29/09/2026
These celestial snakes make me go brrrrr. Want to know why they look like this? Swipe right this way, dear đ
This was a custom project for Emma who has a few other tattoos by me (spot the skull heart, done in early 2022!) and a neat little collection from other artists too.
However this had left an awkwardly shaped gap down the front of her arm. We had a little consultation to talk about out what could be done about it. As Emma already had the idea of something flora and fauna themed, and had a reference picture with her of two intertwined snakes, I immediately jumped on the idea of snakes.
(Also, just look at that texture, mmmmmm)
But, for something like this, it is nearly impossible to place a stencil just right. I simply took a reference photo of Emmaâs arm and drew a mock-up of what needed to be done, knowing that I would have to free hand the entire thing.
So on the day, we started with roughly an hour of drawing this design directly on her arm, with markers. As a customer, it can be a daunting process and you really just have to trust your artistâs capabilities when getting a tattoo, completely freehanded. But I was constantly referring to the mock up, so we didnât go in blind!
Freehanding a tattoo like this just allows you to really maximize what can be done when filling in gaps. Itâs also a great tool to really make the tattoos meld with your shapes and muscles. I hope to do more of it, because tattooing these illustrative blackwork snakes was a real treat!
