Filling in the gaps

Now for Dave.....This man is a great customer, really fun to work with and he has been really patient; waiting for me to be able to tattoo him rather than just getting work done somewhere else.  He has existing tattoos on his arm that I am working around and covering one of them up.  He really likes the way I draw and the style that I naturally draw things in so designing stuff for him has been really fun.  short and sweet....here's some eye candy

The tape still needs another pass.  He'd sat for quite a while by the time we got to this point.

Roses are red (and yellow)

Bit more progress on Duncan's chest.  Managed to get the roses all shaded in a couple of hours,  The wings are healing nicely and the cover up seems to have worked really well.  Cant wait to get more done on this but I'm going to have to wait a little while....christmas is expensive, tattoos can wait!

One chest down

So...I have finished one of the chest pieces I have been working on.  Its been lots of fun (for me anyway, probably not for the guy having it!!)  and both I and the recipient of the piece are really happy with the finished tattoo.  Im really pleased with the colour density in this piece, it really glows.  The picture shows it all 100% healed apart from the blue background.  There's obviously things I might do differently next time I approach a piece like this, but that is what my apprenticeship is about.  I've been able to give someone a better tattoo than they ever imagined and also learn some things in the process, job done

Paul sat like an absolute trooper and was a pleasure to tattoo.  Fingers crossed he'll be back fro some more work

Goodbye stars

Duncan is a lovely guy, and a very patient man.  I designed this piece for him in may, and he very kindly waited for me to tattoo it.  So he has waited nearly seven months and I appreciate that sort of loyalty more than you'd believe.  Its been a really fun piece even though it is a cover up (he originally had two nautical stars just below his collar bones.) It was amusing seeing how off the stars were position wise when we put the stencils on for this, one was at least an inch closer to his sternum!  Anyhoo...here it is, a fair few more hours to go but I'm really pleased so far, it was fun seeing the stars disappear! 

one more to go

I've loved doing this piece, its been lots of fun and nice to have some clean skin to work on (as many of the designs I have to do at the moment are cover ups.)  We are nearly there, one more session to go to add some background and tighten up a few parts, but I'm really pleased with it.

Grrrrrrr

I may be a tattooer, but I still find the call for dragon tattoos quite astonishing.  This is not to say I don't enjoy doing it I just find the numbers of people (generally men) who want them somewhat overwhelming.   I tattooed my first dragon yesterday, its a cover up but only a small one so the majority of the dragon is on clean skin and it was really fun to do.  All those scales though, makes my brain hurt and my eyes wobble!  Colour is going to be fun...probably going reds and oranges, he's reasonably manly so I doubt he'll let me go for baby blue purple and pink, oh well!!

On another note, I'm getting tattooed myself soon too!! Its going to be the start of my blackwork/dotwork sleeve.  Lu, one of the other artists at the studio is going to do it.  I cant wait, her dotwork is pretty amazing so I'm really looking forward to seeing it evolve.  She does however have the tedious task of blacking in almost half of my arm to start with!!  I will make her cakes to ease the boredom!

progress

I am absolutely shattered, but I am trying to make the effort to post so apologies if little sense is made!  My boss is on holiday for a month and he has kindly said I can use his room in the tattoo studio to work out of.  This means I am no longer stuck to tattooing one day a week and it also makes things much easier for my customers.  So far I have pretty much been tattooing every day which is awesome if not extremely tiring.  I never thought this would be an easy profession, but my eyes have really been opened to just how hard it is to work solidly.

I now have a few big pieces that I'm working on so seeing them progress is really fun.  I did some more work on the chest piece I started last week today, and really enjoyed it.  Lots of colour...which is my favourite thing to do!  Sorry about the pictures, forgot the camera so had to make do with Iphone.  This has really dulled down the colour and seems to flatten the tones, there's a real gradient in the reds and purples but it just doesn't show here..... ah well ( silly me) must remember camera......

No heart no hurt

Soooo.. here's another piece I've started this week.  Having had my chest tattooed I really felt for this guy, he sat like a trooper but the odd involuntary shakes and twitches were all too familiar to me, it made me realise what a hard time Jade had watching me sit for 8 hours in the very same state! I got the outline done and he'd had enough so we called it a day. Can't wait to get started on the colour though.  I have a feeling this one's going to shine!  Apologies for he picture quality, i had to snap a quick one as he was in no state to stand around and pose.

Must stop being lazy

Right, apologies first.  I've been lazy in posting as is glaringly apparent from my empty blog, work has been pretty full on although that is no real excuse.  I've been tattooing one day a week which adds to my workload, but I've also been doing loads of design work for my boss as he has a ridiculous amount of clients and tattoos 8 hours straight every day thus leaving little time for him to catch up on ongoing designs and consultations with new customers.  This has all now been added to my role as shop bitch, but I am still enjoying everything - although some days it feels like I'm getting loaded with all the work no one else has time to do, the other artists are trusting in me to do it which i can only take as a pretty large compliment.

As for my tattooing, the first piece I've started in the shop I've mentioned in an earlier post.  I've done a second sitting on it now so I guess it's probably due a visual representation on here.  There's still a long way to go, as the 'piece' (big black scar might be more fitting) that I'm working to cover will need another pass to hide it completely.  I've done the first pass over the existing tattoo and am happy so far, the background is just plotted out ready for me to complete next time. anyhoo. here goes ....

I've included the original just to show what I had to work with

Ready, set.....

So tomorrow is my first day of actually tattooing in the studio I work in. Although I've been tattooing nearly a year, these are going to be my first pieces carries out under the studios name, eek! I'm somewhat nervous, mainly because it's been a few weeks since I last used my machines properly. The first piece I've got to do is a Japanese piece that I've designed to cover a lovely tribal armband! Nice big peony blossoms and some waves. I'm really looking forward to it, it's going to be good to have a big piece to get stuck into for my first. I'm feeling a bit like a kid on Christmas eve!

a minor change

It seems that I may be getting old, I am definitely not 'down with the kids' anymore at least.  Partly due to Jade and I not having a TV, my refusal to listen to the majority of radio stations (due to the never ending torrent of ear defiling music) and my general dis interest in poop culture it seems the original choice for my blog title has been usurped.  Until reasonably recently I was blissfully unaware of a certain Justin Bieber, those were the days.  It seems the little pop icon is due to release a film - sadly (for my case) entitled never say never.  I've decided to re - title my blog as I would rather not have any affiliation, misconceived or otherwise, with Master Bieber (I think Mr might be a few years off yet.) So seeing as I'm no quitter, A minor change is needed, get back up and start again.

and now for some eye candy........enjoy

A recent comission, spraypaint, and acrylic on canvas

Sleepy Saturday

Saturday is walk in day in the studio I work at. Which normally means a very busy day. Today was relaxed in comparison to normal, but still had a lot to do. I designed an piece to go on a guys elbow last night and he came in for it today. The finished work looked awesome thanks to mike's (the studio owner) skill with a tattoo machine. Here's what it looked like on paper

Braincake blog birthday

So.. first post time.  going to keep it short and sweet.  To start out on a good footing, might as well start with zombies. mmmmmmmmm braaainnns!

Secondly i need to thank my wife for convincing me to start a blog, it needed doing, but I am way too lazy on my own!