I was tasked with making a back tattoo of a Traditional Chinese Dragon. The specifications for this were very precise, as every detail had some sort of symbolism or meaning.
While researching for this, I had to figure out symbolism for everything. The flames, scales, the clutched pearl, the colors, etc. They all had meaning. Juggling all of the elements in this illustration was a challenge but ended up looking fantastic. The client only tattooed the linework though, for personal reasons he did not want to add color to the piece yet, as seen in the image below. The initial sketch was rejected because the client wanted the dragon to be more involved with the viewer, so a more head-on sketch was drawn and then approved.
Thumbnails
Initial Sketch
Final Sketch
Finished Linework
