In praise of good art

My friend Katie sent me this link the other day, and I don’t necessarily remember the context behind it, although I think involved overzealous costumers. Regardless, I found the artwork of these tattoo-style Disney princess pin-ups to be wonderful, and I think that they’re all visually alluring and magnificently executed. Personally, my favorite Disney princess has always been Snow White, which I can’t really explain beyond an aesthetic preference of colors and appearance, in comparison to the others.

Anyway, I was captivated by the artwork, and wished to see more, so it prompted me to Google the artist, Tim Shumate, which efficiently led to his portfolio site where I could peruse through more of it.

Personally, it’s my belief that we often times take things on the internet for granted, and are not quick or willing to drop someone a line when it comes to sharing some appreciation. Since Tim had a contact form available on his site, I dropped him a brief message telling him how much I loved his stuff, and here I am brogging about it on top of it, because I wanted something to write about, and his stuff puts me in a pleasant mood and makes me want to write about it to share with more people.

The thing is, I actually like some of his designs so much, I’d almost consider getting it tattooed on me. The likelihood of that happening is not high due to the fact that I’d have wanted it on one of my arms; both of which are spoken for already, and I don’t think there’s really a way for even that guy from Bad Ink to turn what I’ve got on my left arm into his Snow White. It’s funny to me sometimes; all of the tattoos I have, I got before I turned 18, and ever since I became legal, I’d never really had the compulsion or want for any more tattoos otherwise. I don’t have regret for the ones I have, but if could go back in time, I might have reconsidered some of them.

However, I’d love the idea of this particular Snow White. It’d kind of be like a throwback to old sailor style tattoos, and would accomplish the goal of not looking like a cheap cliché Ed Hardy girl, as well as being a sexy rendition of a Disney princess alternatively. I like Snow White. I’d have no problem having this inked on for eternity.

I also love Tim Shumate’s Alice. Yes, I’m one of those weirdoes that really liked Alice in Wonderland. No, I don’t have a hat with a 10/6 card wedged in it. On my skin tone, I don’t think it would make a good tattoo, but I still really like it.

Sure, now I’m thinking about tattoos in general now, but the point of this post is still to talk about how great of an artist that Tim Shumate is, and how much I adore his work. A tattoo would be nice, but more realistically, I should think about what in application I’d want some of his artwork that I could purchase to support a great artist.

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