Russ Abbott demonstrates his process for designing tattoos using the Procreate tools made by Tattoo Smart. These tools provide quick access to everything you might need to design; a client model, reference images, and brush sets for rendering.
Video Transcript:
Hey I’m Russ Abbott, tattoo artist and founder of Tattoo Smart. For this video I created this back piece concept in Procreate; using Tattoo Smart digital tools for the model, reference material, and rendering of the design.
This process took me just two hours from start to finish. I will link the brush sets I used in the description for you to check out. Now, let’s get into the design process. [ Music ] Before we created all of these ready-made design assets, I used to search for hours to find the right reference materials. By the time I found enough reference for a piece this complex, I’m so worn out I don’t even feel like designing anymore. And as a tattooer, you know that sometimes you’re just trying to get some visuals going so that you and your client can be committed to a particular direction.
So at the beginning, you see me adding in a body template from our set called Protoplast; it’s a giant library of human body images that were created using 3d models. I love to quickly choose one of these to represent my potential client. They come in a range of body types, so you can have some variety to choose from. With the Protoplast canvas in place, I add new layers and start choosing different references, mostly from a Tattoo Smart set called All Who Wander. It has a bunch of great nautical themed elements in it that are perfect for this design. Working with the ideas in All Who Wander gave me a lot of inspiration for the tattoo design.
There are ideas on here that simply would not have happened without the interesting choices in this stamp brush package. Having that quick access to designs is essential to keeping the flow going and keeping it fun, it’s that kind of rapid prototyping that working this way allows me to love it so much [, Music ].
I have to tell you, when I’m doing this type of process, I’m not so much committed to this being the final tattoo design. It’s more of an exploration to help me and my client get closer to the final look of the piece I use. The efficiencies and the digital tools get a lot more advanced work done before I actually start tattooing.
Thanks to this process me and my client can start a large project off with way more confidence that we have a great plan: [ Music, ], [ Applause, ], [, Music, ], bye, [, Music, ], [, Music ]. Once i finished the design, I switched over to some of my brushes from the Spit Shade set to start rendering everything these brushes, simulate markers, pins and watercolor brushes, and they are able to work very quickly to establish the values in the artwork. It’S really when you start laying in the various tones that you can start to see how everything might work as a real tattoo, [, Music, ], so [ Music, ], [, Music, ], [, Music, ], [, Music, ], [, Music ]. I hope you enjoyed this peek into my design process if you’re interested in more digital design and tattoo content be sure to subscribe to. Our channel also check the links in the description for our socials and the procreate tools used in this video.
Thanks for watching we’ll see you next time, [ Music, ],
