The Buck in the Mirror
The Buck in the Mirror
I was in the woods, the real ones, not the metaphorical kind. Trying to get my head right. The kind of quiet that isn't quiet at all, just a different frequency of noise. Wind in pine needles, a creek somewhere out of sight, the crunch of my own boots. And then, movement. A flicker of brown and white. He was there, a buck, maybe thirty yards off. He didn't bolt. He just turned his head and looked at me. Not with fear, not with aggression. With recognition. Like he was checking a box. Oh, it's you. Then he was gone, melting back into the timber. That look, that specific, heavy-lidded assessment, is what I carried back to the shop. It's the look I tried to put into this piece.
More Than Antlers
Everyone sees the antlers first. I get it. They're a crown, a map of time, a weapon. In this piece, they're a forest growing from a skull. Each tine, each curve, had to feel structural, like architecture, not just decoration. But the antlers aren't the portrait. The portrait is everything below them. The wet black nose, the velvet of the ears, the specific set of the jaw. The real work, the soul of the piece, is in the eye and the area around it. That's where the animal lives. That's where you get the oh, it's you look. A buck isn't just a deer with branches on its head. It's a specific personality, weathered and watchful. This one needed to feel like it had just lifted its head from drinking at a stream, water still beading on its muzzle, aware of every shift in the wind.
The Gravity of Grey
Black and grey realism is a lie you tell with a million tiny truths. There is no black ink in a deer's face, not really. But to create the illusion of light hitting fur, of depth in a socket, of the roundness of a nostril, you need the full spectrum from the deepest black to the lightest whisper of grey. The challenge is restraint. It's knowing that the brightest highlight on this entire piece might be a single, tiny dot of untouched skin on the tip of a single hair. You build the form from the shadows upward, like a sculpture emerging from stone. The fur isn't drawn hair by hair, it's implied through texture and tone. You create the direction, the density, the softness, all with variations in wash. A hard line in the wrong place turns fur into carved wood. A soft gradient in the right place makes you want to reach out and touch it. My goal is always the second one.
The Reflection in the Water
The client came to me at Montana Tattoo Company with a simple, powerful idea: stillness and reflection. The buck was his symbol, a part of his own story I didn't need to dissect. He talked about moments of clarity, those rare times when you see yourself clearly, without the usual noise. That's where the second element, the mirrored silhouette at the bottom, came from. It's not another deer. It's the same deer. It's the reflection in the still water he was just drinking from. It's that moment of self-recognition. The collaboration was in finding that balance—making the primary portrait so immediate and real that the reflection feels inevitable, not just an added design element. It's quieter, softer, bleeding into the skin. It completes the thought without repeating it.
I have really been enjoying these deep dives into the mythological and surreal worlds. After years of focusing heavily on realism and reference based work, shifting into storytelling and symbolic imagery feels like a creative rebirth. Thank you for being part of the journey. If you are interested in collaborating on a project, you can explore my work and reach out through UnorthodoxTattoo.com or visit my personal site at MickeySchlick.com or visit the shop at MontanaTattooCompany.com. For more insight into mythology inspired surrealism, visit the Neo Japanese Surrealism page at this link. Book a consultation, explore portfolios, and bring your idea to life. The studio is fully automated with aftercare, directions, booking options, and consistent customer service available 24 hours a day at 406-215-4321. If you would like to talk with me directly, just ask and I will connect with you as soon as possible.
