May 2007
MayMay 30 Wednesday 07
A little here and there
I got to go over a tattoo I did awhile back. I wasn't about to change it much, but I certainly wanted to enhance it. My 26th tattoo, I didn't know much about color mixing, so I tried to fade a light grey wash straight into pure yellow. The result was …
Jesus Arm Piece
I went at this version of Peter Paul Rubens' Raising of the Cross. It's flipped horizontally and I threw in some touches of negative cross space and flow lines to try and smooth it into Dale's arm.
Outlining seemed impractical, so I did the whole tattoo with a 9 mag, …
MayMay 27 Sunday 07
Hope - A Tattoo in Stages
Rachel came up with the idea to have the letter "e" in "hope" represent the ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness. She tossed it around with a friend, and this is the drawing that was presented to me for her first tattoo...
I loved the idea and we talked about turning …
MayMay 24 Thursday 07
Day 03 - Collaboration
I have to say, today was insane. I've worked a daily deadline at a newspaper and a monthly deadline at a magazine. But none of it has compared to the level of stress I went through today.
Take two guys, put them together, and let them tattoo one at a time (back and …
Day 04 - Another Collaboration
One of the guys, Brian, got to exchange ideas and drawings with Nate today. They worked their way through a zombie baby. You know, gnawing on his own guts.
Being able to watch the process, from initial sketch to final outline was great. But watching that thing come to …
Day 05 - Skull and a Rose
We just watched Mr. Nate Beavers complete this piece on the back of a calf.
The Secret Seminar of Doom
I'm in recovery mode and I want to try some stuff out. So for the next couple of days, my posts will be minimal... but I'll be doing my best to whip out some tattoos to show.
I've gotten a lot of emails asking about the seminar. Well, this was the first of what may …
Happy Saturday
My little one is healthy, the day is beautiful and I've got good news to tell you later...
Bugpins
Hey, I tried bugpins and I think they'll be wonderful for some pieces. I used a 11 mag with #8 (or 000, long taper, standard point) bugpins in a 9 tube. Those suckers are tiny so the grouping is obviously smaller.
It seems to me the little diameter and long taper …
Copper
Copper frame, patinaed, hand rolled coils (wrapped in embossed copper wraps), mosaic damascus yoke, with full copper hardware from Pulse. Top it off with a huge U.S. penny from the 1800's for the rear deck hold down... and you'll have my new shader by Junebug.
I'm …
Hyperspace Studios
Rest stops, coffee, NPR, and audiobooks... I write this after returning from a six hour drive.
I fired off an email asking Markus Lenhard when he'd be in the States so I could get a tattoo. Oddly enough, he responded, "next week." A few exchanges and I was off to have …
So What's the Good News?
It seems I'm no longer an apprentice.
That's right. You're looking at a bona fide professional tattooer.
The news probably doesn't affect you, but for me - today was a completely different day. It was my first day to jump into shop rotation. So congrats all around …
Photoshop CS3 - Align and Blend
I've been messing around with Adobe Photoshop's latest CS3. There are some new, powerful tools and I can't wait to dive in deeper.
For now here's a quick little something:
Four individual images
After taking four shots of my new tattoo, I've pulled up all of them …
Hyperspace Studios - Part 2
Seeing an artist (Guy Aitchison) at the top his game is inspiring. He's come so far, yet he's still open to learning and has created an environment to do so.
Then, spending time with an artist (Markus Lenhard) in the middle of developing his craft is just as …
Overheard on my cell
"Hey, I think I've figured out what I want to get."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Do you think you could tattoo a brick wall on me?"
"Seriously?"
"Tell you what, if the texture is too much, you could do a tribal brick wall. That'd be great."
Photoshop CS3 Extended and Poser 7
We use Poser 7 occasionally in the shop to find great camera and lighting angles on the human form. Instead of bending around a hardwood manikin to look for figure positions, we're able to adjust a virtual body joint by joint.
So why not send over that 3D file from …
A More Confident Outline
I'm finally starting to feel comfortable, even excited about outlining. The guys at the shop have told me time and again to trust myself and stop being chicken.
See, I've been slowly building up lines in a scratching sort of manner. My tendency has been to work the …
More Tattoos Posted
Six new photos with commentary have been posted in the Tattoos 51-70 Archive (Gallery). Just scroll down to see them at the bottom of the page. And I've begun a new section -Tattoos 71-90- by posting the dolphin from the previous post.