers, Anna, wanted to commemorate the completion of her externship from culinary school.

It was funny, because at the time, she didn't realize I wrote best-tatto-design and then discovered the site through googling. She stumbled upon this post that featured a chef's knife.

Anna liked the idea of using a knife, but wanted a whisk too. She spotted this piece and met with Vinny Romanelli at Red Rocket Tattoo in Manhattan, giving him the several source images she had found and explaining what she wanted.

He designed this for her and then completed the tattoo for her in about twenty minutes. She had him stick with black and gray and wanted him to emphasize the shading. This is the end result, positioned just above her ankle:


Other work from Red Rocket has appeared on best-tatto-design here.

Thanks again to Anna for sharing her culinary ink with us here on best-tatto-design!

New artwork

Here is the newest painting, now up for viewing at the Portside Parlor and Art Gallery in Olde City, Philadelphia.


This is 11 x 14", watercolor and acrylic on watercolor paper. This is for the show "Love/Hate". I chose the latin phrase "Odi et Amo" which means "to love and to hate", along with 2 tattoo machines. I enjoyed making this painting and am now inspired again.


Here is a work in progress for the upcoming show called "Water", coming to the Portside Parlor in March or April, we're not sure yet :)

This painting is on cold press illustration board, and I'm using inks for this. I haven't measured it yet, but it's approx 11" x 6" maybe?

I finished this a few weeks ago, but while I was away in Hawaii during December/January I didn't do many paintings, alot of sketching though. I tried to keep to myself for the most part, spent alot of alone time and worked at the tattoo shop everyday as sales.

I am also proud to announce that I got my tattoo artist license in Hawaii! woot! so stoked to get started.

I also worked on these two mask paintings while I was away. I'm going to have these professionally printed once I get the extra cash and hopefully starting an online etsy page to sell them. We'll see how that pans out.

These are watercolor and ink on watercolor paper. More to come.

Neal's Foo Dog

This winter has been an especially cold one here in New York and, as any loyal reader can confirm, I haven't reported on many tattoos that I have glimpsed in the city.

However, last night at the grocery store around the corner, I met Neal, who let me take a quick snapshot of his foo dog on the left side of his neck:


Foo dogs are traditional Asian-style tattoo designs, and have various meanings and interpretations. Click here to see some other posts on the site that have featured foo dog designs.

Neal told me that this was inked by Koji at Studio Engima on Avenue U in Brooklyn many years ago. Work from Studio Engima has appeared previously on best-tatto-design here.

Thanks to Neal for sharing his foo dog with us here on best-tatto-design!

Tattoos I Love: Sweethearts for My Sweetheart

So what does an inkblogger get his sweetheart on Valentine's Day?

Why, a love-themed tattoo, of course.

Lucky me, the good folks over at Thicker than Water Tattoo had a Cupid special, $14 tattoos on February 14.


A lot like the Dare Devil Tattoo Friday the 13th Special (one of which is documented here), the lucky tattoo recipient can choose from an assortment of day-themed flash.


Here's what my lovely bride Melanie had to choose from:


When we got to the shop, Melanie signed in #53, and they were averaging a dozen or so per hour, so we knew we had a little bit of a wait.

I specifically selected Shon Lindauer, since he did such an awesome job with my tiger tattoo.

It was nice that Melanie got to meet Shon and the piece she selected was one that he had drawn up.

He tattooed her in the middle of the back and took just about fifteen minutes:


She was very happy with the end result:


When we left around 3:45, the waiting list was over a hundred, so they looked like they had a long night ahead of them.

Thanks to Shon and the staff at Thicker Than Water for another great tattoo experience!

Tattoos I Know: Paul's Love, Over His Heart

On this Valentine's Day, I'm sharing a tattoo that my friend Paul had recently done. He showed me when I was taking the latest set of photos on the cover-up her is working on.

He pulled down the top of his shirt to reveal this simple message:


Paul's message to his wife is simple, but it is what is not spoken that is most remarklable. Paul always swore up and down that he would never ink a woman's name on his body. When he showed me this, I was surprised, but love can make us express ourselves in such ways, especially when we love getting tattooed.

Paul had this done by Pierre at Fort Apache Tattoo Studio, just around the corner from where we work in Manhattan.

Happy Valentine's Day from best-tatto-design to Paul and Ana. Stay tunde, as there may be more Valentine's ink on the horizon!

Maori inspired shoulder tattoo design

Hi,

This design is a Maori inspired shoulder tattoo design, with some nice symmetrical lines, koru ferns and other spearhead figures.
At the moment I'm having some serious health problems (arms/neck and shoulder), so here is one of the last designs I have done. I hope I can continue with this collection, but I need to take some time to recover.














The real size is 30 x 22 cm (12 x 8,5 inches) but it can be rescaled to fit your shoulder.
Price for this design is 41,65 euro / 57 US dollars

You'll get a high quality .jpg file and a linedrawing/sheet for the tatooshop and the tatoo design with the shading.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Lower leg tribal tatoo design

Hi,

Here's one of my latest designs in the new collection, it's a symmetrical lower leg tattoo in a kind of tribal polynesian/maori kiri tuhi style, mixed with my own style.

This tatoo design is meant to go on the front of the lower leg / shin, wrapping around the calf on both sides. But it can also be used as a backpiece if you like.
It has some arrowheads and other polynesian symbols and shapes.
My designs have no specific meaning or thoughts, I like to combine different tribal elements into one esthetic tatoo sketch.














The real size is 31 x 33 cm (12 x 13 inches) but it can be rescaled to make it fit your leg.
Price for this design is 35,70 euro / 49 US dollars

You'll get a high quality .jpg image and a linedrawing/sheet for the tatooshop and the tatoo design with the gradients.

Just let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Calf and shin tattoo in tribal style

Hi,

A few days ago, I created this new design for the shin and calf. It can also be used for the shoulder or back if you wish ofcourse.

There are a few realistic feathers, wrapping around the sides of the leg when applied to the lower leg. I also incorporated some koru / fern shapes arrowheads with some nice shading to it.

I draw al my sketches on A3 size paper and scan it at 300 dpi (200gr/m2).
Then the design is optimized in Photoshop CS3, some dust and spots removal and some lines are adjusted to make it flow.
Finally I add the shading for each part of the tattoo flash image.














This flash design has an original size of 30 x 28 cm (12 x 11 inches), but as mentioned before, you can adjust the size or let your tattooshop/tattoo artist do it for you.

Price for this design is 35,70 euro / 49 US dollars

You'll receive two high quality .jpg images, a linedrawing/sheet for the tattooshop and the tatoo design with the shadings and gradients applied.

Just let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Markjames' Knuckles

Last week I posted this great owl tattoo belonging to Markjames, a Pennsylvania-based tattoo artist.

Prior to sharing it, however, I also snapped his knuckles:


When I asked what this meant, he said "just a feeling". What is particularly cool about these knuckles are the traditional anchor and horseshoe standing in for the letters "T" and "U", respectively.

These were inked by Russell Kelley at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey. Work from the shop has appeared multiple times before and can all be seen under Silk City's best-tatto-design label here.

Thanks again to Markjames for sharing his work with us here on best-tatto-design!

Tattoos I Know: Paul, Part 5 or, The Great Cover-Up of 2008, continued...

In December 2008, we posted about our friend Paul getting some cover-up work done on his upper right arm. Revisit the report here.

We checked in with Paul again this past November to see the progress (here). And, just last Friday, he updated us again on the latest efforts by Horisei, who has one more session before this cover-up is done:


Horisei tattoos out of the Chelsea Tattoo Company, formerly the home of Rising Dragon.

Thanks again to Paul for sharing. I'm guessing we'll see the finished product later in 2010!

Tribal tattoo designs for forearm

Hi,

Here's the fourth tattoo design for the lower arm. All previous tattoo designs can be found here.
You can order one or more of my tattoo flash images on this blog, simply by clicking on the "buy now" button below the tattoo design.

This drawing is also symmetrical, has some nice koru curves and some other tribal shapes like spearheads. The pattern on the inside is a filled with a black and white gradient, which adds some depth and body.














The original size of this tatoo design is 30 x 14 cm (12 x 5,5 inches).
You can adjust the design to fit your arm, because the high res. image can be scaled up or - down.

Price for this design is 29,75 euro / 40 US dollars.

You'll receive two high resolution .jpg files by e-mail, one is the shaded design and the
other is a linedrawing / sheet for your tattoo artist.

Any questions? Please let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Two Tattoos From John: One for Superstition, One for Courage

Last Friday, I met John, who was in Penn Station in a t-shirt and shorts, certainly brave, considering the cold temperature outside.

He has four tattoos, and shared two with us. First, a four-leaf clover on his right elbow, which he got because he is superstitious:


And this Latin phrase "sine metu," which means "Without Fear" on his left forearm:


Both tattoos were inked by Eric Barrett, who currently works at Orange Tattoo Company in Annapolis, Maryland. Please note, I previously attributed this to a different artists named Eric in Annapolis. My apologies for the mix-up.

Thanks to John for sharing his tattoos with us here on best-tatto-design!

Lower arm maori inspired tattoo flash

Hi,

Here's another flash design in Maori/Kirituhi style. This sketch is the third of 4 lower arm/forearm tatoo designs I created for my new collection.
First I sketched the rough design and then I had to do some really nice black and grey artwork, to make the feathers look real, but also match the koru shapes.

If you are interested in this design, simply click the "buy now" button.
You will be forwarded to the Paypal and order the high resolution image + a linedrawing/sheet with your Paypal account, or VISA and Mastercard.

The files are high quality. jpg's, that can be printed, scaled or forwarded to your local tattooshop, so they can print it for you.














The original size is around 26 x 18,5 cm (10 x 7 inches), but because it's a high resolution image, so you can scale it to adjust it to arm.

Price for this design is 29,75 euro / 40 US dollars.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Maori forearm tattoo design

Hi!

Yesterday I published the first tattoo design of my new collection in Maori/Kirituhi style.
I created a total of 4 new forearm tattoos, which can be purchased here.

This one is also a symmetrical design for the lower arm with some leave/fern shapes in it. I really enjoy drawing this kind of sketches and images, the symmetry gives a clean and sharp look.

The original size is around 24 x 14 cm (9,5 x 5,5 inches), but it's a high resolution design, so you can scale it to adjust it to arm.
Price for this design is 29,75 euro / 40 US dollars.

As soon as I receive your payment, you'll receive an e-mail with the high resolution design (.jpg file) and a sheet/ linedrawing for your tattoo artist.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

New forearm tattoo design in Kirituhi style

Hi there,

At the moment I'm working on a new collection of tribal tattoo designs, the first series consists of 4 forearm / lower arm tattoo designs, with feathers in a symmetrical style.
My plan is to create around 30 or 40 new tattoo designs in Maori/Kiri tuhi style, which will be added to my website/webshop at the end of April. But to give you a small preview, I will post the designs on my blog for you, so you'll be the first to see.
Normally I don't shade my designs, but to give the image another dimension and more body I decided to use it in this flash series.














Size is 28 x 15 cm (11 x 6 inches), but because it's a high resolution design, you can re-scale it.
Price for this design is 29,75 euro / 40 US dollars.

As soon as I receive your payment, you'll receive an e-mail with the high resolution design (.jpg file) and a sheet/ linedrawing for your tattoo artist.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@best-tatto-design.com
www.best-tatto-design.com

Markjames Helps Start February with a Hoot

February 1st found me scowling optimistically.

I was pondering how I had managed, since Christmas Eve, to only post ink-spotted tattoos only twice. Some days over the summer I easily eclipse that total on my lunch break.

But this is the heart of winter and, when the temperatures haven't been cooperating, things go slowly.

I was passing through the New Jersey Transit section of Penn Station and was about to head back to the office when I spotted Markjames.

He had tattoos on his hands, neck, and head and answered affirmatively whenI asked if he was a tattoo artist.

After taking a picture of his knuckles to share with the good folks at KnuckleTattoos.com, he offered up this wonderful neck piece:


He wanted a bird of some sort on his throat and collaborated with the artist Matt Rosenthal at Tattoo Nation in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Tattoo Nation has appeared previously on the site here.

The owl as a symbol of wisdom is a popular tattoo motif, as is evident from the folks over at Owl Tattoos and their site dedicated solely to owl ink.

Markjames works out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and will be tattooing at Triple VI Tattoos, beginning in April.

Thanks to Markjames for sharing his amazing tattoo with us here on best-tatto-design!