Figuring out placement, editing
So I've been paging through this community, and got so excited by all of your great ideas that I've created several literary designs through the cunning use of photoshop. (I'm sort of flirting with the idea of getting this tattoo someday - I will probably end up waiting six months or so to make sure that I still want that design permanently on my skin. So it's just design work, for now!) Though I may post the rest of the images here later, I would especially like to ask some questions about the Allen Ginsberg insired one I've just finished.
The quote is part of the opening stanza in Ginsberg's "Howl." To go with the words, I've taken the image of the Russian mythological firebird, or zhar-ptitsa. I've grown up steeped in Russian poetry, and this is an illustration from one of my favorite childhood books. Both Ginsberg's image of being set alight by idealism, and the symbolism of the unattainable firebird and her unwillingness to be tamed have great personal meaning for me.
Conceptually, I love the way that this image has turned out, but I've been having trouble transferring it into the form of a tattoo. I'd been planning for it to be on the left shoulder blade, like so:
My beef with this is the sort of boxiness of the tattoo - which, in hindsight, I should have anticipated, considering that the image is originally off of a lacquer box. Does the tattoo sort of work, to your more experienced eyes? And if not, do you have any ideas for modifying the image to avoid the overpowering rectangular shape?
The quote is part of the opening stanza in Ginsberg's "Howl." To go with the words, I've taken the image of the Russian mythological firebird, or zhar-ptitsa. I've grown up steeped in Russian poetry, and this is an illustration from one of my favorite childhood books. Both Ginsberg's image of being set alight by idealism, and the symbolism of the unattainable firebird and her unwillingness to be tamed have great personal meaning for me.
Conceptually, I love the way that this image has turned out, but I've been having trouble transferring it into the form of a tattoo. I'd been planning for it to be on the left shoulder blade, like so:
My beef with this is the sort of boxiness of the tattoo - which, in hindsight, I should have anticipated, considering that the image is originally off of a lacquer box. Does the tattoo sort of work, to your more experienced eyes? And if not, do you have any ideas for modifying the image to avoid the overpowering rectangular shape?