How To Draw Tattoos On Characters

[OC] giving characters tattoos is good in theory but horrible to actually design

r/characterdrawing - [OC] giving characters tattoos is good in theory but horrible to actually design

level 1

drawing on a flat surface is hard enough

drawing on a person is way harder

drawing on a flat surface but trying to make it look like you're drawing on a person is torture

level 1

Do u just mean it's harder, because this looks awesome

level 2

Op · 3y Artist

lol thanks! basically I mean that it takes ages to get a design looking the way you want, then it takes ages to draw it over and over again in different drawings, all from different angles. Some, like the tree, you can save an image and copy paste, but the sleeve is harder because its essentially a tube shaped drawing

level 1

· 3y Artist

Looks awesome! But yeah it really adds to the time it takes to draw them every time. I have a heavily scarred character and that's bad enough, gotta pull out the reference sheet every time.

level 2

Op · 3y Artist

same actually, i have another character thats both heavily scarred and has two tattoo sleeves. nightmare to draw. Im tempted to just dress him in like, turtlenecks all the time lmao

level 1

The tattoos don't seem that bad, but the freckles

level 2

Op · 3y Artist

freckles were done with a spotty photoshop brush, if I had to do those individually I think I would break down

level 1

· 3y Artist

I had a really rough time a month or so again with a client who wanted his character to have tattoos covering both of his arms. I totally feel your pain, I ended up hiding as much of it as possible while still showing that they're there.