Breaking The Tattoo Into Back Pieces! Andre’s Mapping Process — Andre Malcolm Fireside Tattoo Network

Breaking The Tattoo Into Back Pieces! Andre’s Mapping Process

[24:42] “My mom could sew, and so I asked her for advice. And, she was like ‘you gotta measure their back out’ so I started to take measurements for everyone”

— Andre Malcolm

First and foremost, when delving into large-scale tattoo work, measuring the body becomes immensely important. Each tattoo client possesses a unique body size and shape, even if they are identical twins. No design at that scale can be a one-size-fits-all approach. While you don't need to trace every muscle contour and detail, obtaining a general outline with key landmarks proves incredibly beneficial. These landmarks can include bones, scars, prominent dips, or existing tattoos.

Andre also highlights the significance of thumbnailing. Thumbnailing is an underutilized practice in tattooing and, quite frankly, in the broader art world. Creating thumbnail sketches of your main idea offers several immediate benefits:

• It swiftly maps out the overall shapes, allowing you to visualize how different elements will fit together.
• It enables multiple iterations of those shapes, empowering you to discover the most impactful layout.
• It prevents you from investing excessive time in a single idea, thus avoiding becoming overly committed to a design that might not be ideal.

Give thumbnailing a try! It's a low-risk endeavor that can yield remarkable results. You'll be pleasantly surprised by how much your design process and speed improve when you find a layout that really excites you.

Watch the full epsidoe:

Full Back Stencils On One Sheet?! | Andre Malcolm | EP 235