Tattoo silhouette and negative space

[henry rodriguez]

Yep those legs have impact. I've seen them a few times in person and still last year at the SF convention when I saw Him with his pants off I had to drop what I was doing and run over to get another look

[Hrubarb]

Yep those legs have impact. I've seen them a few times in person and still last year at the SF convention when I saw Him with his pants off I had to drop what I was doing and run over to get another look

man. if context isn't everything...

[Iwar]

I know these have been posted several times in different threads, but not from this angle I think.

[lving4today]

I could stare at those legs for days...nohomo

[mtlsam]

I found this thread to be pretty interesting as well. I started a thread about star and dot filler and got some cool imput. Here's the link

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-101/1649-fill-not-fill-space-between.html

I'd love to keep this topic going!

[Janine]

Hmm interesting thread. I always thought the more the better personally but I understand your what you mean.

[Iwar]

Found another one...

[gougetheeyes]

Found another one...

Saw this on FB, thought, "Oh man, that's one of THE LEGS!" Then thought of LST and about posting it. Then thought, "Eh, I bet Iwar will post it." YOU'RE PREDICTABLE IWAR

[Iwar]

Saw this on FB, thought, "Oh man, that's one of THE LEGS!" Then thought of LST and about posting it. Then thought, "Eh, I bet Iwar will post it." YOU'RE PREDICTABLE IWAR

Haha! I guess I am.

I bet that dude is going to be a little creeped out if he finds this thread and see so many people obsessing over his legs.

[Dellwood]

Hey Folks:

I am starting a leg sleeve (s) with Stuart Cripwell. I am getting tattoo about once about every other week and you can see what we have done so far below. For the first few pieces, I just picked stuff I liked and had it tattooed in spots I thought would fit my body well. Now, I still pick out the piece but Stuart outlines the negative space [ex: the empty slot of skin between two tattoos] on tracing paper. He then draws the piece, adding and taking away, so that it fits in the outline.

Best, Dellwood

P.S. I am in the market for good set of kneecap tattoos ideas. I know there is a thread on this but was hoping for some more suggestions taking into consideration negative space, traditional style tattoos. I have been looking at Spider Webb's books of traditional American body suits and the knees are always hard to make out. From what I can see, though, it seems like suns, nautical stars/hexes, spider webs, and elephant heads were pretty common.

[Kev]

I thought this belonged here as a great example of negative space. I also like how one arm has the star and dot filler vs. the other non filled. I think the non-filled arm is much stronger:

[Wilcox]

I love this picture above, its a perfect example for this conversation. Not only does the arm with no filer look stronger now but you can tell that the negative space is going to give those tattoos room to grow over time and not blur right into each other. I will be using this photo as an example to future clients who want smaller traditional pieces on why background isn't necessarily needed to make a sleeve look complete and finished. And that stomach piece is insane, so simple and so strong, love it!

[Kev]

I wish I knew the OG source, but from what I could find, the pic was taken at the Philly Tattoo Convention

[CultExciter]

I wish I knew the OG source, but from what I could find, the pic was taken at the Philly Tattoo Convention

I think that might be the Smith Street shop kid.

[MadeIndelible]

I am on the fence about whether or not to fill in negative space in a traditional American sleeve or set of tattoos. I love those Cripwell legs, but I also love stars and dots as filler. Also, little tiny daggers, flowers, hearts, eagles, etc. work really well as filler. I'd like to know what y'all think about large scale Japanese work and backgrounds/filler, though. Personally, I think Japanese work needs a background to look its absolute best. Still a tough decision. Some examples:

Not sure who the tattooer is on these two (any help would be appreciated):

vs

Horiharu:

Horitoshi I:

Horiyoshi III:

[cvportagee]

I am with you on the large scale Japanese work. To me it needs a background to look its best.

[David Flores]

I thought this belonged here as a great example of negative space. I also like how one arm has the star and dot filler vs. the other non filled. I think the non-filled arm is much stronger:

I think his right arm has too many stars and dots. I would have gotten more small tattoos and did just a few stars and dots to tie it together. Pretty good collection nonetheless.

[bulldog]

agree, i think space around the tattoos looks better

[Kev]

I thought this belonged here as a great example of negative space. I also like how one arm has the star and dot filler vs. the other non filled. I think the non-filled arm is much stronger:

Figured out Krooked Ken did the belly rocker- not sure on the rest.

[sbrookins]

I was just looking at the new Zeis book the other day and was just thinking how a sleeve would look with traditional tattoos overlapping, almost as if you had the perfect amount of negative space to let different tattoos peek out from behind the foreground ones.. I don't know if I'm explaining it right, good examples out of the book would be the Hundahl crying babies one or the jeremy joachim one.. Although you would really have to have a seperation there, one as traditional warm colors, and the other some cool grayline or vice versa.

[keepcalm]

Sorry to drag up an old thread (not sure if that's bad form, but I don't believe I'm able to start new ones yet) -- I just had a little question that relates to this.

At some point soon, I'll be getting my third tattoo on the back/top of my shoulder, possibly onto my upper arm. It's gonna be a reworked design of the concept in the illustration below. It's possible that afterward, I'll get brave enough to head down my arm with some other nautical-themed stuff (other ship/shipwrecked stuff, an octopus, a mermaid), but I would want them to be "stand-alone" pieces, like the left arm of that guy in the image that @Kev posted up there ^^ (i.e., no filler, just negative space around them).

So my question is, if I don't want an entire integrated sleeve, is it necessary to talk through the possibilities for my entire arm with my artist before I get this first one at the top of my shoulder/back done? Or can I just go for it, and figure out what fits where for the rest later?

I don't want to overthink it since it's possible I won't get a bunch more after all, but I also want to make sure I have at least thought ahead a little if I do decide to keep going.

Sorry for the rambling, and thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[mtlsam]

Hi Keepcalm,

I wouldn't worry too much about the planning right now. The beauty of old-school designs is the you can just "stamp" them on and have a great sleeve. My sleeve came together from a bunch of bigger and smaller tattoos placed a bit haphazardly. I had ideas of what I liked, but was open to getting classic designs that filled the spaces I had to work with. An arm has a lot more space than you might think!

[keepcalm]

Hey, thanks @mtlsam! I figured that was probably the case, but I'm not super savvy in the tattoo world yet so I'm never sure what's "typical." Only time will tell if I get brave up to "use up" more of that arm real estate! :) If I do, I know I'll want more straightforward designs in black and gray, so hopefully they would all meld together/harmonize with no problem.

Thanks again for the reply!

[beez]

@keepcalm it becomes not so much an issue of bravery as an all consuming compulsion, lol! Good luck and have fun with all this!

[vegdad]

I have to admit after looking at the above image I am really leaning towards filling out my arms with this... have some text , feathers, and a koi (not overly Asian) that could be worked into the over all design....