So I started this one back before Christmas and as always – other things have gotten in the way of finally finishing it! We were gonna finish it around Mothers day, but again – other stuff came up. So finally – this weekend we rode out to the shop on a lazy sunday morning and finished up this tattoo! Happy Mother’s Day, Jenny! (Check out the Buddhist meaning behind Jenny’s tattoo!)
This is the first element of an ongoing “sleeve in-progress” on my buddy Geoff from Real Art! We’ll be working pretty aggressively over the coming weeks on this sleeve, so check back to see more soon.
I’m really proud of this one. Here’s a before and after photo of an “apprentice tattoo” I started back in December (I think?). I left it unfinished with the intention of coming back in and finishing it up within a couple weeks. Of course, many things got in the way and we just sat back down to finish it last night.
Anyway – my point here is this. I approached this second session as an “overhaul” session rather than simply finishing what I started. I wasn’t satisfied with the lack of saturation and color blending in the direction I was heading… also wasn’t digging the weak linework. So I opened a photo of the existing work in Photoshop and banged out an airbrushed comp of what I wanted the final product to look like. Then taped that printout up on my workstation and used it as a guide for the overhaul. I hope you’ll agree that this was DEFINITELY the way to go! I’ll be sure and use Photoshop in future tattoos. I think it really played a large part in making this a successful tattoo.
(Click the photos to see a larger version)
Rob Anspach was back for more last night and I slapped this on him! I’m really happy with the design AND the execution. Check it out! (Thanks for being my pin-cushion, Rob!)
I got to tattoo at my first convention a couple weeks ago – The Full Moon Horror and Tattoo Expo in Nashville, TN! One of the highlights of the weekend was this tattoo I did of the Toxic Avenger! We did the tattoo on day one of the convention – then on day two, Dana had LLoyd Kaufman (Writer and Director of The Toxic Avenger and Owner of Troma Studios) autograph his leg – which I quickly tattooed that morning! Dana was completely stoked – as this obviously was a big deal for him, and I’m happy that these guys were that impressed with my interpretation of the Toxic Avenger movie poster pose! Thanks, Dana!
Here’s a nifty black and gray Walleye tattoo I did this weekend! Again – I’m happy with how my black and gray work is progressing. Would like to see less relying on linework, though, and more concentration on shapes and values that make up the total image… but I think I’m getting there! Hope you dig.
Here’s a nice and simple foot tattoo on Anna I did on April 19, 2009! I kept this one simple and clean – she loves her new ink and I’m happy to have yet another one under my belt!
I met with Ben about a week ago and pushed his tiger from the outlined stage to a more “finished” version. We’re working on alot of circus pieces on this leg so in the near future there will likely be some background color behind the tiger and then some. But yeah – this guy can stand on his own now as a finished tattoo. Hope you dig.
This one was a multi-session piece. Not the easiest thing to do – basically creating a nagative space tattoo by “brushing” in an outer glow as if by painting over a stencil and then peeling off the stencil. I think it turned out nice and Jess definitely digs her new tattoo!
I’ve been getting a lot of compliments on this particular piece – even though it was only the black and gray “in-progress” version. Last night we added color and finished Rob’s tiki tattoo, and I hope everybody digs it even more now! (I sure do!) Check it out:
