Final year project
Communicating with Clients | Tattoo Tales [Read more]
Tattoo Tales book cover
This image shows the front and back cover of the book which I made for my project 'Tattoo Tales' which is about a tattooed lady performing in a circus, relating to the 1800's freakshows. The front cover shows the main character in a circus setting and the back cover shows a range of the other characters who appear throughout the book.
I made the illustrations for this using watercolour paints and pencils, and then digital editing on Adobe Photoshop.
This is one of the projects I have enjoyed the most throughout my time at Loughborough University as I was able to choose topics which I was particularly interested in and form unique outcomes.
Tattoo Tales internal spread 1
This image shows one of the internal spreads for the book created in the project 'Tattoo Tales', where the main character is travelling by boat to America.
The main narrative of the book is that the tattooed lady is planning what story she will sell to people who come to see her in the circus, this page allows the reader to consider if she actually travelled at all or if it is just a part of her story.
This illustration was created using watercolour paints and fine-liner pens, and then editing in Adobe Photoshop.
Tattoo Tales internal spread 2
This is another internal page from the book created for 'Tattoo Tales' which shows the Tattooed Lady being tattooed by a sailor, which links back to tattooing at the time the book is set (the late 1800's) as sailors would often get tattoos or train to tattoo while travelling to mark where they had been or what they had done.
As with the other illustrations designed for this project I used watercolour paints and pencils, fine-liner pens and Adobe Photoshop to create the image.
Communicating with Clients tribal flash poster
Communicating with Clients was a project which aimed to aid communication between tattoo artists and their clients when discussing styles of tattoos, and to allow the clients to learn more about the style of tattooing they have an interest in. I chose to create double sided A4 posters to be presented to clients, and sets of consultation cards. Each poster and set of cards needed to cover one style, and so for this project I chose to cover two styles of tattooing, tribal and traditional.
This image shows the front of the tribal poster and is linked to flash sheets found in tattoo studios. The aim of this is to use the three tattoo designs to represent characteristics of the style, which can then be discussed by the tattoo artist using the sheet to aid communication.
My development process meant that I designed this in my sketchbook first, and then produced the outcome in this image digitally using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Communicating with Clients tribal meanings poster
This image is the back of the previous image (Communicating with Clients Tribal Flash Poster). This poster was designed to allow the client who has an interest in tattooing history and culture to learn more about designs used in tribal style tattooing. The grey images in the back show what the tattoo designs or elements of the tattoo designs will often look like, and the coloured image on top is based around what they represent.
I used pencils, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to create this outcome.
Communicating with Clients traditional flash poster
The second double sided poster I created for Communicating with Clients was based around traditional tattooing styles. I again chose to illustrate three tattoo designs to provide enough visual information to allow for the tattoo artist to discuss the style, and used subject matter common for this style.
I chose to produce the illustrations digitally using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Communicating with Clients traditional meanings poster
This is the back of the previous image (Communicating with Clients Traditional Flash Poster) and shows illustrated examples of this style of tattoo design and the meanings behind the common designs. For this poster the grey images in the background help to show the meanings behind the design, while the coloured front images represent the designs themselves.
The images were created using pencils, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.
Communicating with Clients consultation cards
I created 2 sets of 6 consultation (business) cards for this project, here I have shown what two cards from each set look like, and what the back of every card looks like. These were made using imagery from the two double sided posters, and contain simplified text due to their size. They have been designed to work alongside the posters and therefore contain very similar visual language.
Abbie Pratley
My name is Abbie, I focus on producing illustrative work and have aimed my studies around the subject of tattooing.
I completed two projects for my final module with a focus on illustration, these were Communicating with Clients and Tattoo Tales. Both study the history and culture of tattooing although they produced very different outcomes. Communicating with Clients required me to research a range of tattoo styles and the meaning behind their designs to produce informative visuals which fit into the context of a tattoo studio and helped tattoo artists with specific knowledge communicate with clients who lacked the terminology and in depth understanding. Tattoo Tales required a more specified study into tattoo history, and explored tattooed circus performers in the late 1800s to produce an illustrated narrative book about the stories these people told and how they chose this profession.
I focus on illustration within my work for a range of purposes which is why I opted to produce diverse outcomes ranging from a book to posters and consultation (business) cards; I also have a large interest in the tattoo industry and would like to have a career within it.
Final year project
Communicating with Clients | Tattoo Tales
Awards
I was awarded the artists choice award in the Patchings A5 Christmas Exhibition 2019, at the Patchings Art Centre in Calverton, for one of my illustrative drawings of Cornwall.