Got to do my orca in the end.
How a cancelled start turned into a tattoo for Julie.
Okay, so this one took a bit of a detour.
I originally started this drawing for a guy I’d tattooed before. His idea was a leopard fighting an orca, worked into a sleeve. Very unusual, but honestly, I was into it. He already had a tattoo on his inner forearm, so I drew the design around that. You can see the bigger plan in the first sketch.
We were going to start with the orca on his lower arm. I’d worked up that part of the drawing and had it ready for our first session, but he didn’t turn up.
It was my first no-show in a long time, and I was pretty bummed. I’d been looking forward to getting stuck into this one.
I still really wanted to tattoo the design, so I spent the rest of the day finishing the colour digitally and putting it up on Instagram to see if someone else might be keen.
Luckily, Julie got in touch and wanted to get it!
About a week later, she came in and we got to do the orca after all. A different person and a different spot, but the drawing had found a home.
I’m really happy with how it turned out, and super grateful to Julie for jumping on it. After being pretty disappointed the week before, it was awesome to finally see it as a tattoo.
When life gives you lemons, I guess you’ve got to make lemonade. Got to do my orca in the end. Happy days!
Thanks again, Julie!
Nicklas
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