Last few days in Hawaii

 So the last two weeks here have been awesome! I've had the great opportunity to meet some really sweet new people, made some new friends along the way.

These two designs were on Annie's man Thomas. (Annie had the lighthouse design) He wanted a fun spin on the phrases "Jinx Removing" and "Accident Prone". He gave me the design ideas and we did both designs in the same day. What a good sport, he sat for both in one session. Pardon the not so great photo here, they are even I swear! In this photo his one leg is in front of the other just slightly, so they look a bit lopsided, but theyre not :)

 Close up of the one thigh.... kinda blurry photo :(

 Here's the other one, much clearer pic this time. I had alot of fun with a limited color palette as well. Thanks so much to Thomas for being awesome!

This one was a walkin the other day on a Marine (obviously) He had an eagle design he brought with him that was an eagle with the flag colors in the wings... he chose an eagle from the flash we had here so we could work with his budget and we did the rest with color. He was a cool dude and hes one of those people that make the time fly by. This was a fun one... my first eagle!

 This was a walkin as well... she had this already on her wrist and wanted to keep the kanji but get rid of the date.....a good challenge for me considering I haven't done an official coverup yet. I'd like to be able to do these well, and you gotta start somewhere. Here's what we came up with......

After... she didn't want to go too big for this one so this is what we decided on. Looking back at it I could have brought the blue closer to the kanji to frame it... will apply that the next time something like this comes in....

Had some fun with names the other day... I could tattoo swirls all day. Never gets old.

This one was a big challenge. She had the flower with the name already on her in black and grey.. it was old and faded. She brought in images of koi fish that she wanted and wanted to use water and flowers to tie it all together. I was stoked to try this out.... looking back I could have put better shading in the fish and wish that I had talked her into color in the flower she had. It still looks segmented to me. She was the first client I've had that moved the ENTIRE TIME! She moved and squirmed and moaned and everything. She was a good sport and sat for a while, but I suppose we learn how to deal with these situation as they arise right? I had a long chat with Bill about the execution of this tattoo and have a better idea of how to handle a design like this in the future.... it needed more. Another experience to be had everyday :)

This was a walkin, an homage to this man's pup that passed away :(

This was also a walkin.... he brought in the exact design that he wanted....pretty straight forward Nordic runes.

This one was a blast to do! Many thanks to Blair at Volcom next door for letting me do this HUGE fun Dia de los Muertos girl on her calf! She sat so good, lasted 5.5 hrs... I could have had one more hour with her to smooth out the shading some more at the bottom, however she did excellent and I'm really happy with how much we managed to finish. This was one of my first girl heads and she let me design it however I wanted.... so stoked on this one and learned alot from this one.



I'm at the shop today....pretty slow day, which is ok with me. I have two paintings for two different art shows on the same day so I need to get back to work. One sketch left to go then I can start painting! I'll be posting more upon my return to Philly......


Aloha!

Two weeks to go!

 So these pics are a bit out of order...so bear with me here. Things at Skin Deep have gotten busy! Even working on my days off on friends... Sorry for the delay in posting... the lack of internet where I'm staying and working alot I just haven't gotten around to it.

A celtic design from yesterday

 Kind of dissappointed with how this photo came out, but hopefully you can makeout what it is. This woman got tattooed here at Skin Deep 14 yrs ago and came back to get another one. This design is from a pendant that she aquired in Italy that was blessed by the Pope. Obviously we had to leave out a few things because there was alot of detail in the pendant, but we worked with what we had. This one was a fun challenge considering the detail and shading and working in a stretchy area. Definitely have better ideas on how to approach this the next time around. She was really sweet and sat like a stone.

 Closer view... still a light photo

 Another tourist with her first tattoo... She was really sweet as well. It seems to me that most people if not all people I come across here are super nice and friendly and just so down to earth. Not that Philly doesn't have that, it's just a pleasant change.

 This guy was really cool. He came in for two different tattoos in two days, this was the second. Simple and fun.. I like brush stroke designs like this.

 Some hibiscus action on another visitor to the island... for some reason these flowers never get old. Played around with color combinations and tried to remember how Anna gets her flowers so damn smooth! Need to sit with her some more so I can get my flowers to look like hers.

 This one was a fixer-upper. Dude came in with hideous lettering on the forearm, which was obviously done at a houseparty.... so we did what we could to fix up what he had and added some smoke/wind in it as well. The letters still aren't perfect, but we worked with what he had.

 BEFORE

 Another Rihanna tattoo....in the same location. This girl was really sweet and it was her first one. I really enjoy giving people their first tattoos...not really sure why. Maybe because I had such a crappy experience with my first tattoo, that I would want to give everyone a really good experience so they would want to get more tattoos....

 Lettering on the chest... getting better at stretching in that area. Keeping it simple for now.

 So this made my day... This guy was visiting from Denmark, and wanted a viking holding a beer! He brought this in with him and I was stoked to do it not only because it was a viking tattoo, but because the image is from a Judy Parker flash sheet.... really love her style of drawing...my first tattoo was a piece of her flash as well... We didn't deviate too much from Judy's original design, as it was awesome to begin with. Thanks to the giant Viking man and Judy for making that awesome day possible!

 This photo is a little slanted, but I have to say that to date, this is my favorite tattoo. He was a military guy who saw the owl that I did on Keone in my portfolio and wanted me to put a horned owl on his arm. This was not only a blast to draw, but even more fun to tattoo. Got to experiment with textures and large needles that I hadn't used before... really a good time! He sat like a rock, had good conversation and let me do my thing. It's people like this that make my job worth while. There's nothing better than having someone come to you and let you do whatever you want...just give us an idea. I'm stoked that I'm able to get tattoos like these on awesome people more and more. It will come with time.... I need to do more tattoos like this one...

 This was a late night walkin by another military guy. He came in with an outline already done on his arm of a squid. The linework was ok, not great but ok. He let me color this however I wanted so I had a ball with lots of crazy colors! After looking back at this I think I should have gone over every single line, however I'm hoping it will all blend well when it's healed. Another cool dude as well...he sat well for this although he was a hell of a bleeder... gotta tell myself always to slow the hell down and take my time..

 BEFORE PIC

 Sorry about the dark photo, another military guy for a small jammer.

 I'm going to have Annie come in for a touchup session and better photos so pardon the glare... This one was fun as well, she wanted something to remember her home....

My second attempt at tattooing ribs. Keone's wife Ari was awesome enough to let me do this on her! Definitely a challenge, slowly getting a grip on how to properly stretch the skin in this area...all these years my fellow artist were telling me how this area is a nightmare to tattoo... and they weren't lyin! 

Until next time....

ALOHA