Mucha on Your Skin: Wearing Art Nouveau

Hello everyone!

This project is a good proof that a drawing doesn’t need to get hundreds of likes to find the right person. I had posted on Instagram a full-color sleeve design inspired by Mucha. The post wasn’t particularly spectacular in terms of numbers and I thought the project would probably remain just a drawing.

Then Thomas wrote to me. He lived in Paris, he had seen the project and he wanted to do it. After a few exchanges, he took the train to come and start this project with me.

A hand that was built over many sessions

Thomas is almost two meters tall, so of course the surface to work on was quite impressive. The project was built slowly, with many sessions, including two full days during a convention in Marseille.

That’s what I love about full-arm tattoos: at first you mostly see separate areas. Then, little by little, the elements start to match up; the colors start to flow from one part of the body to the next, and the whole thing ends up being much more cohesive than each tattoo taken alone.

Why Mucha works just as well on one arm

In Mucha’s work, the characters are rarely isolated in a very rigid rectangle. The hair, flowers, clothes, and ornaments extend the figures and allow the gaze to move around them. On one arm, this logic is really interesting because it allows you to rotate around the volume without the feeling of aligning images.

I didn’t want to reproduce a Mucha poster as it was. I was rather looking for that feeling: very present figures, a fluid composition, and a rather soft palette that reminded me more of a painting than a very saturated tattoo.

I’ll explain in more detail why his compositions translate so well on the skin.

Soft colors, but not fragile

On this arm, I worked a lot with slightly worn greens, roses, softer blues, and tones that match from one area to another. I wanted to maintain depth without losing that slightly old-fashioned feel that I like about Mucha.

The difficulty lies in not pushing everything to the maximum. A color can be present without being flashy, and I even think that large rooms often gain in elegance when certain areas remain much quieter.

And finally, it really only took one person

I often think back to the beginning of this project because I was mostly looking at the publication figures, telling myself that no one would be interested in it. While in reality, it just needed to be seen by Thomas.

It’s reassuring to keep in mind when creating: not all projects need to please a huge number of people. Sometimes it’s enough that just one person has exactly the same desire as you.