My friend came to me for this very important tattoo design several years back. The concept was to incorporate the traditional koi-fish tattoo with a dragon tattoo, to represent her personal journey of growth through martial arts. After conceptualising several possible designs, I suggested the below hybrid of what could be described as the evolution from fish into dragon. This was both relevant to her, and relevant to my own interest in evolution.

This project was also a great technical challenge, giving me the opportunity to explore various traditional tattoo designing techniques such as "finger-waves" and required me to consider the thickness and scale of the work itself, once applied to skin.

A number of development shots: