CloudWatcher Tattoo

For my Final Course Project at my Visual Arts university, I created four pieces that explore the relationship between the human figure and cyborgs. Drawing inspiration from movies like MATRIX, TERMINATOR, and ROBOCOP, I designed each piece to represent different stages of my creative process: inspiration, sketchbook, development, and digital finishing. Each piece was intended to be tattooed on different parts of the body.

One of my pieces, called CloudWatcher, was inspired by the concept of cloud computing, which I find fascinating for representing a superior consciousness of virtual cognition used by the world wide web. I produced the composition of the drawing through photo collage and used artificial intelligence tools to generate the face of the figure. I also utilized digital production tools such as symmetry and image distortion. The remaining adornments were created through visual references that I collected on the internet . I used recurring elements in oriental tattooing and symmetrical compositions that are very present in art nouveau.

For this project, I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow artist, Clarice, who had already shown an interest in cyberpunk aesthetics for her next tattoo. I had thought of her as the perfect support for this work from the beginning of the creation process. Our process took two full sessions (fig. 26b), one to delineate the finer lines and small details, which proved to be the most difficult session due to Clarice's spasms while tattooing her calf. The second session occurred a few weeks later to apply the thicker contour lines and details of shadow and volume to the composition. Interestingly, at Clarice's suggestion, I modified the hands in relation to the original project, breaking the hardness of symmetry and conferring more lightness to the drawing. I used a photo of Clarice's own hands as a reference, which gave me the idea to make this modification, as well as the change of the geometric-technological patterns in the lower part of the drawing.