Tattooed sailor bust

This is my tattooed sailor bust, I named him Bowline after a common knot used in sailing. Every step from design, sculpting, molding, casting, painting and hand drawn tattoos were all done by me.
I sculpted him using myself as reference so it’s basically a self portrait. After molding in Ultracal 30 I cast it in very thick latex and foam filled with Smooth-on Flex foam.
The skin tone and eyes were airbrushed with Iwata and Paasche airbrushes using Tim Gores Bloodline by Createx. 
The tattoo work is a technique I came up with after much trial and error. I experimented with many different materials and processes before arriving at something that looks like real tattoos. There are several steps to the process but the simple version is they’re hand drawn and shaded with India ink pens then sealed with clear acrylic. This piece is now on display at a tattoo shop in Cincinnati. Enjoy!

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