More tattoo pondering...
Jun. 22nd, 2009 03:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmuppetSo as I mentioned here, I'm really engrossed in thinking about more long-term tattoo plans, since we're probably only 2-4 sessions from being done with this one...
Since my late teens, early twenties, I've been planning close to full-body coverage -- I used to joke that my main goal was to not run out of available skin before I ran out of breath, because I'd always want room to add more... It's one of the things I like about being big and fat, actually -- gives me a lot of surface area to work with, even if it is in complex and roll-y shapes that are an interesting challenge to work with.
Two large-scale pieces I've seriously considered that I think I'm not ever going to do, given that I'm going for a cohesive overall body pattern (although I may incorporate pieces of the ideas into other smaller more peripheral pieces): a giant red pacific octopus over my right breast, shoulder, arm and back, and one from years and years ago, a tree on my right hip, with a little girl reading, and images from my favorite children's stories floating out of the book and into the environment around the girl. It's entirely possible I'll still get an octopus tattooed somewhere on me, and also that I'll get some arrangement of my favorite children's book characters, maybe in a band around my right ankle, but they won't be the large-scale pieces I'd originally intended. I'm really drawn to the idea of the complementary piece on my right side, and a spinal piece about biology, sex, sexuality, and gender (mental note: consider some of Grafton's Botanica Sexualis images, and see if he could be commissioned to do one on the female sexual/reproductive system). I need to give a lot of thought and brainstorming and image-hunting to these projects; need to figure out what concepts and images are most relevant to me, and will work with the overall themes. And I need to think through what sorts of male/intersexed and sexuality images I want to work with -- what are the boundaries of the concept? I had to do that with the female piece already -- sorting through that I wasn't going to include figures that were part-animal, part-female (despite there being plenty that were really cool and fascinating), deciding that I wasn't going to include any figures wearing clothing, etc. I need to do that same process on the other side, and start researching images. It's going to be maybe even more complicated, since questions about what images to use are often going to revolve around hard cocks, frankly. How do I work with these images without never being able to go sleeveless in public? My left side is already barely worksafe, and that only because female nudes are conceptualized as art more easily in our culture, and because female arousal isn't clearly conveyed in sculpture the way male arousal is (although I've tended toward images with explicit vulva imagery, and often possibly masturbatory references). I might be able to put the less graphic images (especially men who aren't hard) on my arm/shoulder -- I've kind of done that on my left side with the female figures). What kinds of images of male bodies do I want? So far, I'm having trouble finding the body-shape variety I'm hoping for, although I've just barely begun scanning through a few searches. Also, if I'm including the less figural sexuality sculptures, where do I draw the line on that? Going from past to present, there is a logical inclusion of sex toys as art (some of the ancient eastern dildos are works of beauty). Does that mean I'd consider an image of a beautiful modern high-end toy? Maybe. Not sure. But there are a lot of really awesome pieces that are more abstract, and interestingly genderbending (I particularly recall a few penis sculptures with breasts). I didn't include any of the images I had that were vulvas only, without a full figure -- do I want to make the same limitation on my right side, or do I want to clearly also incorporate the concept of the organic flow between sculpture/religious icon/erotic icon/sex toy? How much of this is about the male form in sculpture, and how much is about sexuality? Where do the genderbending pieces fit in? On the 'science spine', how do I want to represent the X chromosome? electron micrograph photos come out pretty cool, and could stylistically work well with my current piece, I think. And in terms of making it clearly the X chromosome (at least in a way that's meaningful to me), we can just be very exact about the banding and centromere location and overall proportions. what other biological pieces are important to me? Can I incorporate one of Grafton's pieces along my spine, or will it be too crowded to do in the detail it needs? I'm tempted to consider an image of the undifferentiated embryological reproductive system at 9 weeks development (like the X chromosome, a nod to my biogeekery, and to the biological underpinnings of a challenge to a strictly dualistic view of biosex and gender).
So. Lots to think about. Lots of research to do. It took about two years of research on imagery for my left side before I was ready to start tattooing, so this is a good general point to start (although it'll be pretty backburner until the move is done!)
Since my late teens, early twenties, I've been planning close to full-body coverage -- I used to joke that my main goal was to not run out of available skin before I ran out of breath, because I'd always want room to add more... It's one of the things I like about being big and fat, actually -- gives me a lot of surface area to work with, even if it is in complex and roll-y shapes that are an interesting challenge to work with.
Two large-scale pieces I've seriously considered that I think I'm not ever going to do, given that I'm going for a cohesive overall body pattern (although I may incorporate pieces of the ideas into other smaller more peripheral pieces): a giant red pacific octopus over my right breast, shoulder, arm and back, and one from years and years ago, a tree on my right hip, with a little girl reading, and images from my favorite children's stories floating out of the book and into the environment around the girl. It's entirely possible I'll still get an octopus tattooed somewhere on me, and also that I'll get some arrangement of my favorite children's book characters, maybe in a band around my right ankle, but they won't be the large-scale pieces I'd originally intended. I'm really drawn to the idea of the complementary piece on my right side, and a spinal piece about biology, sex, sexuality, and gender (mental note: consider some of Grafton's Botanica Sexualis images, and see if he could be commissioned to do one on the female sexual/reproductive system). I need to give a lot of thought and brainstorming and image-hunting to these projects; need to figure out what concepts and images are most relevant to me, and will work with the overall themes. And I need to think through what sorts of male/intersexed and sexuality images I want to work with -- what are the boundaries of the concept? I had to do that with the female piece already -- sorting through that I wasn't going to include figures that were part-animal, part-female (despite there being plenty that were really cool and fascinating), deciding that I wasn't going to include any figures wearing clothing, etc. I need to do that same process on the other side, and start researching images. It's going to be maybe even more complicated, since questions about what images to use are often going to revolve around hard cocks, frankly. How do I work with these images without never being able to go sleeveless in public? My left side is already barely worksafe, and that only because female nudes are conceptualized as art more easily in our culture, and because female arousal isn't clearly conveyed in sculpture the way male arousal is (although I've tended toward images with explicit vulva imagery, and often possibly masturbatory references). I might be able to put the less graphic images (especially men who aren't hard) on my arm/shoulder -- I've kind of done that on my left side with the female figures). What kinds of images of male bodies do I want? So far, I'm having trouble finding the body-shape variety I'm hoping for, although I've just barely begun scanning through a few searches. Also, if I'm including the less figural sexuality sculptures, where do I draw the line on that? Going from past to present, there is a logical inclusion of sex toys as art (some of the ancient eastern dildos are works of beauty). Does that mean I'd consider an image of a beautiful modern high-end toy? Maybe. Not sure. But there are a lot of really awesome pieces that are more abstract, and interestingly genderbending (I particularly recall a few penis sculptures with breasts). I didn't include any of the images I had that were vulvas only, without a full figure -- do I want to make the same limitation on my right side, or do I want to clearly also incorporate the concept of the organic flow between sculpture/religious icon/erotic icon/sex toy? How much of this is about the male form in sculpture, and how much is about sexuality? Where do the genderbending pieces fit in? On the 'science spine', how do I want to represent the X chromosome? electron micrograph photos come out pretty cool, and could stylistically work well with my current piece, I think. And in terms of making it clearly the X chromosome (at least in a way that's meaningful to me), we can just be very exact about the banding and centromere location and overall proportions. what other biological pieces are important to me? Can I incorporate one of Grafton's pieces along my spine, or will it be too crowded to do in the detail it needs? I'm tempted to consider an image of the undifferentiated embryological reproductive system at 9 weeks development (like the X chromosome, a nod to my biogeekery, and to the biological underpinnings of a challenge to a strictly dualistic view of biosex and gender).
So. Lots to think about. Lots of research to do. It took about two years of research on imagery for my left side before I was ready to start tattooing, so this is a good general point to start (although it'll be pretty backburner until the move is done!)
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 02:46 pm (UTC)The idea of including full-on phalluses with figures is not a bad one, but to me, it would distract from the overall art. While it could be a fun party game, I think that playing "Hunt the Wang" on your shoulder or back would soon lose its shiny. I guess it'll come down to what you think should be included, which is how it should be, but I think the overall inkwork would look best with mostly figures. After all, you don't have too many purely-vulvic reps in your current work - none at all, if I remember right. It might misbalance your ink if you have too many dongs.
Still really liking the X chromosome over your spine, though. That's still hitting me as a bit of great design work.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 03:00 pm (UTC)*nod* I think I agree.
Still really liking the X chromosome over your spine, though. That's still hitting me as a bit of great design work.
*nod* Yeah, I'm really liking that one a lot. I think you're right about not trying to add too much else there, though.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 03:08 pm (UTC)http://www.microscopix.co.uk/chromosomes/index.htm
no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 04:14 pm (UTC)I like that pic, but in general, I prefer the pre-differentiated reproductive system. I know we can find better pictures, and the anterior view looks almost floral.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-22 04:17 pm (UTC)I think I could do both, in that regard. The clit tattoo doesn't fit conceptually there. It's monogendered, basically. The X and the predifferentiated reproductive system both do, and there are going to end up being several blank spaces down the line of my spine -- they wouldn't necessarily be directly proximal to each other.