I don't want peace, I wanna be right
This design was made for the Flash Tattoo contest on Threadless. I wanted to come up with something inspired by Sailor Jerry's famous old school tattoos and didn't care so much about the "flash" aspect of the contest. The briefing below was the kickstart for this tough puppy who wants to make sure everybody knows it's not backing up from its opinions.
The original briefing came as follows:
The History
While tattooing is said to have started some 5,000 years ago and has since spanned many cultures for many different purposes, more modern “flash” tattooing in the United States became more popularized in the early 1900s, when sailors wanted to replicate what they saw overseas during wartime.
While tattooing is said to have started some 5,000 years ago and has since spanned many cultures for many different purposes, more modern “flash” tattooing in the United States became more popularized in the early 1900s, when sailors wanted to replicate what they saw overseas during wartime.
Originally frowned upon and negatively associated with carnival attractions and criminals, tattoos quickly became fashionable for men and women alike. While the popularity ebbed and flowed since those early days, now tattoo parlors are everywhere. People choose body art to showcase both deep, symbolic meaning and incredible art by their favorite artists, and some celebrity tattooers even have their own TV shows!
This Challenge
For this challenge, we want you to delve into the world of flash art, developing iconic imagery that could be considered for a tattoo. Typically flash art can be tattooed in about 30 minutes, so please do keep this in mind when you’re creating your submission! Choose a known flash art style, or stay with your own but with tattoo-like leanings. You could create your very own flash sheet populated with a menagerie of characters, words, patterns, or all of the above. Or simply make a commentary on the culture and lifestyle of flash and tattooing in your own special way.
For this challenge, we want you to delve into the world of flash art, developing iconic imagery that could be considered for a tattoo. Typically flash art can be tattooed in about 30 minutes, so please do keep this in mind when you’re creating your submission! Choose a known flash art style, or stay with your own but with tattoo-like leanings. You could create your very own flash sheet populated with a menagerie of characters, words, patterns, or all of the above. Or simply make a commentary on the culture and lifestyle of flash and tattooing in your own special way.
Sketches and final art are below. All products featuring this design are available at my brand store heysiyi.threadless.com.
Thank you for your visit!
