Calavera

I've been thinking about tattoos for years. It's been hard to settle on anything. They are so... final. Ideas have come and gone, but some have really started to solidify. The first one is a Sugar Skull. Sugar Skulls are part of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead - when deceased relatives are honored. Skulls made of sugar are given to people as gifts - often with the name of the recipient written on the skull. The indigenous populations of Mexico used skulls historically as symbols of death and rebirth.

Here's a real Sugar Skull:

This is what Sugar Skull tattoos traditionally look like:

I don't really want a traditional looking Sugar Skull tattoo. I want the skull to look real - like someone took an actual skull and decorated it up. Usually the tattoos are straight on. I want a 3/4 view. The skulls are often decorated with flowers, butterflies, worms, and filagree. I found some images that I really like, and gave them to my tattooist (Amy Black of Trademark Tattoo in Richmond VA) for inspiration. Here they are:

I liked the above skulls both for their realism and for the angle - the 3/4 angle. I liked the detail work in both. In addition to the skull tattoo, I  have been thinking of a tattoo for my torso of some filagree like the below pic. Amy thought she could incorporate the filagree below into the sugar skull which would tie them both together. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but told her to go for it anyway.

I'm glad she took it and ran with it. Here's her first preliminary drawing - sans some of the detail that will be in the final. Check out the crossbones in the butterfly. The rendering is better than I had even hoped for. 

See if you can find the hidden little easter egg I asked Amy to put in. She did such a great job with this. We start on it next Wednesday - Oct 1.