Today, I've been tatooed for the very fist time. I wanted to write a zine about the story behind the design I created. Here are the different steps.

Step 1: Planning

Step 2: Writing

To get tattooed to affirm my identity, to pay tribute to the people who have passed through my life, to mark an important milestone. I thought about it for a long time; today I’m doing it.

A rather happy childhood and adolescence, despite living conditions that were not always easy. Many successes, yet the year 1989 — marked by my grandfather’s death and my mother’s cancer — left a lasting impact on me.

Entering adulthood was not easy: romantic disappointment, professional conflict, a search for meaning… That was the time of Bugade, of concerts. A first attempt at self-assertion.

A family taking shape, a house bought in Brittany, the settled life of a schoolteacher and the joy of becoming a father twice: Guilhem (2008) and Armel (2011)… just before losing my parents and Marianne.

Yearning for elsewhere. Leaving for Morocco and no longer being able to hold on: separating, hoping blindly, doubting, making mistakes, collapsing completely. Failing. With time, starting over… with difficulty.

Finally finding a new balance and once again looking ahead. Committing deeply, reinventing myself. Holding firm and giving myself a new beginning. Pierre’s death like a signal:

“Boldness, always boldness.”

Step 3: Testing the layout

Step 4: Designing each page in Procreate

Step 5: Laying out the zine

Step 6: Printing & Folding