Design Play: Design of a tiger tattoo

A tattoo is a form of body modification, made by inserting indelible ink into thedermis layer of the skin to change the pigment.

Tattooing has been practiced for centuries in many cultures and spread throughout the world. Some wear it as protection, some is a cultural ritual, some uses tattoo to mark criminals. Today, many people uses tattoo as a form of art and self expression.

I got an accident tattoo on the leg when I was a kid due to penetration of pencil lead. Back in uni days, I got myself a Sun tattoo as a celebration of a triumphant event...

Years has passed and I decided to add in another tattoo before stepping into fatherhood. Maybe this will be the last one, so I decided to design it myself...

Affiliated by my zodiac, I always wanted to have a tiger tattoo. I decided to create a tiger tattoo out of symbols from different cultures.

Since I am new on designing a tattoo, the design began by viewing other tiger tattoos...

To make the ratio more realistic, I began with a real tiger picture as back ground...

Then slowly adding in more elements...

trimming the mouth...

adding in the jaw and more symbol...

beautify the symbols and add in more symbols...

adding in some touch of borneo...

two symbols are added in for the eyes. More teeth added in:

Beautify the teeth and "fur" the lightning symbol:

comparison: middle symbol on sides of nose should be taken out

Symbol of adaptability added in

More symbol added in on forehead to make it look more complicated

Jaw side fur modified into symbol, pattern on nose side taken out:

Further modify side fur into symbols:

Change the nose into symbolic "thor's hammer mjolnir:

There are total 19 symbols in this tiger head tattoo, from cultures of Chinese, Borneo, Africa, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Norse (viking), Buddhism...