making tattoo sleeves look authentic?

[Pistolpete-uk]

Hi All,
As a photographer I'm usually concerned with trying to minimise the impact of forearm hair on models - but not in this case!
My subject was wearing tattoo 'sleeves' which I want to make look more authentic, possibly including the addition of forearm hair.
I have no idea how to start this, can anyone make a suggestion please?
Thanks,
Peter

 

[chitkaran]

First thing you need is to make sure that the Skin tone of your subject matches the Sleeve... The Palms of your subject are blurred which indicate that the forearms should be more focussed... Add a little grain on the arms to give a more realistic skin texture...

Rest... await others to pour in their comments and suggestions...


Just out of curiousity, which camera did you use anyway to click this... ? This is only 96dpi dude..

 

[mattattack347]

You, can try adding a few scars within the tattoo... If you want i can give instructions.
Also, you could use your brushes to make some hair...(Remember with the extra grain in the image that the guy above suggested that this will stick out... so try adding hair then make the grain.).

Good luck, with your quest.
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.~Rene Descartes

 

[Pistolpete-uk]

Thanks guys, that's great for getting started and, yes, I'd like to know how to make a scar. The uploaded pic is just a crop of a low res copy for illustration here only, the original is shot on a 5x4 inch MPP camera (film) and scanned.

 

[Manda Burns]

Is there a picture of this model with his arm hair, with out arm sleeves as well? It would be useful to have to fill in/ blend the bare areas and make it more authentic or someone with same skin tone and similar arm hair.

 

[Hoogle]

I would say the easiest way is to use a brush which is highlighted in my picture set it very small and paint over the arms on a new layer and set the layer blending mode to multiply then add a levels adjustment layer and right click it to create a clipping mask to darken the hair as you like.



and you will get this as a good starting point obviously you can make it thicker by painting more and adjusting the layer opacity to suit

 

[mattattack347]

"Good job "A" team,
Now lets move out."
Slow motion walking out of building as it explodes.

 

[Pistolpete-uk]

Thanks everyone for your excellent help.
Peter