Davey’s new Tattoo

Dave's Tat
My friend Dave Whitney just moved away from Portland and a few days before he left he asked me to design a tattoo for him. He already decided that he wanted an anchor with the word “Portland” somehow incorporated, possibly written in rope or something. After some experimentation I realized it would be pretty rad to incorporate the Portland sign that adorns the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

Here are the initial photoshop mockups:
Dave's Tat

And my final version, all simplified for the sake of tattooing:
Dave's Tat

Overall it came out pretty close, though it got shaded instead of a solid infill, but still looks damn good. It would have been cool to retain the typography from the Portland sign but I can understand how it would be tough to do specific typefaces with a tattoo gun.

One Response to “Davey’s new Tattoo”

  1. Stv Mllr says:

    Yeah, it would have been cool to have the sign detail incorporated into the tattoo as well. Still, pretty cool. I heard getting the Portland Tram tattooed going from your shoulder to your buttcrack…can’t wait to see that.

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