I've never designed a tattoo before. I've been asked by many friends and others over the years and I've always declined. Mostly because I would rather leave that sort of thing up to the experts--there are a lot of amazing tattoo artists around. Also because it's very permanent. I mean, it's going on someone's body. It just seems a little scary.

But when a friend approached me at Christmas and asked me to give her a custom piece of type, I couldn't resist. Emmanuel means "God with us." Seemed appropriate for the Christmas season. She asked for a custom script face and something that looks hand-drawn and somewhat imperfect. So here it is. Hope you like it Cole.

I'll try to upload some photos and video of her getting inked. Stay tuned.

I started out with a pencil sketch and did the final with a waterbrush filled with fountain pen ink to give it a rough analog feel.