Wolf Tattoo

[L!nK]

Hey CA,
Here's my last requested job: design a tribal wolf tattoo for the arm.
The briefing was a "shield" like composition, with just the head and neck parts of the wolf.
It should have a focus on the teeth and eyes.

Here's the references that the client sent me:


My first sketches:


In vector:


It's too generic in my opinion. I should make more thumbnails soon and study other compositions.
I know the client is an Ice and Fire novels fan, and he really likes the Starks, and maybe a more classical approach would be nice.

Any other crits?

[pauloricardo]

If you want something like the coats of arms of "middle age", may be below links can help you:

http://rockymountainscots.com/?page_id=55

http://www.portalentretextos.com.br/...,236,2937.html

best regards

[erinc]

I'd get clarification from the client. I assume by 'shield', he means coat-of-arms in the sense of heraldry, which is super far removed from tribal style tattoos, which are bastardized Polynesian/Mayan/Hawaiian/etc designs. Does the client really want tribal, or are they using 'tribal' to mean 'not realistic but not cartoony?' The samples they sent you are definitely more tribal in style, but then what did they mean by "shield?"