Graphic Arts

I’m not sure I have an identifiable design aesthetic. Some of what I do is inspired, some miscellaneous, some serve a client, a brand, or work as a user interface or user experience element. Most of my work is a playful combination of photography, graphic design and vector graphics. All of it is fun to create.

The Cache

My uncategorized graphic designs.

Evolution of a Tattoo

Description.

One of the first photos taken of Diane and I. The day I first met her parents and the day she told them we were engaged, even though she said she wasn’t going to do that yet. But that’s another story!

All those years ago all I really had to work with was a graphic application called SuperPaint and for fun I created this image/logo of the moment.

Over the years I reworked the logo many times. Better graphic applications, like Photoshop, were available to create a smoother version and this next image is when I first thought about it as a possible tattoo. In case it’s not obvious I should mention, I’m not a tattoo artist. A tattoo artist would agree. But, I like this version. It’s simple. However, the white outline and the borders on the square would be difficult to ink unless you have much larger arms than I do! 

The graphic artist in me just can’t leave a design alone. I’d look at it, tweak something, put it away and then come back to it again and again.

The more I thought about this as a possible tattoo and of possibly having this done, the more I wanted to make sure I was happy with it and that it represented Diane and I.

Diane has always been into music playing the flugelhorn, and then as a vocalist, and now (oh, my poor ears!) as a bagpiper! She’s very proud of her Scottish heritage. I tried adding bagpipes and even a saxophone for me, but it felt and looked forced. I wanted something that wouldn’t obscure the original image. It had to be something that would work in the background.

Scotland’s national animal is – and I’m not making this up – the unicorn. I was born in the year of the dragon. 2024 is/was also the year of the dragon. I played around with a lot of unicorn and dragon designs and really liked this set of images. Did I like grayscale or color better? 

This is about the time I started looking at local tattoo artists and showing them the design.

Again, I’m not a tattoo artist! Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Decided I liked the color version the best. Much less detail in the mythological animals, but it was finally where I wanted it. Also simplified the quilt/game board, removing the borders on the squares so they were easier to ink. 

Almost by accident the original black and white design had 7 squares with six spaces between (if I had centered them a little better). In the later versions I reinforced the 7 / 6 design and then added the nine dots on the left and one on the right: 7 / 6 / 91. Our wedding day. (also the mouths in the design are a “9” and “1” on their side).

Finally a huge “thank you” to Phoebe Aceto of “Here’s To You Tattoo”. Professional, friendly, and very talented artist!

 

Information.

  • Title : K&D Tattoo
  • Fun Stuff : 2024 Inked on left arm (yes, tattoos are painful!)
  • Medium : Graphic Design, Photoshop, AI image generation
  • Tattoo Artist : “Here’s To You Tattoo” – Phoebe Aceto – Ithaca, NY