Tattooed Dolphins...?

I love this idea. I've had people ask for some unique designs before, but I think this one is the most unique of them all. Dolphins with soga'imiti tattoos. Nice. My friend May came up with the idea and I was really excited, and nervous, about drawing it. Nervous, for several reasons - First, I've never designed a soga'imiti before, and I wanted to be sure it would be an authentic (or close to as possible) design. Second, each soga'imiti is one-of-a-kind design for the family line that wears it - And I didn't want to cause offense by making a design that would be too similar to anyone's personal design. Third, I had to try to figure out how to put it on dolphins, who obviously, don't have the same physical layout of which a soga'imiti is applied, i.e. a man's mid-to-lower extremities. And last of all, I don't have much practice drawing animals, dolphins especially... So it was interesting trying to draw them to look like they are "Samoan dolphins" holding hands, er I mean fins... And buff of course because they're Samoan, LOL. Anyhow, long story short I did my best and I hope everyone who sees it enjoys the design. May especially. :)

Taupou Aulelei

This design was originally done as one of my submissions for our annual Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month shirts. Since this is a design for a shirt, I kept the shading minimal and aimed for a really simple, clean look. Which is a big change for me since I'm obsessed with shading, LOL. This is my first time drawing a Taupou, which I've been wanting to do for a while now, and even though it's a very simplistic design, I'm very pleased with how it turned out, and I hope others will enjoy it as well.

Samoan Taulima Sketches

Here are twos pencil drawing of a Samoan man wearing a Samoan "taulima" tattoo design and blowing a conch shell. Blowing the conch shell is sometimes used before a ceremony to mark the official beginning, to herald chief's proclamations, and in ancient times was sometimes used to accompany chants. To blow the conch shell is a call to the divine. The blowing of the shell should always be accompanied by protocol. When it's blown, how many times and in which directions all have a complex set of meanings. In ancient times the blowing of the conch shell was also often used to communicate across the waters between people on canoes and those on land. Sometimes to request permission to come to shore. Permission or denial would then be returned from those on shore by them blowing the conch shell back with a certain number of blows. Permission to land avoided possible death, making the conch shell a vital instrument.