Tattoo

William with Philip's Tattoo digital collage ©evertson 2009

My wife found a beautiful gem of a book for me. Published

in 2005; I hope you are not as far behind on your reading

list as I. The Tattoo Artist by Jill Clement is a beautifully

constructed story of Sara, an early modernist artist. The

novel unravels the tale of her art; successes, failures and

ultimately the pain of using her own body as a canvas. It

combines threads of early 20th century modern art and

primitive votive art forms with themes of immortality

and perseverance. The construction of identity forms a rich

undercurrent. While not without a few quirks: I found her

descriptions of Ta'un'uuan life much more believable

than her artist life in Manhattan. Still, I was impressed

by Ms. Ciments imagination and wit.

While not finding myself in the same circumstance as

protagonists Sara and her lover Philip, I was inspired to

attempt a version of Philip's tattoo.

Starting with my head shot I added a layer of black lines

rotated to the tilt of my head and created a drop shadow.

I made a new channel for the head shot and adjusted for

a high contrast.

Using the displacement filter I mapped the drop shadow

to my high contrast face channel. I continued with the

eraser, dodge and burn tools to create a more life-like

appearance.

I worked with Philip's tattoo mainly because I think I

would rather have Jill Clement's words paint the

picture of Sara's.