Flying foxes.

I am becoming obsessed with vegetarian monsters. 

(in fact, i just stopped working on this blog post and bought the domain name violentvegetarians.com.

but, like most of my other 22 domain names, 

i have no idea what i'll do with it)

I have a Kirin (Qilin) tabori tattoo from Japan,

I love hippos, and every other angry vegetarian out there. 

Fruit bats are so dope. 

They have creepy wings made of skin,

sharp teeth,

and some are the biggest bats in the world. 

Ben had some time, 

an open calf, 

and no idea what he wanted. 

I was stoked to do this fruit bat hanging in an orange tree. 

Just a little bit.

I don't change my mind very often. 

I usually react poorly to change. 

I have habits and schedules and comfort zones, 

and they only get more ingrained as I get older.

But here's a flip-flop I can admit to. 

I used to be so opposed to adding touches of color to black and grey tattoos, 

but at some point I changed my mind, 

and now I love it. 

Not for every tattoo, 

(and not ever "just some blue in the eye"),

but for all the pieces that show just how much I tattoo like a girl,

a couple flowers or a ribbon or something in color 

adds an extra little bit that I'm pretty into. 

I was happy to do some finishing touches on this today.

Most of it is healed.

No waves 'cept heatwaves.

I've been given a lot of freedom lately, 

and I am very grateful.

The drawing for this hare tattoo was meant for someone else, 

but they didn't end up getting tattooed, 

so a very talented local tattoo artist claimed it instead.

That made it a little more stressful, of course,

but it went really well

and I'm happy it all worked out.

It's so hot in Minneapolis this week 

that I even went swimming last night.

In a lake.

On purpose.

Meryl told me we were doing it, 

and I was too hot to resist.

So in Lake Nokomis, 

during a beautiful sunset with my beautiful wife, 

I switched back and forth from doggy paddling to floating on my back

while she swam around me 

and watched me take gulps of gross lake water.

I can't wait for autumn.

I can't wait for chilly nights and backyard fires.

There's a very comfortable temperature somewhere between -30 and 98,

it just can't be found in Minnesota most of the year.

Luckily the shop has air conditioning, kinda,

and I spend all my time there. 

I hope someone out there is enjoying their summer,

and they come get tattooed and tell me all about it.

Shawn Hebrank tattoos like an old lady.

Rachel was very open with this tattoo,

and only requested a bird for a half sleeve.

We did this pheasant all in one session, 

and she did awesome.

I think it was maybe 5 hours total.

I appreciate everyone's patience lately, 

I've been working on changing a lot about the way I work,

and it's been a bumpy transition.

I'd like to focus on some larger pieces, 

illustrative styled and mostly nature themed,

either weird or creepy or beautiful or dark, 

or a combination of all four.

I'm straying away from the sillier, more cartoonish tattoos I used to do.

I'm not saying I'll never do those again,

but I'm hoping to do more work like this from now on.

Maybe I'm growing up a bit?

Now that I'm in my thirties i'm finally maturing a little?

We'll see.

Until then, 

if you'd like to chat about getting some work along these lines, 

please email me.

shawnhebrank@gmail.com

 

Ingredients like these.

My portfolio is getting revamped 

with lots of healed, semi-professional-ish photos. 

We have a little black curtain in the back room of the shop, 

a special angled light that reduces glare, 

and a camera that seems idiot proof. 

For real, check it out: 

Liz had some tattoos on her back already;
we let some stay,
and covered up some others,
and tried to make the most cohesive backpiece possible.
Everything now visible was done by me,
though some parts are years apart.
I'm super happy with how this piece turned out.
Big thanks to Liz for being such a trooper,
and giving me so much freedom with me tying everything together.

Fawns and birds and trees and ivy.
I love working on projects with ingredients like these.

3 tails.

Vanessa and I have been working on this piece for a while,
and even though we decided it's not quite done yet, 
it's healed and certainly done enough for a photo.
It's a 3-tailed kitsune (japanese fox),
and the falling blossoms are a tie-in with her cherry tree backpiece.
I am super impressed with how well she sat,
I know the ribs and sides aren't easy.

Answered.

Here's a healed photo of Stacey's chestpiece.
I was excited to do an (almost) still life style illustration of the antlers and flowers,
and I liked doing the antlers black and grey with the flowers in color.
I'd like to remind everyone how much I love doing chestpieces,
so if yours is empty, think about it.