Tattoo Wars

So I've seen two episodes of Tattoo Wars on TLC and I love it. Instead of hearing the stories behind the tattoos, we're getting closeup shots of the tattooers within their work environments. Watching Nikko solder his mag and seeing Steve Morris tweaking an image in …

Grim Reaper

Eric brought in a grim reaper he found online and I tweaked it up to flow with his arm. That and we threw in some red eyes for flavor. I tried to experiment with my black and grey shading on this one. Instead of jumping straight into a midtone, I worked out of pure …

On Depth

The right depth for my needles to reach seems to be different for everyone. So how do I know?

Well, lately I'm realizing that with experience... you just seem to know. Sometimes the sound of the machine will vary; not quite bogged down, but certainly running with …

The beginning of a sleeve

I went into the shop on my day off to begin what will be a full sleeve on my brother-in-law.

We've much to do, but so far I'm happy with the skull. I tried my best to apply the mixing and blending techniques that have filled my head from the seminar (awhile back) …

Pistols and Wings

Some session work... She wants it to look a little like a sketch. Dual pistols (older ones) and wings. Sketching is fun. When this is finished, it'll all be greys and the handles will be a cherry red.

View larger version here.

Lady with Cross

The idea was a lady taking up her cross... So I took some time to plow through paintings of women by artists I love and trust. After finding a close body shape, I pieced this together and finished it off with a Baroque style face (classy, not trashy!).

Jaymi sat …

In progress - A Nightmare Session

For whatever reason, the most response I've gotten so far is from the second session of the Nightmare Before Christmas forearm I've worked on.

Jake comes in sporadically, so the process has stretched out over time, but we got to spend a few hours on it and I thought …

Take care of yourself

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were wonderfully busy. From opening to close, I was completely booked. I was so excited going into the week! Note the exclamation mark, I rarely use those.

I tried to plan as much as possible: no room to skimp on preparation. Drawings were …

Graffiti - Johnathan

Just finished this one today, we'll be taking better photos with the Nikon tomorrow. I drew it up about 15 times and finally I felt comfortable with the layout. It covers up a few small music notes... Oh, and the background is, obviously, splattered paint taken from …