The brief
Five years after beating illness, our client wanted the cliché done properly or not at all: a phoenix, full arm, in colour that would still burn in twenty years. We designed the bird mid-ascent, wings breaking at the elbow so the joint's movement becomes the wingbeat.
Colour sleeves live or die on saturation discipline — packing once, healing, then judging. Six sessions over seven months, with the hottest reds and golds laid last so they sit in the freshest skin.
- Artist
- Marcus Reed
- Style
- Colour narrative
- Sessions
- 6 full days over 7 months
- Placement
- Shoulder to wrist
- Healed
- Photographed at 5 months
Wing detail, session six — colour laid last for maximum heat.
“He drew the whole arm before touching me. Every session felt like unwrapping the next chapter.”— The client, now planning a matching leg
