Literary Tattoos in San Diego: A Moby Dick Back Piece
I've always loved literary tattoos, pieces pulled straight from a book, and this Moby Dick back piece is one of my favorites. Funny enough, it didn't start as a tattoo at all. It started as a painting.
Back in 2021 I painted a Moby Dick body suit on watercolor paper with ink, straight out of the book. That's something I love about old literary sources: they're a great place to pull an idea that carries some weight. There are so many good books out there, and the best part is you don't need a ton of reference. You just need an idea.
The original 20” by 30” Moby Dick inspired body suit painting
This client saw the painted idea on my website and booked it. He only had one tiny tattoo on his shoulder, which we covered, and we built the whole back piece around it. Wildest walk-in ever? Kind of. I'm just stoked I got to put this one on someone.
The design's a Moby Dick scene, a sperm whale getting chased by men in longboats, that old Nantucket sleigh ride. Man against the whale, man against the ocean and nature. That's the pull of the story, and it reads big across a back.
If I remember right it took about 4 sessions and 15 hours to tattoo, plus 30 or so hours to paint. We did it at our San Diego shop, black and grey the whole way. We didn't take it all the way down the lower legs and butt, but it's still quite the accomplishment for a piece that walked in off a painting.
Why literary tattoos work
Books are one of my favorite places to start a tattoo. A good story already carries weight, and the meaning's baked in before I draw a line. It doesn't have to be some heavy classic either, though the classics are full of vivid images that translate straight to skin: Poe, Walden, Moby Dick. But it can just as easily be Shel Silverstein, Lovecraft and the whole Call of Cthulhu world, old mythology, a line of poetry, or a character that stuck with you as a kid.
If it means something to you, it'll mean something on skin. Like I said, you usually don't need a pile of reference. You just need an idea, and I can take it from there: build the composition, figure out how it reads on the body, and make it yours.
If a book's ever stuck with you like Moby Dick stuck with me, that's usually all we need to start.
Come get something that means something.