I promised to tell you something about one of my latest tattoo projects, so here it is.
Normally my main part of designs consists of shoulder pieces, but for this design a customer
asked me to do a shoulder AND chest piece in one.
It's really tricky to get it all on a flat sheet of paper, so I needed some sort of body template.
The tattoo only covered the outer side of the left arm (from shoulder to elbow) and the left pectoral muscle.
My customer used a sheet of tracing paper and simple traced the shape of his body. The total template looked like this:
![shoulder chest tattoo template design](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8RxR1se5JexcxzWlAxO7axUp3J7vQoh6RuFsJIP6OXlihyphenhyphenk1VN342i7zH2zf_DFqFnRb30QgLHZZmtu0xH8Tx39a9-XIzFRMen1v0VoBpnl8SXuhhY70nFYvf6sjer77ZMR00_IqxNs/s320/shoulder-chest-tattoo-template-design.jpg)
The design had to be maori style and have some nice flowing curles/koru. First I drew the outlines of the maori shapes:
![maori style tattoo drawings](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNZRgH3RroJIAflmxEUFR33KUEfNnrpW39G6TPvjKdJZTw76kGGaXYZXtck6sVez96QKIuKRK6t8daL0BVMLtN6R9rJl1GSfVYD3IgA0T8DOuqJTgXQh9zgCygdsVLrO8RwAat-AfpJU/s320/maori-style-tattoo-drawings.jpg)
Then I filled the shapes with some traditional lines, triangles and other tribal design stuff.
![sketch maori tatoo designs](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsA96yuunIstBPNJ7wCs2CKc9gAlPQW_hbbwCfMuqUh22kYuRJjGANiB0q-nqyj07k4cE9ysQx0vWz5UnjiUjTtK-kqsoTMJvJqkXweni06jDb8B3HrGb5-V3KgM7d0boxOWPn2LQBuoI/s320/drawings-maori-tattoo-designs.jpg)
I take pictures of the design with my Canon EOS 400D and send these photos to the customer. It's a lot quicker than scanning it, because it is on A3 size paper.
The final design is ofcourse scanned in high resolution.
Here are a few shots of the tattoo sketch in progress.
![photos maori designs and sketches](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OJgdaw4hE2CfhDIQRcM8Ca3hYRi9tdoFoTFgLa1OtH_yy-M4Nk9mSBbV-yqOxW93eqpEbPiJ3PiujvQCK2JJIg33kmIO_XYXs4tp-7qCHhQXrajl12jKiYGas4pFgYmlKb7xSLxEBo4/s320/tattoo-designs-maori-style-images.jpg)
![pictures maori kirituhi tattoos](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXJnEZ7IsH93HkolGBvv08K51g01NoexA2r2fBcASQpCJLc7bF6Hhv_F0cq9phU0q30fdZFoixrmP8yWD2Qer5jLjWt9b6TRyEvE8jig0SAHm2oU5-9GB6Sdjw7u6LVb2-hjYi_ZtA7I/s320/maori-tribal-tattoo-sketch-photos.jpg)
I just received a comment from the customer, that he wants the fills a bit more intricate, instead of the traditional tattoo lines.
So I'll get back to you soon with an adjusted tattoo design.
Kind regards, Mark