T-E-C-H-N-O-Y-O-B-A

Once you get a tattoo, you get asked THE QUESTION a lot. I feel like answering it, so here’s a post for you.

First and foremost, the juicy pics. No one reads books without pics, no matter how interesing it is.

Made by exceptionally talented bois

• @aztattoart - ornamental parts
• @killkennykat - character aka The Lady

The story

Getting more tatts after the first one is probably very common. The skin doesn’t feel sacred anymore after breaking the seal. Probably exactly that happened.

There aren’t many tattoo masters I’m a fan of - after browsing Instagram for a long while, I found @aztattoart and got hooked immediately.

Having decided I need a sleeve, our initial idea somehow warped into a collaboration with @killkennykat, who did my first torch tattoo.

I prefer bigger pieces to smaller ones as anatomically adjusted and single idea-centered sleeve in most cases looks better than a dozen of patches.

Concept

I was always fascinated with technology, even more so after getting my applied maths and physics degree. It’s a way of tricking reality into doing what you want, a clever solution to make possible what was unimaginable before.

One of my favorite things about sci-fi and cyberpunk in general is that technology is the only thing that allows completely new stuff to happen. Engineering and technology are some of the brightest manifestations of humanity.

We even managed to invent plenty of cool stuff while seeking ways to exterminate others more effectively. Imagine your life without canned food for a second.

Think of times when Ancient Greece thrived: the world wasn’t really moving anywhere. It was stable at best, deteriorating at worst. There was no idea of progress, and the repeated pattern of seasons reinforced the belief of a cyclical nature of the world.

People then believed that the best times have already passed. The shit was real when their great ancestor heroes performed their epic deeds. Since then, it only got worse.

But now, everything’s very different: we are dependent on technological advances and sincerely believe they will push out world into the brigher tomorrow. For example, we might even end up making a God with our own hands (epic!)! That conversation with Morpheus is what comes to my mind when I look at the final tattoo concept.

If you bought the above story, congratulations: you have been deceived. The very first idea was a tehnofantasy-themed movie poster sleeve resembling Moebius’s comics. But if I kept explaining, I’d never finish this post, so please pretend you didn’t read this or message me directly for extra parts of the story.

In the end, I decided to facilitate on the idea that got me captivated. Ancient, arcane technology so advanced it’s almost indistingushable from magic.

References

Below are the references I consider the most influential. To be honest, I have no idea to what extent they were actually used, if at all.

I know this one was, for sure:

A weird-ass boss from Chaos Engine

This pic is stuck as my avatar for at leat 5 years now after stumbling onto it somewhere. Clicked with me once, never changed since then. I was deeply immersed in tech since the early childhood, having a PDA in school and reverse-engineering games on it. When I entered university, I dreamt that in the future I would design cybernetic prostetics akin to those of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Once it gets hold of you and warps your mind, what is seen cannot be unseen.

Later I found out that this is a boss from an old game called The Chaos Engine. This hard-wired guy is acutally… Charles Babbage? He is shown without all the wiring and cables after the player defeats the Engine.

If you look closer, you’ll see the similarities to hair-like cables the Lady has.

Doom Eternal’s Heaven

Doom Eternal’s Cyber Art Deco Heaven immediately caught my attention after the official arts were released.

Some people, including me, had a throwback to famous Hans Giger’s works. The Heaven had that creepy and alien feel to them I was after.

The Lady is loosely based on these concepts, although after completing the game, I prefer Killkenny’s interpretation, at least on my arm.

This is Khan Maykr, sort of Archangel from Doom:

Hyper Light Drifter’s fallen civilisation

Accoring to the game lore, these are the ruins of once flourishing and advanced civilisations, caught in a bloody war after tampering with the secrets of immortality.

Red circuitry-like patterns are based on HLD designs. It’s curious that they originate from early Islamic patterns.

Tellurion’s Ancestral Civilisation

Tellurion is Matt Rhodes’s personal project, which I’ve been closely following for quite some time.

The strange world of Tellurion was once inhabited by advanced people who apparently built fancy spherical buildings all over it.

Maybe they even created the Robo-Dude, who’s one of the main characters in the story.

This flat world has a mechanical Sun, which is sick. We have a chance to get a closer look at it:

I can’t recommend this story enough. Go check it out now.

The outcome

It’s what you’ve seen in the very beginning. Looks pretty weird and surreal, exactly how I wanted it.

So, what or who is she? An Icon Of Technology? A Goddess of Big Data?

It’s a very readable and colorful piece of art. I’m fucking enjoying wearing it. Lesha said he sees tatts as permanent pieces of clothing or jewerelly, and that’s what she partially is.

Will there be a morale or a conclusion of some sort? Not likely.