Step by step creating a tattoo drawing

Hey guys!
First of i would like to thank all who gave such awesome feed back to my art, i tought it would be cool to share with you guys how do i create my stuff , showing that is something everyone can do and maybe inspire someone.
Like yesterday someone wrote he wished he had the skills and that really touched me so its like kind of a way of saying thank you.
Lets leave the sentimental talk behind and get started.
I hope you like it!

Im using Clip Studio Pro and a surface pro with 4gb of ram (not much) and a surface pen to draw with.

So i start off just by laying down the guide lines in a empty layer just to have and idea to where things will flow.
like the pic here.

For now i have i few lines to follow so i start to skecht just shapes, like geometrical forms.
two of my main teacher express the importance of laying geometric shapes! i guess it gives you the proper way to look at it.

On top of the geometric shapes i start to softly draw the subject wich i want, this time i want to draw a hand holding a snake, i really like this drawing, i have drawn it before, and the original one ive made with pen and paper.
I continue to carve in the shapes not caring too much on detail, just lines positioning things around.

The first idea i had this time was to make a banner around the arm with the words "Never Bite Back" writen, so ive continued drawing around that idea.

So ive started laying down the outlines with a marker just to get an idea, created a new layer, lowered the opacity of the bottom one, and started drawing.

After a while in the outline work ive realized ive had an extra finger!
so ive fixed that and continue with my line work

Going with the drawing i came to another thing, i had to choose between banner or snake curling down the arm, and the snake seemed the most logical one.

After i finisehd the ruff outline a whent down to the minimal parts,

lookig for lines that encountered to o much, or clogged details, like here, where there is just to much going on, and as my tattoo artist friend say, we must leave air in the drawing, so i zoom in and fix that!

![Screenshot (48).png]
(https://steemitimages.com/DQmVWRunGCLtKtsYg4KTMbZrP9AbbWRZ3vhMJYGmWpMVnij/Screenshot%20(48).png)

Here are more of that fine tuning im doing whaere i look for lines that encounter and try to seperate them with out doing to many changes in the structure.

        After im done and satisfied it is time to star working my shades, this time i want to use a watercolor brush and i lay down a gray tone just to start having some depht

After im done shading i start of with a red marker marking the snakes belly to give some nice contrast.

![Screenshot (57).png]
(https://steemitimages.com/DQmfMaDXeWxmuTLQitf4tJjyxJjwaxuV1V27kbL1VPLiKGQ/Screenshot%20(57).png)

A this point i change my paper color to a more cardboard color to give that oldschool feeling.

I ly down many layers of color with the water color brush, specialy green, blues, purples and yellows to give some depht.

![Screenshot (62).png]
(https://steemitimages.com/DQmeNqPs8SAsD2HXHxov3HW2GorU5G4hLcwKmSLLmeCAjwv/Screenshot%20(62).png)

At this point im happy with the color so i want to cut the shades deeper so i change to a gause tool and lower the density of the brush and start laying the deeper shades giving more shape and contrast to things.

After that i do one more layer of outline just to get it right, and some glaze with the gause tool and white just to make it pop like the scales and stuff, add a new layer on the bottome and add some glow on the bottom and its done

I hope it might inspire someone, i hope you guys liked it!
please leave a comment and let me know if you got any doubt!
Best wishes

Om ah Hum