Create a Maori knife design for CNCone cutting

Hi!

This time a different project, no tattoos, but a design for a knife. It's not a normal knife for cutting your meat, but more a kind of artistic/decorative design. The final piece will be cut by a friend, who is using CNCOne at work. He needs a special kind of file format, a .dxf file.

This means that I need to use Adobe Illustrator to export the linedrawing of the knife, so he can import it into CNCone, a CAD/CAM software program, used to instruct a carving machine to make objects from all kinds of metal, wood and plastics.

For more information on CNCone, you can visit a blog called CNCzone.com

Well, first I started of with a pencil sketch and scanned it. Placed the file in Adobe Illustrator and used the pen tool to trace the image. Here's a picture of the first knife I designed:

Then I used the 3d filter to add some depth:

The file was exported as a .dxf file so my friend could use it CNCone, but there was a problem with the design, especially the inner parts. 

The spindle that carves out the metal is round with a minimim diameter of 4 mm, so it can not carve all the sharp edges of the design. The outer shape was not a problem fortunately.

So I had to adjust the knife design, back to the drawing table....

I made another sketch, and used some other patterns inside the knife/blade. You can see that only half the patterns are drawn, it's simply a matter of mirroring the design and voilá!

Exported the linedrawing and to test the .dxf file I opened it in Rhinoceros 3D. 

To show you the full process from sketch to a ready-to-carve file I recorded a video:

When the final design is carved by a CNC machine, I will post some pictures or a small video.

Any questions? Just let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm

Shoulder tattoo design in Maori style

Hi,

Recently I created two new tattoo designs for my webshop. The first tattoo is a Kirituhi Maori style shoulder design. All my tattoos are hand-drawn on A3 paper with a B2 pencil. First I sketch the basic shape of the shoulder and upper arm and then add some koru (fern) curves that flow nicely through the design. Once I'm satisfied with the overall look, I start filling in the patterns between the korus with triangles, lines, spearheads and other repetitive shapes. Below are a few pictures of the tattoo design in progress

For my Youtube channel I created a special video, so you can see the total design from start to finish:

The final high resolution is available on my website, but can also be purchased here on my blog. Once I receive your payment, you will get 2 high quality .jpg files. The first one is the full design including gradients, the second is the linedrawing or stencil for your tattoo artist, so he can easily transfer the outlines of the design to your skin with thermal paper.

Shoulder tattoo 150

Size: 30 x 30 cm (12 x 12 inches)

Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

If you have a question regarding this tattoo or other designs, just let me know or visit www.storm3d.com for all high resolution tattoos.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com

Samoan shoulder tattoo design tattooed

Hi!

Recently I designed a few new shoulder tattoos in Samoan style with some Maori koru shapes:

  

The designs are inspired on the Samoan tatoos like the Sonny Bill Williams shoulder tatoo. The drawings have really detailed patterns and repetitive shapes, mostly in a symmetrical design. 

These designs are covering the shoulder part and part of the upper arm, to just above the elbow.

Yesterday I received a photo from a tattoo artist (Nate Gamble, Australia) who had done the right design shown above on one of his clients. He was really pleased with the result and just bought a new design, this time the second tattoo above.

Here's the photo of the tattooed design:

Shoulder tattoo 141 tattooed by Nate Gamble, Australia

I have seen a lot of my tattoos done by different tattoo artists, but this one is a really nice and clean piece I must say.

Any questions? Just let me know!

Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

Maori fern tattoo with koru swirls

Hi,

A few months ago I created a Maori fern tattoo design for a customer from New-Zealand, also named Aotearoa. The koru is the spiral shape of  a silver fern frond and it is a symbol of growth, strenght and peace. This symbol is used in a lot of Maori art, carving and tattoos.

My Kiwi customer from the Pacific Ocean asked me to design a tattoo to cover the full side of his body, from armpit to just above the hip. First I created a sketch with pencil for the rough outline of the fern. Then I added some repetitive leaves and koru shapes on the bottom. To add some more depth and 3d to the fern and arrow shapes, I added shadings to the leaves. The high resolution tattoo is optimized and the linedrawing or stencil is created for the customer. This linedrawing is used to transfer the outlines of this koru tatoo to the body.

Yesterday I received this photo of the final tattoo on the side of the customers body. It looks great!

If you are interested in a custom maori inspired tattoo or a silver fern design, please let me know and maybe I can help you out with a unique piece.

Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

www.storm3d.com

Shoulder sleeve tatou in Maori Kirituhi style

Hi,

It has been quite a while since my last post, but I have been really busy with all kind of projects, from logo design to t-shirts and other custom projects.

Here's my latest design in Maori style, a shoulder sleeve for my galleries, where it is available for purchase.
This series of pictures shows the process from the first pencil sketch to the traced design:

The final traced drawing, before the scanning and optimizing process:

Some nice  depth of field photos:

Upper part of the Maori tattoo, partially traced with a marker

a nice overview of the total tattoo

The completed design with flowing maori koru curves

If you're interested in ordering the high resolution design and stencil/linedrawing of this tattoo, simply hit the 'buy now' button below and you will be forwarded to the Paypal website, so you can order with creditcard or Paypal account:

Size: 30 x 26 cm (11,5 x 10 inches)

Product code: Shoulder tattoo 155

Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

Any questions? Just let me know.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com
www.storm3d.com

Samoan Maori shoulder tattoo design

Hi,



Here's the 3rd design of my latest sketches in a Samoan inspired tattoo set. This design has some influences from the Maori style, but is mainly filled with Samoan patterns.



I started with a pencil and roughly sketched the outer lines, then traced some tribal patterns:













































For these symmetrical Samoan designs it's always a bit of a surprise how the final design will look. I only draw half the design and then mirror it in Photoshop. This seems easy, but it quity tricky to design the patterns in such a way that it doesn't have an obvious vertical line in the center.



Here's a picture of half the design finished:











































You can order the finished high resolution design right now, by simply clicking the "Buy now" button. Once I receive your payment, you'll receive an e-mail with a high resolution image + a linedrawing/stencil for your tattoo artist.

Samoan inspired shoulder sleeve design 3

Size: 30 x 24 cm (12 x 9 inches)

Product code: Samoan 103

Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

Any questions? Just let me know.



Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

www.storm3d.com

Samoan tattoo for the shoulder

Hi,



I have been quite busy for the last few weeks, but I wanted to show you some sketches and tattoo pieces that I did. It's another Samaon/Maori inspired shoulder sleeve I did for my galleries.



As you can read in my previous post, I'm working on a new series of Samoan inspired tattoos for the shoulder, with some influences from the Maori style.

You can find all 3 Samoan sleeves here.





Here's the second sketch I did:

This design is roughly based/inspired by the Sonny Bill Williams tattoo.

It has really detailed tribal elements and covers the upperarm from shoulder to elbow. It wraps around to the biceps and back side of the arm.



You can order the high resolution image of this design, by simply clicking the "buy now" below. You get the high quality files sent by e-mail once I receive your payment.

Samoan inspired shoulder tattoo design 2

Size: 30 x 24 cm (12 x 9 inches)

Product code: Samoan 102

Price: 41,65 euro (57 USD)

Any questions? Just let me know.



Kind regards, Mark Storm

info@storm3d.com

www.storm3d.com

New maori tattoo gallery optimized for Ipad and Iphone

Hi,

I recently bought an Apple Ipad2 and use it mainly for shooting pictures and recording movies of the design process. I can easily add these photos to my twitter messages (@storm3d) and upload the movies to Youtube.com in a few clicks. It's also very usefull for quickly browsing the web...

There's only one big downside to Apple products, and that's the fact that Apple doesn't support the Adobe Flash plugin. For my website galleries, I use(d) the "simpleviewer" plugin, that creates a really nice and simple Flash gallery with a thumbnail and a larger image next or above it.

Now I use my Ipad, I see that a lot of mobile visitors cannot see the designs in my gallery, so I had to make changes to it.

My website design is based on the principles of the "Save the Pixel" e-book by Ben Hunt, which states that the design should be as simple as possible and every pixel should contribute to the main goal of the website.

Keeping this in mind, I redesigned the tattoo galleries. Here's a picture of the 'before' gallery:

The red marked area is the flash movie containing the maori tattoo gallery.

People could scroll through the images and see the number and price of the design.

Before ordering it, customers had to select the correct tattoo nr. from the dropdown list and hit the "Buy Now" button.


People often selected the wrong tattoo and bought the piece they didn't want.



To get rid of this problem I decided to implement the Lightbox plugin/script to my gallery instead of the simpleviewer movie.
One other advantage was that I could add the size and price of the design in the header/description and even add a Paypal button, so it became impossible to order the wrong tatoo design.

The new gallery is now looking like this, with the lightbox frame popping up:
















So if you have an Ipad, Ipod or Iphone, please check it out and let me know if there's anything I can change to improve it.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com

Extension shoulder tattoo in Polynesian mixed style

Hi,

Last year I created a half sleeve tattoo in polynesian style for a Dutch customer. It's a bit of a mixed tribal style, it has some stylized flowers and other repetitive shapes:


















Unfortunately the tattoo artist applied the stencil too small, so it now needs some extensions.

I marked the upper shoulder part that had to be inked.


I created a basic sketch and once it was approved I finalized it. To give you an idea how that process works I shot a short movie and placed it on youtube:

If you liked this video, or want to see more, please take a look on my youtube channel or visit my website Storm3d.com

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com
www.storm3d.com

Tribal tattoo mask design polynesian style

Hi,

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from the company "Paddle Republic", a surf/fitness school in the Key West, Florida.

Their design studio had come up with a polynesian mask logo, but it needed some adjustment, especially on the mask, because it was a design from a stock library. I was asked to redraw the (tattoo)mask with an original Maori inspired touch to it.

This is the logo from their design studio:












I made two pencil sketches with a different look:





















It was in the right style but they asked me to do another sketch, a bit more round and with more koru/maori curves:





















This was exactly what they were looking for, so I could trace the design in Adobe Illustrator, to make it a high quality vector logo:





















Once that was completed, I added the words "Paddle Republic" and replaced the red color:






Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com
www.storm3d.com

Maori kneeband tattoo design

Hi!

Here are the pictures my latest project, a kneeband tattoo in Maori/Kirituhi style. The tatoo wraps around the upper leg, just above the knee.
It has some Samoan and polynesian elements, but mainly consists of Koru tribal designs, filled with small detailed shapes.

First I made a basic layout with flowing curves and added some rows of arrowheads:









Then I filled the tattoo with polynesian and samoan elements, like triangles, waves and lines:









My customer approved the design, so I could trace it and optimize the high resolution tattoo in Photoshop. Finally I added some nice shadings. This gives an effect of depth in the overal image









For updates and current projects, you can follow me on Twitter.

Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com
www.storm3d.com