The Break Down of Davis Street Tattoo Composite

There’s something about tattoo artists and shops I totally love…

I don’t know whether it’s the F&$K YOU attitude, the personal expression, or the reckless abandon they have, but I probably should be a tattoo artist in my next life.

Regardless, today I’m going to Break Down the Davis Street Tattoo.

I have to say, these group of guys at Davis Street Tattoo in Dallas, TX where great to work with, and if you’re looking for a kick ass tattoo, I recommend stopping by their shop.

And while you’re there, complement them on how great the Photillustration looks hanging on their wall.

Now, let’s break these guys down…

Davis Street Tattoos

For me, Composite Photography is the way I see the world around me.

In other words, when I look at people, I see characters in the best movie to ever hit the box office called, “Life”.

Every single person in the world has a character existing within them, dying to come out and play.

Regardless of whether you’re an old man, a high powered attorney, a school teacher, a small child, or a Photillustrator, we all have a character within us anxiously waiting to be expressed.

The Photillustrator character may be the hardest one for me to get out.

The reason I LOVE working with other creative people like the guys from Davis Street Tattoo, is because most creatives have explored this inner character and are more willing to let it out.

This idea of an “Inner Character” needs to be discussed in more detail, but I’ll save that for another day.

For now, let’s put on our parachute pants and bandanas, and Break Down Davis Street Tattoos.

Breaking Down Davis Street Tattoo

One of the hardest things about working with tattoo artists is they typically want to put on this tough guy persona.

This experience totally exceeded my expectations.

The guys from Davis Street Tattoo were amazing to work with, and while they gave me creative license, this was a fun and cool collaboration between us all.

Here’s the break down of Davis Street Tattoo…

#1 Mark: The owner of the tattoo shop, and a great artist, only has one tattoo on his arm, so the joke in the shop is about getting him tatted up.

#2 Josh’s Legs: I photographed Josh on Mark’s back with his legs wrapped around Mark’s body.

#3 Josh: A great tattoo artist and really nice guy, Josh was all in to be on Mark’s back trying to tattoo Mark.

#4 Water Spray: Created with a water brush in Photoshop.

#5 Riley: With the most tattoos in the shop, I had to get Riley to remove his shirt so we could see all his tats.

#6 Dominik: After seeing my Composite called “The Wrestler”, all Dominik wanted was to be flying.

#7 Dominik’s Legs: I had to photograph the lower body separate from the upper body and composite them together to give it a “flying through the air” look.

#8 Tattoo Machine: I added the tattoo machine with a blur to the foreground to give the composite more depth.

#9 Machine Cord: I photographed the machine cord straight, then gave it a puppet wrap in Photoshop to make it look like it was flying through the air.

#10 Cart: Photographed the cart and composited it into the scene.

#11 Purple Cup: Photographed on black and composited into the scene.

#12 Cart Top: It’s a cart top, what can I say?

#13 Razor: Photographed on black and composited into the scene.

#14 Ink Caps: Thrown up in the air and photographed separately.

#15 Hemorrhoid Creme: Yeah… That’s what I asked too.

#16 Machine Cord: Another machine cord photographed the same way.

#17 Tattoo Shop: The background is one photograph of the tattoo shop.

Some Photos I Used

So you have a better idea of where this Davis Street Tattoo Photillustration began, here are some of the RAW photos I used right out of my camera.

That’s a Wrap

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of what went into creating the Davis Street Tattoo Photillustration, and how all the pieces came together.

If you’re curious, Mark LOVED this Photillustration.

Now, it’s time to get my wife scheduled for a cover up tattoo at Davis Street Tattoo, and get first hand experience with their art and craft.

What do you think of the blurring effect I added to the foreground and background in order to give this Photillustration more depth?