Draw Tattoo Tribal

Draw Tattoo Tribal - Right, lets get started here, I know many tribal tattoo's have specific meaning behind them, but if you are looking for a complete one-off design, one that cannot be accessed by the millions then designing your own or indeed getting an artist to design one is definitely the way to go.

Personally, as an avid drawer of many things, I have designed all of my own tattoo's and subsequently, I have never seen them on anyone else's body.

Body art and tattooing is an extension of a persons personality, so I personally believe that it should reflect that in the work they have on their body. Obviously everybody has different reasons and ideas for their own body art, so in my opinion the best way to get the most individual design, which reflects your own personality is to do the designing yourself!

The sketch I have here on the right is showing the steps I would take in order to come up with a simple yet very effective and professional looking tattoo.

First of all I have drawn two curved lines which I feel have a nice flow to them, they cross over just above half way which gives me the 'heart' of the tattoo. If the design is going on a part of the body such as the lower leg or the upper arm, you can re-arrange the heart of the tattoo to accentuate the curves and shape of the body to get the most out of the desgn and this then would 'fit' the body area needed.

The next step is to decide on the thickness of the tribal design. You do this by doubling up the lines as seen opposite, things to bear in mind are: If the tattoo is going to be solid black, the area between the two lines will be the bit coloured in, so you have to be happy about the thickness of the lines, of course, everyone has their own preferences and each to their own, but the overall look of the tattoo is ultimately your choice, as you will be the one wearing it for many years.

Once the thickness of the lines has been decided, the next stage I have drawn is what I call 'spikes' attached to the curves of the tattoo. The one's I have put on this particular design have a more 'masculine' look about them but there is obviously nothing stopping you making the 'spikes' maybe more feminine or to give the tattoo a better flow, maybe along the lines of flowery if desired, there are so many options here and this is why I think its better to design your own stuff because you, and only you know what the images in your head look like, so there is no better person to transfer those images onto paper than you.

Once you have the main structure of the design, there isn't much left to do as far as construction is concerned, all that is needed is that, as you can see here, where the lines overlap other lines, the sketched lines inside the main body of the design will need to be erased, leaving a 'clean' tattoo design. It is very helpful to keep a totally clean copy aside, this is to allow you to experiment with the filling of the tattoo.

Most tribal tattoo's are solid black but that by no means pigeon hole's you into having your own design in black. You could leave it as a simple outline, or have the tips solid and gradually fading into the flesh of your body or into another colour, you can put an inner line of red inside the black outline giving it a shadow effect, the choice and possibilities are endless and it is totally down to your own ideas.

The main thing to remember is that you have to be happy with it as it will be you wearing the artwork so make sure it is 100% what you was looking for.