#batok

Finally finished V's batok/tatak-inspired tattoos.

This is a totally modern take on it and not fully traditional. Just wanted to give her bits actually but it ended up being the main theme of the tattoo. Unfortunately, the thin and straight lines of this hand-tapped style gets warped badly (I should've known) but I'll just edit it, like I did with these, so it doesn't look too jagged in pics. (Now I know why they didn't have Kerry rocking full traditional Filipino arm sleeves lol). And I did make some for her fingers but liked how the cyberware looked with the tattoos so... We won't see it for now. Maybe post-Mikoshi she gets RealSkinn for her hands. (It'll depend on my mood haha!) The seams aren't too bad, they're actually mostly non-existent lol, it's just a weird shape sometimes with the blackouts getting pointy when it should be straight. But that's just how the UV map wraps.

✨️Batuk, batok, tatak, fatek, batek, tadtad, patik. All various terms throughout the Philippine archipelago that mean tattoo.

One of the original names the Spaniards gave to the islands of what is now known as the Philippines was "Islas de los Pintados" or the Islands of the Painted Ones. This was because the people they met were heavily tattooed. The batuk were given as marks of valor, womanhood, and also had spiritual aspects as one could not safely pass on to the afterlife without getting their marks. Each motif represented different meanings, drawing from nature, cultural practices, and the ancestors.

My self-drawn Sinulog Tattoo.