Octopus Tattoo

December 24, 2013

Today is Christmas Eve day so we did what any normal family would do and got some tattoos. Technically mine was started last night, but we did all of the shading today.

Our artist, Roberto Galbiani, an Italian architect-turned-tattoo-genius, was introduced to us by friends that run our favorite cafe (Pablo). If you remember back to the post about my Marquesan Tattoo, you might recall that I wasn’t sure that I would ever get another one. This opportunity made for too good of a story to pass up, and I was at a moment where I had something that I wanted to record in skin, so I enthusiastically pursued it.

We met several times over the course of a week to discuss possible design options and work out the intricacies of a design that, at first, I thought was too difficult to undertake. Robbie loved the idea though and wouldn’t let go of it until he had a gorgeous pencil drawing worked out.

When I saw the final drawing, I wanted to start right away. So we did, in my office in New Farm, after everyone left for the day. We set up a little studio, turned on some music, and Robbie got to work.

It took all night (5 hours) to do the lines, and another afternoon (5 more hours) to do the shading, but the result is magnificent. In addition to recording a part of my life in beautiful and complex detail, I also made a new friend. Ain’t life grand?

 

(music: Starlit, by Erin McKeown, used without permission but I promise to split all the money with her)

5 comments

  1. Comment by svceolmor

    svceolmor December 24, 2013 at 3:34 am

    Oh very cool! I am bummed you have not yet included still shot. It looks like it is going to be beautiful and I want to see!!

    • Comment by Tucker Bradford

      Tucker Bradford December 24, 2013 at 3:08 pm

      stills added. Sorry about that!

  2. Comment by Elizabeth

    Elizabeth December 24, 2013 at 8:04 pm

    AWESOME. And Erin talked about her tattoos when I saw her in Berkeley last spring. 🙂

  3. Comment by Charity

    Charity December 26, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    That is an incredible tattoo!

  4. Comment by roberto

    roberto January 13, 2014 at 8:32 pm

    It Is one of the best things i ever seen!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Amazing day, amazing people and this amazing memories!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments are closed.

Go top