Stuff And Things

Hello everyone!!! I have not been on here for a while so I have decided to post a big update on whats been happening at work. Here's a heap of new pics and a bit about each one...

Alla Prima was nice enough to use my mariachi trumpeter tattoo on one of there new posters! witch was very exiting for me as I am an avid Alla Prima user and a huge fan of there work.

Next up is the latest addition to our friend Tammy's sleeve, this was really fun and I can't wait to get back in and finish it off. 

This is on a new customer of mine, awesome dude, sits like a rock!! 6 hours on this session. 

Me tattooing my lovely wife to be :)

We had a Halloween day at work and i did this on the boss :) was super cool!!

Another session on Ryans owl sleeve about 2 hours on this we bit

Second sitting on this one, can't wait to see what this comes out like!!

So I done this on my cousin Kayla Jordan today, it was a tattoo my dad "Fats" had done on my uncle (Her dad) many years ago.. we re-drew it a wee bit, it was super fun!! Done with my Mark Iddles color packer and Marv Lerning shader :)

Fist session on my little sisters first tattoo, she sat really well and didn't complain about the size i decided on at all haha...

Dragon in progress, nearly done finally!! I'm very happy with this tattoo so far, its way out of my comfort zone but I thinks its turned out pretty cool :)

My first Rob Zombie tattoo!! super fun peace, free hand back ground. Alla Prima Inks

This is my first pointillism tattoo ever, not my usual style at all but had a lot of fun with it.. 

Well thanks all for your time, look forward to tattooing you soon..

Regards,

Matt Jordan

new stuff

Even though it's been slow, I did get one walkin the other day in NJ... an older gentleman came in for this one. He brought in the patch and asked me to duplicate it. He was super nice and I hope to see him again.

So this one is just in the sketch phase right now... this is a client of mine from a few months back, I tattooed a bike gear on her calf. She came in a few days ago to discuss a deer skull on her upper back. Naturally I was stoked on this idea, and went right to the drawing board. She's going to stop in tonight to take a look at what I have so far, measure it up to fit her, and then get back to the drawing board again for a solid greyscale study and final line drawing. I'll keep you posted on this!

Until next time....

MEXICO CITY TATTOO CONVENTION, OCT. 29 & 30, 2011

Mexico City Tattoo convention organizer Tony Serrano from Tatuajes Mexico, asked us to do a machine seminar. There were 16 artists in the class. We covered everything in our book and more. The goal is more than just to educate artists, for us, it's important to find people who are on the same page and want to be a part of the solution and NOT part of the problem. First you need to wake up and see that there is a problem and then tear it down bit by bit.

"HOW MANY OF YOU MAKE YOUR OWN NEEDLES?" Looks like 2 or so.. the rest?

The way to maintain quality control over every aspect of your tattooing is to understand every aspect of your tattooing. What you're actually doing when you step on the footswitch, when you put the needles in to the skin, the types of needles you are using, the quality of the pigment. Almost all tattoo supply companies don't care if you're doing good work with the products they sell. Almost all tattoo supply companies don't care if the products they sell are truly functional. Almost all tattoo supply companies don't understand what they are really selling. Almost all tattoo supply companies have never used the products they sell. Almost all artists trust these suppliers to supply them with quality functional products... these suppliers buy and sell products manufactured by people who do not tattoo, people who do not understand what functions are necessary in a tattoo machine. This is only a small part of the problem. Now, hopefully, these 16 students will not be taken by the hype in this unregulated business oriented supplier / artist relationship.

Art, Steve, Pablo Porno and Enrico Colombres.

While we were busy at the booth, selling machines, repairing machines and tattooing...

Juan "super" Arreguin was busy trying out his new prototype model machine, and having great results!

David "Scrappy Uno" Garcia was tattooing with his own model Scrappy Uno machine ...

Manuel "Master" Servin was tattooing also...

L to R: Pablo Porno, Scrappy Uno, and Master... All first place winners! Portrait, tattoo of the day, realism... the best of the best.

Congratulations to all 3 of these artists, we are proud to have them on Godoy Machines.

Meanwhile... Javier "Jade" Campos, was winning in Ecuador & Lima Peru with his own Javier Campos model machine!!!

The talent at this convention was incredible, the organization was perfect, the entertainment excellent.. thanks also to Tony Serrano for being a great host. And Enrico Colombres from Godoy Machines South America for being part of our crew.

Progress

So even though it's been a bit slow round these parts because of the time of year, I've managed to do a few things in the past two weeks.

This was a small walkin at No Ka Oi yesterday, small n simple. Her first one.

 Another walkin the other day...the stencil line is still there but we only did the letters. Another first timer.

 This was an awesome day.... I was scheduled at No Ka Oi on sunday, so in the morning before we opened up I had an old friend come in, Heather. She volunteered to be my first ribcage tattoo. Really stoked on this one. It was also cool to have both Bill and Anna there will be, I was beyond shitting my pants on this one... stretching wasn't as bad as I thought...although it's all because she was the perfect candidate. I took my time and made sure it was really nice. Now the mission is to get more awesome people like Heather to help my cause and give up some skin in the areas and I'm inexperienced in: ribs, lower back, chest, stomach, hip..... any takers???  Many kudos to Heather for this one!!!

This is on a client that walked into NJ a few weeks ago.. he came back for me to finish his big flag. This is one of my biggest thus far, and really excited to finish it.  Another thing was that Bill gave me this really old Micky Sharpz that works wonderfully for greywash....so I got to use that and was really happy with the results... I still need some more work smoothing out the grey, but overall I'm happy with the tattoo and how it flows with his arm when he bends it. I hope to see him back soon for some good photos of this healed.

This was a walkin in NJ a week ago...name jawns for dayyssss

Many thanks to Amanda for giving up some skin for a small one dedicated to her Hub... classic!


Looks like that's it for now, I'll be posting more soon! Come in and get tattooed!

Winter approaches.....

 So winter season has come SO FAST! pretty scary... however I'm happy to announce that I'm going to tattoo my first ribcage on Sunday, i'll keep you all posted on that! Big things are coming, moving on up!

All that aside, here's a few things I've gotten to do over the past week... some lettering done at No Ka Oi...

 This was a fun walk-in, he brought the image and considering how much I LOVE pinups this was a fun one for the portfolio...

Client brought this in too... I tattooed her and her friend, both with a brush stroke look to it. Her friend's tattoo pic came out blurry so i'm not going to post it, she got an infinity symbol smaller with a painterly feel to it.....

I also had an opportunity to work on Steve again for his polynesian 1/2 sleeve. This session was much shorter, traffic was bad so he came late and we didn't have time to finish the section. I was also having trouble with my shader so when I get to finish the section I'll be sure to post more.


This weeks update: Will be finishing the flag I started 2-3 weeks ago, as well as touching up a small part of the IRS badge I did a few weeks back as well. I'll post more soon.

Now off to the drawing board... off to look for more freelance work so I can afford to pay my bills this winter.

Rant n Rave

So I know lately I've only been posting the tattoos Ive been doing, not so much going into detail like I did when I first started this blog. I've been in the mood to write lately, but when I go to do that I end up clamming up and just listed the tattoos I did and call it a day, until now.

I have to say that this year I have changed alot, both mentally and physically. More than I thought actually. I've been doing alot of thinking, and reflecting on the long road that I have been on for so many years. It took me the entire 5 YEARS total that I have been apprenticing (including the shop I worked at before coming to work with Body Graphics) to realize that putting in your time really pays off. This is the main reason behind why I chose to take this long road with a very long apprenticeship. The thing that really interested me in tattooing wasn't just the artwork, it was the tradition being passed on from one person to another. It's definitely inspiring to finally feel like I am a part of it. Not just a player in the game. History history! So much has been lost especially being younger and coming into the tattoo community this late in the game. Anyone can just pick up a machine and start, but actually learning a piece of history is way more rewarding.


This year has forced me to be more self-reliant than I have ever been, work harder, live my life for me and not for anyone else. I guess it takes a horrible break-up and living away from home for a few months for stuff to sink in. I have been feeling like myself again, but not the "self" that I was a year ago... if that makes any sense at all. I feel like an equal at work, not at the bottom of the totem pole anymore, which makes me even more stoked to go to work now. I have more motivation now than I think I ever did, energy and a love for life. I've been working out, lost 15 lbs, started sketching ALOT more...feeling confident and not stressing over money money money. I want to go out and do things now, meet new people and enjoy my life....  I feel like most of college up until now I have been spending alot of time working my ass off (which is who I am) and not really enjoying life to the fullest. I worry constantly and focus on the small things instead of the big picture. Sometimes people can't see past the end of their nose.. I guess that was me for a while. Now I am proud to say that all the worrying, stressing, and anger stops today. I think all that has contributed to the fact that I haven't painted anything since I was in Hawaii. Well, I've done two paintings, but nothing noteworthy. This the longest I have gone without painting anything, and that's not good. I've recently been drawing a ton... trying to find my niche in the tattoo world, find a style that I like but at the same time get to experiment and try new things and be able to put in a clean tattoo that will stand the test of time. Of course all of that will come with time.... I have been thinking about my future more as well. Where do I want to be in 5, 10 years? I'm 27, and just started tattooing a little over a year now... what will 30 bring? 40? Do I want to still be in Philly?  Will I be able to support myself on my own, start paying my student loans??  It's such a shame that so many people my age still have to live at home or with roommates, including myself. Fucking money is the devil. Then there's the question do I want a family, or give that up to travel for a few years? All these questions seem to be coming to the forefront and I guess I'm finally "grown up" enough to deal with them, not necessarily answer them just yet. It's all about moving forward, and take the next step.

On a side note.....It's frustrating to see some people I know and have known just half-ass everything. Nothing you get in life is for free. Hard work = reward.....always. I guess I was just brought up that way. I think this is the reason why I have "lost" some friends over the years... whether it be to them moving on with their lives, starting families, moving away, etc.

I guess you can call this a rant, or bitching, or whatever.

So now, onto some tattoos....

My first attempt at a skin cut.. really stoked on doing this one considering Halloween is right around the corner. I think I'm going to do some studies with this concept, this guy brought in a photo of exactly what he wanted, but we added some more detail in it since it was bigger. This time last year I did the hatchet tattoo as a Halloween Special. I can't wait to see this one healed. I'll be seeing him again soon, while I was tattooing him his wife decided to get one as well and we scheduled an appointment.

Small walkin... nothing too small, always a challenge.

 This is a client of both me and my coworker ... he hit me up to do some lettering on him, bigger than I usually work, but he agreed to let me do it in two sessions... I liked doing this, really getting into lettering however still need to clean up the lettering on life.... we're going to add some red in there too to go with the tattoo nearby that has the same color scheme.

 This one was an awesome walkin! My coworker was booked up, so its either do it, or send him out the door. This is the biggest walkin I have done so far, and with some sketching and chatting with others to get their opinion I felt confident to start this one. Since he had limited time we did what we could and I'm going to see him in two weeks. Really stoked to color it as well, I want this in my portfolio as soon as possible!

 small walkin, her first birthday tattoo.

 Birthday girl's friend

I had the opportunity to tattoo an old friend's daughter... I did a children's book with this girl's Mother in 2005-2006 and it's awesome that she brought her daughter to me for the first tattoo. Definitely a good day.

 FINALLY finished my roommate's sweet skullberries. I want to expand on this design, but I'm not sure if she wants to go bigger yet. She's a trooper for letting me do this on her!

 Saw my pal Steve two weeks ago... added more to the polynesian! We added onto exsisting lines, so when hes all healed up I need to go back and smooth out some areas, and we're going to draw on a continuation onto the back of his arm... I'll post the progress. I'm really happy with how things are coming along... this is a learning process for me and I hope to get more work like this, it's alot of fun.

 So far there's definitely a sharp line that divides the patterns I did before, and the new addition. Once he heals I'll make sure that line dissappears.

 Walkin from NJ....

Another walkin... cute lil teddy bear awwwww



More to come.... Been sketching my ass off lately so I will post those soon enough...

Superman!

Hey guys! so heres a short flick of the Superman tattoo I did on the aprentice at Blue Lotus the over day.. thanks for looking :)