The Used - Album art

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This guy wanted the artwork from The Used's In Love and Death album on his ribs. Alex Pardee's work is wonderful, so I was happy. He specifically asked to have the bottom root angle down to go with the shape of his body... and I was proud.

Because the style was more like a sketch, I was able to shade with less concern about needle patterns showing up. It's about 14 inches tall. And he sat really well, and I was feeling something in that fairytale tattoo land, so it went by in 2 hours.

The grey to the right of the tree is a really light wash, and should heal pretty light.

Also, for the line work, I rode the tube. By only having enough needle hanging out, I'm able to touch the tip of the tube to the skin and direct that sucker along with me. You have to visualize more, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I'm not usually one to do this; I like my needles out and about so I can see. This piece just seemed to call for it.