Greetings!

[jvm986]

Hi,

I'm an aussie living in Berlin. Joining this forum to explore the world of tattoos with the hopeful idea of getting my first tattoo sometime in the next couple of months.

I have a few ideas and hopefully you guys are able to give me some feedback and advice.

Thanks

[Iwar]

Hi and welcome! Lets hear your ideas :)

[jvm986]

Hi, thanks for the reply :)

My main (and at this point, only) idea is to get what is essentially a map of the city in which I grew up. Here is the design... I know you don't want my whole life story but I'm an urban designer working as an architect and this design means a lot to me for a number of reasons.

My initial reaction was to simplify the design to the roads and the outline of the lake in black at varying lineweights. I see it starting at my shoulder/lower neck and finishing at the base of my ribcage on my back (so 40cm or so tall).

I spoke to a guy who specialises in tribals here in Berlin and he is confident he can do it in 4-5 2 hour sessions and that he can get the lines straight and consistent enough for it to look good.

I realised yesterday that Peter Aurisch lives here and I started seeing the design with his style of shading looking pretty good, so I sent him an email and am waiting a response. I get the feeling this is a job which is too inflexible for him though...

Anyway, it would be nice to get some opinions on this ... I get the feeling the artist could be a little overconfident, so I thought I would gauge your opinion on the chances of this idea looking crisp.

[Graeme]

I'm not an artist but my feeling is that's a really cool map but it isn't really a tattoo and while I can kind of see how a really good tribal or blackwork artist could make it work, I'm still a bit wary especially since you want straight and crisp lines and how the design depends on them. Lines are going to thicken and lose their crispness over time, your body and your skin is going to change and slacken, and I can't see the design holding up super well over time. Again, I'm not an artist and these are my half-informed opinions, but if you want to go for it, make sure you find an artist that has examples of something similar to what you want in his/her portfolio.

[Mark Bee]

Very cool design. I love the idea of maps as tattoos. Given your field of work, this makes a lot of sense. I can't speak to the difficulty of turning that design into a tattoo, but I really like the idea of connecting yourself to the framework of your hometown. I have often thought of saving some space for a rendition of a transit map of my city somewhere on my back. (I'm a transit and infrastructure nerd). Good luck on this project. I hope you'll post the results.

[Brock Varty]

If that map gets simplified a bit I think it could make a swell geometricish/patternish tattoo. Although, you won't be able to get anywhere near the detail on that map.

[Graeme]

If that map gets simplified a bit I think it could make a swell geometricish/patternish tattoo. Although, you won't be able to get anywhere near the detail on that map.

Yeah, I can see someone like Gerhard Wiesbeck (don't know where he is in Germany though) being able to do something cool with this but it would, I think, have to be fairly abstracted and perhaps not still readable as a map.

[jvm986]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great replies. This type of feedback is exactly what I'm after!

Gerhard is about 500km from me, but his work is stunning I think I'll contact him and if he's keen spend the night down there a few times. Thanks for that.

Regarding the detail of the map, I'm working on the drawing (I'm going to get it laser cut into a piece of timber to put on my wall - I've gota be sure I am actually as in love with the design as I think I am :p) and this is about the level of detail I would be happy with. I'm undecided on shading or landscape, but at this point this is what see.

[Brock Varty]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great replies. This type of feedback is exactly what I'm after!

Gerhard is about 500km from me, but his work is stunning I think I'll contact him and if he's keen spend the night down there a few times. Thanks for that.

Regarding the detail of the map, I'm working on the drawing (I'm going to get it laser cut into a piece of timber to put on my wall - I've gota be sure I am actually as in love with the design as I think I am :p) and this is about the level of detail I would be happy with. I'm undecided on shading or landscape, but at this point this is what see.

My opinion as a non-tattooer is that you could probably get that image you link tattooed pretty close to what it is. Certainly, it would need to be larger than the image you linked, but I think someone would be happy to make a sweet tattoo for you.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great replies. This type of feedback is exactly what I'm after!

Gerhard is about 500km from me, but his work is stunning I think I'll contact him and if he's keen spend the night down there a few times. Thanks for that.

Regarding the detail of the map, I'm working on the drawing (I'm going to get it laser cut into a piece of timber to put on my wall - I've gota be sure I am actually as in love with the design as I think I am :p) and this is about the level of detail I would be happy with. I'm undecided on shading or landscape, but at this point this is what see.

My opinion as a non-tattooer is that you could probably get that image you link tattooed pretty close to what it is. Certainly, it would need to be larger than the image you linked, but I think someone would be happy to make a sweet tattoo for you.