Thursday, May 29, 2008

An Animated Tattoo?



I get the creeps watching this thing crawl up her back....I can feel it. What would a tattoo feel like crawling through your skin any ways? It would be wonderful to be able to animate a tattoo, but I think I will have to wait until people are outfitted with bio-mechanical flesh surfaces, that could be imprinted electronically in layers, like those old fashioned 3D pictures that animate as you move past them.....

I created the animating designs in Adobe AfterEffects, using a popular plugin called Trapcode Particular. I simulated the writhing particle strands first and then mirrored them to create the symmetrical design crawling up the woman's back.

Luminous Feathered Palm Queen of the Sassafrass Islands



These inkblot tattoo designs were created in Adobe Photoshop, drawing freehand on a Cintiq tablet.

Although these 'inkblot' designs would be difficult to replicate exactly using a tattoo machine, I am thinking that with some practice, I could get to a point where I would be able to tattoo these designs onto someone's body pretty accurately. I think they would look fantastic as decorative tattoos. I originally created these designs for a film director and producer team, who are creating a movie that features a woman whose tattoos come to life. These were the preliminary designs that I came up with....

Orchid Head Deep Sea Peacock

The Gutter Trash Crack Angel of West Hastings

TrinidadianTribal Goat God

Humanoid Life Forms from the Outer Rings of Scapuliatra

The Pineapple Queen of the Sassafrass Islands