Transcripts
1. Intro: Hello, everyone.
My name is Tessie. I'm a tattoo artist
here in Finland, where I have my
own tattoo studio. I've been tattooing
for years now. When I was apprentice, there wasn't really
any video tutorials on how to draw basic old
school tattoo design. So I had to learn my own from
old books and so ery flash. I decided I want to make
in depth tutoria on how to draw maybe the most famous and basic
tattoo design there is. Which is a traditional
old school rows. I will start from the skets. Then I will be
doing the outlines, and then later at the end, the colors and the shading. During each step, I will
explain how and why I do these things and why certain
details and stuff matter. Grab your iPad or grab your paper and pens and
get ready. Let's begin.
2. First Sketch: All. Let's begin with this rows and when it
comes to all school roses, I start them the same
way every single time. I'm just going to
draw one circle. I'm going to press the button, make it perfect circle. Then I'm going to draw another
circle inside of that one. And I don't want to leave this smaller circle
right at the center. I'm going to just
raise it a little bit over the center
line, you can see. Then I'm going to
tilt it a little bit because I want
to draw a stem also. I feel like they never should
be completely straight, like you can see here. It follows the circles, the center line and then
it curves a little bit. I feel like the flow of the designs is one of the most important
parts of tattooing tattoo designs rather
then I'm going to start sketching the like the inside
of the smaller circles. This is like the
center of the rows. Basically every all school
traditional rows follows the same same pattern and
it has the same elements. Then I'm going to start
sketching the petals. I usually do five pretty
much every single time. And the lower one is basically the only one that is
completely visible, and then the other
ones come sort like behind that
one or under it. And then I'm going to
start sketching the stem, which needs to be a
little bit thicker. So it doesn't look
like to skinny, you know, because
you want to have balance as well as flow
when it comes to tattoos. Then I'm going to add a
couple of leaves on the stem. Usually when I throw
roses or any flowers, I use two different
types of leaves to give it some sort
of like variety. I just feel like
it looks better. On these lower parts. I will use the picker leaves, and I will do them on the
around the rows as well. And then I'm going to use
smaller leaves, you know, coming from behind
them and then some more on the sort of
like the open spaces. I will explain better later. So here is also like
the piker leave, and then I'm going to draw a smaller leave leave from
sort of coming under it. Like you can see here, the central line of the leaves. They should all be coming from the center point of the
smaller circle of the rose. Basically, the center point
of the rose is the guide, and those central
lines from the leaves, they come like that is the direction they come
from to maintain the flow. Like I said, it's
really important, and then I'm going to as
some more tinier leaves There I like to like
when I row roses, that there like the it's completely full with
leaves and stuff. I don't like to leave
too much empty space. Here you can see tiny rose bud to keep it to make it more
interesting, you know. Another leave. Then
these lines are very, very common to use on
traditional roses. You will get the
better idea when I do the proper
outlines, but again, I'd like to leave like empty
spaces between the leaves. So I feel it like everything
with stuff with these lines, smaller leaves,
rosebuds, whatever. It just gives it a fuller look. I feel like they
look so much better. Like you can see here, the space surrounding the rose,
it's completely filled. I think it's just your taste, but I personally like it better when it's full
of stuff, you know. Then I'm going to just add a
couple of torns there too. Again, make it just a little
bit more interesting.
3. Detailed Sketch: Here's the first sketch. I'm going to make the
opacity a little lower, and now I'm going to use red
pencil to sketch it again, but now I will make it. I'm going to start
adding details. When I do the proper
outlines after this one, I don't have to
improvise that much. Again, I will use
a perfect circle, and then I'll start
drawing in the details. Every single one of
these, you can see, they end like at the edge of the circle.
They don't have to. It's just a personal taste, and I've been drawing
roses for so many years. I sort of found out the things that I like and
which I don't like. And this is just something
that pleases my eye. If you like it differently,
you can do it. But basically, the fundamentals of the rose is always the same. And then when you learn those, you can start improvising
doing your own little twists, you know, all that stuff. So But I always begin
with the center part because it's
completely visible and it's easy place to begin. Then I start sketching
in the leaves. I feel like they never
should be completely round. There should be,
some shape to them. Also, you should really
focus like the center part, the circle, play with
the size of that. If the center circle is too big, it looks funky, and if the
center circle is too small, it looks really funky. But it's like putting salt on your food
that you just have to experiment with it and
find what you like, you know. Then more details on the petals. It's like they're
curving inwards. Just make it more interesting. Then I start drawing in the bigger leaves and the bigger leaves have
more details in them. And I also highly recommend that when you draw these bigger
leaves or whatever leaves, don't make them like triangles. Make them like curve outwards
and then back, you know, they are not like, you know, tri sticking out of the rows, but they are actually shaped. Then with these small leaves, they are, without
any details in them. It's just the outlines
that you will color later. But again, you can see
there are no triangles, but actually like leaf shaped. Then I draw those dots
inside those lines. I like I said, it's very very old
traditional row designs, and I like using it
to fill up the space. And then the rosa two. I like to keep them
fairly simple, so they don't steal too much attention
from the rows itself. Here I felt like it's
sticking out too much, so I just bring it in
a little bit more. And then with the
stem, I like to, like, draw the
whole stem as one. So I can maintain the flow, and then all those strns
and leaves, you know, I I will add to, but, you know, And then here I'm going to draw same leaves that I
drew around the rose. They might be just
a tiny bit smaller, but, the design and
the shape is same. Then the torns. I don't
want to make them too big. The smaller leaves
and then the torns, you know, I don't
want to make them too big, but a couple. Also, those lines coming
of those tiny circles, they go towards the center
of the center of the rose. Here we have it the skis. Now I'm going to combine
all those layers. I'm just going to bring the
opacity of the whole thing, and then add a new
layer so I can start the proper outline of the.
4. Outlines: Once again, I start with this inner circle and I
will make the circle. I'm going to add a new layer. So I can erase the top part of the circle later when I draw
in the rest of the inside. Here when you see, I
lower the opacity, opacity down a bit and then when I draw the the top parts, I can now easily erase the circle from behind
those couple lines there. But the lower part I will keep and there's the center. Now the petals. And then add those. Few details. Like I said, I've drawn
so many roses and without different types of
details and adding these tiny parts at the
edge of the petals. Is feel like they make the
rows look a little bit better. You can do it without
them for sure. I still looks good. It's
a personal preference. And then the stem. Like, so. And then new layer, so I can draw in the leaves. And again, I do it
on a new layer, so I can some lines easier
without the leaves. Same with the horns also. I feel like the rose
is a really good place to begin when you start drawing
like traditional tattoos. I feel like the rose is one
of the most popular things. You know, you will
tattoo. At least I do. You know, I tattoo
roses every week, multiple roses a week. So when I was apprentice, and I learned to
draw tattoo designs, the rose was something that I
really focused on early on. And I'm really glad I did. Now, I can draw these
without thinking. Like I said earlier, it's like the elements of these rows, it's always the same. So you just learn
them, you know, what the structure
is with the rows, the inner part the petals, the stem, the leaves, all that. Once you learn the basic stuff, you're going to start
using them as you like, and you're going to start doing different designs with
the tools you have. Then I just add little more
details inside the leaves. And also, I don't want to add too many lines inside the leaf. So I don't make it too crowded. You know, I want
the space between the lines within the leaf
to be able to breathe. Like you can see here, also, you know, the leaves and
stuff surrounding the rows. I always start with the
biggest stuff and then, you know, go towards
the smaller stuff. I don't know why. I've
just always done it. It's sort of like a habit. I just find it more easy to visualize the
whole thing, you know, I don't want to rub any space
from this bigger stuff, you know, with the
smaller details. Then I'm going to do
this smaller circle. Like you can see, I
did it on a new layer, and that is so I can
copy and duplicate it. So every single one of those circles is
exactly the same size. You could also do this
with those bigger leaves, but I like some variation. The leaves are the same, but they are not
completely identical. But with these smaller circles, I just prefer to look that
they all are the same size. Here we have the
outlines completely.
5. Colours: And then we can
start the coloring. You know, red, yellow, green, like the
very traditional. But I will also be using
brown on the smaller leaves. You could also use two different
types of green that you have like the darker one and
more light green with that. But I like to replace the
lighter green with brown. And I will start
with the petals. I will put in the red first, and then I will add
the black shading. Black is the most
important color in traditional tattooes, and I feel like
every single design should have black shadows in it. I think the written percent of your traditional tattoo
should be black. Of course, there are
exceptions to that rule, but it's good thing to remember
that if you do this rose, like if you did only the
red without the black, it doesn't look as good and then if you do it as a tattoo, it will not look as good
when the tattoo ages. Black is the most
important color in your old school tattoo, even when you're
doing color tattoo. The black gives the tattoo
so much like depth, and it will just
look so much better. And I'm talking about, you know, all school
traditional tattoos. Of course, if this was like if you painted this
or this was tattoo, you would always
put the black first and then colors because you have to start with the
darkest colors. If you did the red
first before the black, then when you put in the black, you'd make the red or black would get into the
red would not look good, so always start with the black, but with an iPad, I like to do the opposite. And also very important thing is not to color the petals
like completely red. You should always leave the portal like
you can see there, skin colored or in this case, when it's drawing white. So the colors need to
have room to breathe. And the white line around all
that red and the outline, you know, it's really important. Like you can see, see here also, I leave that there's a white
space between the red and the outer outline and make sure that the
space is not too thin. It needs to have the
room to breathe. Also, there's another
unwritten rule that I try to obey as much as I can. Again, there are exceptions
when you cannot just do it. But if you're going to add
a new color to your design, it should be in three
different places. So if you want to
add the yellow, you need to put yellow in
three different spots. C. And with this one
here, this design, you can really see
what I mean by that, because even now
when all that red is divided between lines,
it's not enough. If you look at this
image right here, now the red is
only at one place, and there should always be another color between two
reds, so you can count them. Now I'm going to add
red to the rose bud. When you color the stem
of the rosebud green, now you can say, I have red
in two different places. But when I color the tip of
the leaves, with red also. Now I have enough
spaces colored red. Like now it's in six
different places. Every time you add a new color, make sure you put it in at
least 23 different places. Now I'm going to
start coloring in the pickle leaves and I use the darker green and once again, you can see that I leave that white space between the
outer line and the color. So it's not too dark and it
has room to breathe again. It's really important. And then I'm going to add again, the black saddle there. Then I'm just going to repeat the same process with
every of these leaves. Now I will start coloring
in these smaller leaves. Like I said earlier, I will be using brown. You could also easily use
a lighter colored green. I just feel like when there are so leaves like I have here, there's going to be too green even if there are
different states of green. I like using the brown. I feel like it gives it a nice contrast between
the red and the green, and then later when I'm going
to add yellow to the rose. I just feel like the
brown works really good. Just make sure that the
brown is not too dark. I feel like even here, it works because the
background is white. But if you're
tattooing on a skin, and you know, skin, of
course, it's never white. So I would probably not use brown T dark if I were
tattooing this on a skin. I. And then the middle
parts of the leaves, I'm going to do yellow. Again, here you already see the yellow is in three
different places, but I'm going to add
more on the stem. I is completely covered
in yellow first. So when I come in
with the green, it's easier for me to figure out where I want the line between the
green and the yellow, and then also those
tips of the horns, they will be yellow as well. I feel like it gives it
a nice little touts, like you can't have
them green, you know, the middle bars of the leaves because the leaves
themselves are green, and then the tips of the torns. It gives it a nice little touch. I'm going to repeat the process here on the stem of
the rosebud as well. And then I'm going to
add those wide spaces on those to thorns as well. And then we have
the poten parts. Now, finally, I will add a tiny tiny bit of yellow
in these parts of the rose. You don't need much,
just a tiny bit of yellow within all
that mass of red. It gives it a nice little touch. Again, like when you
look at it from afar, there's barely any yellow, but it makes such
a big difference. Then also, I'm going
to repeat that on the very outer
parts of the petals. The contrast now against the white background
is like more visible. But when it's on a skin
that is not white. When you add that little
yellow there, it's different. It's not going to show as
much and here we have it. There's the outline
version of the rows, and then we have the
colored version as well. These always look quite different when they are
against a white background. Comparing it to when
it's on a human skin. So yeah, there we have it very, very basic and traditional
old school rows. These are so much fun to draw. I have always love it ever since I was
apprentice, you know, I used to draw roses
for, you know, 8 hours a day to
learn it properly. Back then, there was no
one to really help me. There were on, you know, Sailor ery tattoo flash
books that I had to go through and get inspiration
from other artists. I really hope this class will, you know, make you
learn the basic stuff. Meaning, the most
traditional school designs way quicker than I
learned them on my own. Of course, you can make these rows a different
color as well. It doesn't have to be red, it can be, blue, yellow, or ends where you
can do it green as well, but then you have to sins
the green from the stem and the leaves to a
different color and then it's going to be
whole new process. Yeah. But there we have it. Very traditional, very
basic old school rows.
6. Outro: We have it old school
traditional rows. Like I said earlier, these are so much fun to draw. When you get the idea of it, you break it down
to the center part, the petals, the leaves, the stem, and all the little
details around there, you're going to start really
playing with the shape. And it's so much fun
drawing this stuff. I felt like, you know, the rose is a perfect place to begin this new series of classes about traditional
tattoo designs. Rose is such a popular, such a famous design. And if you want to be
a tattoo, for example, you better be good at drawing roses because you will
be doing it a lot. Thank you so much for watching. I hope to see all of your rose designs
there and Hopefully, I'll get you on the
next class as well. Thank you so much
and see you later. Bye.
Jesse Edvin, Artist
