Creativity stems from placing the disconnected together and coming up with new and interesting possibilities. The opportunity to put that into practice arrived when I was hired to create a " gothic - Samoan - Latin- retro pinup" tattoo design.
The tricky thing was figuring out how to wedge the design on his back between 2 other tattoos, a Samoan pinup shoulder design (another tattoo I design for him last year) and an older, larger gothic gargoyle piece on the center of his back. He wanted to somehow bridge the two designs with this new one blending the gothic with the Samoan and adding a Latina retro pinup that is based on his lady. It had to express her love for music, love for life, her passion for shoes and her favorite flower, the lily of the valley yet represeningt her darker mysterious side. The whole motif is a heart shape made with with curved samoan striped patterns on one side and flower vines on the other. I had the lily of the valley flower bulbs morph into skulls, Although it wasn't in the original plan, this was the perfect excuse to make her face into a "Dios de los muertos" skull mask Although the tattoo will be in black and white, I could not resist colorizing her.