Batik Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳バティック

I am an artist but not a tattoo girl.

Still, I have been fascinated by tattoo recently. Not that I want to have them on my skin, but the skills to perform a image transplanted on uneven and curved surface is a skill and technique I want to learn and adapt them to my creativity.

This fascination derived from tailoring mens shirt with my designed batik. I like to put motifs on the front, side, and shoulder and that is where I have the most trouble with. I don't know how to arrange and aline the lines to look naturally on curved and round would be surface.

So I started surfing internet images and discovered the art of tattoo, perfectly done on flesh. Just amazing! The images, I have browsed were mainly from Borneo where I live now, and Japanese.

The Japanese tattoos are beautiful and just as in other cultures, each motifs and designs have their own meanings.

Here is very nice tattoo shop page you could refer to in English. Richmond tattoo shops

The one which stood out the most was transfering an image from classic woodblock print done by Utagawa Kuniyoshi(歌川国芳). He himself in Japanese art histy, was an oddball, in a good way. His works are so dramatic, vivid, powerful, unexpectedly done, composition, colors....... there is no way but admire them.
You would not think he was born about 200 years ago!

Artsy has biography and good images .... and could by them if you like! Artsy

So his work, especially with boy fighting with koi fish caught my eyes.

Source

There is a folklore behind it, and he is a non-fictional person. Here is an article about this boy named Kintaro with modern insights for further reading.
Source

Getting to try more of water batik motifs I am practicing, so I thought this boy with fish would be an excellent hybrid. I did wanted to include the boy, but maybe too complicated for me, so at the end, decided only to do fish and water motifs.

This my draft.

After I traced it to the fabric, I did yellow and pink brush work. After they have dried, applied wax, then put colors.

Waited to be dried for another layers.

Then chemically processed, washed, and done!

It is done on rayon. It is mostly described as an artificial silk, it would be pareo or saron for men and women.

Photos and batik artworks are done by me, @naomipangolin.source