Art Tattoo Design: May 2012

Again, a very delayed post from me. Work has been picking up even more and I'm getting to do some really fun and challenging tattoos. This grip of photos (well, most of them anyway) really helped me analyze how I'm working and what kinds of steps I can take to get better.

I've been bouncing back and forth between the NJ shop and No ka Oi lately.... which is great considering I'm there often enough to start building a clientelle. Its really nice to have people that come back to you, and refer you to their friends/family. That's what we hope for when we do this.

On that note this first one was a walkin at No Ka Oi... some letters on his ribs. Getting more and more comfortable tattooing this area sometimes... however it changes with every person. This one went well, he sat good and we had some fun with a drop shadow and color.

I have to say this is one of the most fun walkins I've had in a while. He had this record album with him and this was the artwork for it. So geometric and perfect, almost like stained glass. The original image didn't have black outlines but for longevity sake we added the black outlines. This was a challenging and fun tattoo, great practice for me technically. Solid colors, perfectly straight lines. He came in this week and showed it to me, he now wants to add another part to this design, some sort of top window to cap off his arm... more to come on this one!

This one came in about two weeks ago, Bill had tattooed his shoulder a while back and now he wanted to add this italian horn chain around his calf. We came up with this design and added a little color.

This was another walkin at No Ka Oi. This is a pretty popular design however it was my first time doing it. So fun! I think I'm going to make a flash sheet with these on it... the ladies seem to love the bird and wishie silhouettes... ALOT!

The one underneath is a coverup I have going on in progress. Not only is this one a fun one, it's giving me more experience in coverups and having fun with textures. This is what we have so far.

This was another walkin at No Ka Oi.... he already had the half sleeve done somewhere else.. it was a really nicely done tattoo too, I should have gotten a photo of the whole thing but considering I just added this little bit I figured it wasnt worth it. Cherry blossoms never get old!

This one was an appointment that spanned over the course of a few months, we met in person at Portside one day, then after many emails and another consultation later we ended up with this design... it's a gesture sketch based off a painting that she brought in. This was her first tattoos so I was happy that she took her time with this. She sat very well for this and I hope to see it healed. Definitely into this abstract figure.

This is a new addition to the flowers I posted the last time. She sits like a champ! She came in again to finish the color on the flowers... we have one more session left to add some greywash background to camouflage the redness of the birthmark. Very excited about this one. the last bit of flowers I did healed overall ok with a few spots that need a touchup and I want to put a bit more shading in some areas to make the flowers popl a bit more. I will post when I see her again.

Another view

This one was an appointment for someone who I met while working over at No Ka Oi. technically and design wise this was a nightmare! A crapload of letters in a perfect circle! Thank the Lord for Photoshop! She brought me everything I would need which was super helpful, and we ended up with this design, which was a deviation from her original idea, which was ok. It was a good location for this tattoo and she left happy. Definitely a challenge....

This one was done last week. This client found me via the internets and came in for a consultation. He had the entire design worked out for me so all I had to do was redraw it. It's always a challenge to do something like this in my eyes. Overall I am happy with this tattoo and hope it heals up clean. We had good conversation and he sat so well!

Correction! This walkin was equally as fun! He came in to the NJ shop one day last week and since I didn't have time to do it when he walked in, we booked an appointment for a day or two later. This was an awesome logo from a family company that he's a part of. The men in the photo are his father, grandfather and great grandfather... and considering my caricature background I really enjoyed this! The original image was ALL blue with ALL red letters without an outline, so again for longevity sake we added the black outlines to keep the design crisp for longer. I'm very stoked on this design thanks Carmen! I'll be seeing him again this week for another consultation!

A walkin at the NJ shop that turned into an appointment. This was his second tattoo and the biggest... sat for the entire thing! He brought the image to me and I just tweaked it to fit the areas that he wanted to cover. Once this heals up I plan on adding red on the outside of this sort of like a dropshadow only in red. The red was his idea and I think it would look pretty awesome with the bold black. Hope to see him back soon for more. Thanks to Levi for this fun one!

I finally finished the angel on Tim! Love this image and it covered up his name perfectly. The previous session healed perfectly and I was happy to give him this tattoo in memory of his wife who is no longer with us. We added a bit more to the cancer ribbon to make it stand out... it had healed up a bit light.

Sherry came back! I did some paw prints on her wrist a while back, and after many emails since then I finally tattooed her again. Love cherry blossoms of course, and I enjoy cute little stuff like this. With some tension going on at the shop Sherry and her friend were rays of sunshine for me that day.... thanks to Sherry you rule!

This was a walkin the other day here at No Ka Oi.. a mountain laurel. This was fun to do... LOVE flowers. I will probably shoot myself for making this statement but I can do flowers every day and wouldn't care at all!

This came in yesterday.... she had this tiny tattoo done at Skin Deep a yr or so back and she just needed some color put back into it and a few lines fell out.... which can happen.

BEFORE

AFTER

This was done yesterday at No Ka Oi. She came in as a referral from another client of mine and stoked to do another crab!!

That's it for right now, I will post more when I can. Working on self advertising more and getting my name out there.... I'd like to travel and get the hell out of philly for a minute!

ALOHA

Hey guys!!! So I just looked at my blog and I have not updated it for almost TWO MONTHS!!! I've put together some photos of what I have been up to :)

Its been super busy at work and I've got several interviews on the go, on top of that I have just got hold of an awesome camera to use so you will start seeing a lot more tattoos that I have taken the photos for myself!!

Thanks for looking I will be back soon to write a new post about more of whats been going on :)

Dragon sleeve i will be working on for the next year lol...

Bryns neck so far.

First session on Adams thor piece.

Little didy

Healed shot in progress

Healed shot. took 2.5 hours to do this one.

Need I say more?

Cover up in progress, all freehand.

Finally finished the rape sleeve!!!

Blue striped marlin in progress.

First rose, more to come.

This peace was great fun!! 4 hours

Adams sleeve progress

Start of a full chest peace of to wolfs battling it out :)

First session on Helens awesome new hand piece!!

see below :)

8 hours in so far. Done on a NZ Air Force engineer, his granddad was on the destroyer ship when it was sunk by Japan him and around 200 others survived, he spent 3 years in a P.O.W camp then when him and 700 other prisoners were being transported back to Japan, an American ship sunk the boat they were on mistakenly thinking it was a gunner ship. my customers granddad and around 200 other men survived the second sinking. If they had made it back to Japan as intended, they would of been rite in the middle of the Hiroshima disaster. Was a really interesting job and a good yarn so i thought i would share :) Alla Prima Ink