Topic: crowbar tattoo (ink started ...4 years later)

[web ghost]

howdy gang.  Haven't posted anything in here for a while.  Heres something I've been working on, though its not 40k related. 
For the past six years a group of friends and I have been going on yearly excursions into the Adirondack mountains for about a week. The Adirondack National Park, for those of you who don't know, is a six million acre national park in the lovely Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.  it is the largest national park (by far) in the continental U.S. -and simply amazing.  Any who we generally grab canoes and go of somewhere remote and camp out for several days and then move somewhere else.  there we do camperly things and get stupid drunk.  Hijinks ensue.  Suffice to say, it is an absolute blast and we all look forward to it every year.  The largest group we've had was eight and the smallest i think was five.  but there is a core group that tries to go every year. 
we enjoy it so much that we have even named our canoe gang.  We are the CrowBars. (and yes we know it is spelled wrong) 

one particularly insane friend of mine has been hounding me for years to get him a CrowBar tattoo.  I've finally gotten around to starting one for him:

it still needs alot of work.  the premise is that it is a crow holding a cro-bar w/ a skull in its mouth.  the way it is situated creates the illusion of a grim reaper. 
I need to get the positioning better and reference some actual crows so I can get the feet better and the general anotomy more proportionate.  right now, I think the head of the crow is too large in comparison to its body.  I also need to figure out a cooler way to do feathers.  I'd like to have this done by Thanksgiving when I'll see him again.
later WG

[CD]

I'd intuitively say that the head's actually too small, but then I don't know much about crow anatomy either.

It's a cool concept, though if possible I'd try to emphasize that it's the crow's legs holding the crowbar, because at first glance it looks almost completely like a grim reaper, with little reference to the crow, opposed to the other way around. You have got it looking like a reaper right off the bat though, that's good, but if you look through some bird anatomy you should be able to more accurately get what you're looking for. Good stuff.

[Elessar Telemnar (gone)]

cool!
creates the illusion of it being the grim reaper at first, though if you look into it you can figure out it is a crow.
I would personally say tht the head is the right size, but check out the feet:
IIRC brids dont have thumbs, so the hands/feet, one of the main reasons it looks too much like the reaper, should be adjusted.

good work,
Telemnar

[Hellboy]

excellent work as always WG, i really like it, its a perfect balance of reaper and crow in my opinion. if you look at it as a reaper its a reaper, if you look at it like a crow its a crow, if that makes any sense 

what i would say is if its going to be a tattoo, it needs to be at least twice as big as that to do it any justice in ink, at the size it is, the fading after a few years would smudge the lines everso slightly, and possibly ruin a great picture.

[web ghost]

hrrrrmmm...they don't really have thumbs per say but they have back talons.  I think a big problem is the way the back talon is connected to the things left hand.  It connects like a thumb.  Yeah i really need to check out some real pics of crows.  I think the head might be the right size for the body but not for the hands.  On the tattoo size thing -It was originally intended for a shoulder upper arm thing but I think its being moved to the upper back.  thanks for the responses.  I'll do some crow research and get back to it.  right now I have some serious animation to do!  I can procrastinate no longer!  God I'm a slacker!  later WG

[Ares]

Thats really awesome.  The effect of the crow being the Grim Reaper is amazing.

Like you were saying before about your friend hounding you to make him a tattoo, are you a tatttooist?

[Forte']

It's a cool concept, though if possible I'd try to emphasize that it's the crow's legs holding the crowbar, because at first glance it looks almost completely like a grim reaper, with little reference to the crow, opposed to the other way around.

I second that with like bird feet holding it,and some crows sitting one on each shoulder would be cool.(I personally think that getting a tattoo in one of the most dumbest things in the world next to trying meth and smoking cigarettes but this is about the art)

[web ghost]

Thanx for the responses Guant and MegaBuster.
I am actauly suppossed to have thins thing reworked and ready to give to my friend when I see him over thanksgiving later this week.  Better get to work on it!  More realistic birdyness is in order.

No I am not a tatoo artist.  I'm just designing this for my friend.  While I have tatoos, I would never want to put something of my own on myself as I would be afraid that as my skills grew I would grow to dislike it.  I have the same reservations about putting my designs on my friends but he really likes it a lot and has wanted it for some time. 
later WG

[Hellboy]

(I personally think that getting a tattoo in one of the most dumbest things in the world next to trying meth and smoking cigarettes but this is about the art)

well child, maybe when you're a grown up you might be able to phrase your "opinions" a little more tastfull.

i think the picture is fine, as i said before. adding smaller crows would change it from a crow/reaper, to a reaper who has crows legs for arms and a crow costume. its good as it is because its the perfect balance between the two.

[web ghost]

Howdy -starting version 2.  Bad scan.  Defiantly a WIP but the neck is a little longer in relation to the body.  the claws are more claw like and the cro-bar is more realistic.  I think I'm going to skip the forearms for simplicities sake.

later WG

heres an update:

what do you think?  Still WIP.  I think this one is more proportionate, birdwise.  Though the reaper illusion might not be as apparent.  Though not as good a drawing, I think I like this one better.
later WG

[Greenstuff]

Arg, my mind is going crazy trying to decide wether it's more dominantly a crow or a reaper, I think it's perfect. Though I'm curious, how will the edges work out on the tatoo? As the wing seems to fade into white, how will this work? I'm not too "down" with tatoo'ism y'see.



GS

[web ghost]

Yeah -I'm not really sure.  I think that is going to have to be the tatoo artists problem.  You can't see with the scan but the edges have a fiant line on the outside.  I'm not sure what the artist is capable of.  they might just fill it in all black -who knows.  I presented it to my friend last night and he was pleased.  I gave him both versions and its up to him and the tattoo artist to figure out which one he wants to use or parts of both.  Out of my hands now so I guess this project is done.  I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  Thanks guys
later WG

[web ghost]

Well four years later my friend decided to go to a tattoo artist and get this thing done.  Its a WIP.  Its highly stylized and in a very different style than my own but it's in a cool, more tattooey style so I like it.  I don't know If I'd recognize that I designed this thing because it is so different -but that's not a bad thing because it looks like it's going to be way cool.  Also, I was a bit nervous about having my art permanently applied to someone so the change is somewhat of a relief.  I haven't personally seen it yet, just these two pics.  It's a little hard to tell what's going on but you can sort of make it out.  I'll post more pics once I get better ones or once it is finished. 

[Lord of Winter and War]

Very nice turn out. Good show Web Ghost. Also good to see your Internet personality here again.