August 2006 Archives

Thanks to the most talented Monte Agee, I'm sporting the beginning of an amazing back piece. Monte went with the "Entombment" theme I chose. He called me the day before my travel after seeing Peter Paul Ruben's depiction of the scene - View it here, at the Getty - and wondered if I'd like to go with that painting instead. I love it and having a fine artist work his craft on something he also liked sounds good to me. Here's the result of Wednesday's 7 hour session.

Look at them big 'ol hips. It'll be black, greys, and reds.

I'm learning by listening and watching as much as possible. Even though I can't see his hands, I'm trying to pay attention to how it feels, the strength/pressure of each stretch, and how he positions me for whatever area he's working on.

*By the way... driving a Mini Cooper with my shirt off, sitting upright with the seat reclined was the stupidest idea ever. But I made it home safe and sound.

1. Scan the drawing. For me, 300dpi was high enough resolution.
2. In Photoshop, I adjust the levels to bring out the black and kill the light grey. Save as .PSD file

3. Bring it into Adobe Illustrator CS2. Select your image, now select Object > Live Trace > Tracing Options.
To see the vector preview I always zoom in on a section of the image beforehand to be able to see the upcoming preview.

Mess with your options (more below)... then hit "Trace".

Blur - adds a Gaussian blur that can help reduce noise. Can smooth out rough edges.
Fill Trace - not stroke trace
Path Fitting - determines how closely the vector version will resemble the original image. Lower will keep jagged edges, higher will even them out. (setting the view option to compare original file and vector tracing helps a ton)
Minimum Area - determines smallest are to trace.
Corner Angle - sharpness of the angles in degrees.

4. Select the object, now Object > Live Trace > Expand
5. Optional / I always delete the outer white area by selecting it with the Direct Select tool (hollow/white arrow) and hitting Delete.

6. Save it as an .EPS file - or whatever your printer takes - and there you have it.
Hit up the image below to see a large before and after version.

And it really never should be.

This is an issue I rarely feel comfortable bringing up, but the importance is tremendous. We all need validation; we just do. Getting feedback from both client and coworkers is wonderful. But, in my opinion, positive responses should never boost my ego. Because it's not about me or how great I may become - or how horrible I'll digress. If I do it right; it never will be.

For me... It's about the art. It's about the process, the creation. And once it's created... I need to cut the umbilical cord.

Sure, artists are sensitive and attach themselves to their work, but this is a medium that quickly turns around and walks out the door. Being able to hold on to what I make wouldn't be good for me anyway. Beautiful or ugly, it needs to live on its own.

Maybe that's the best part of being an apprentice. There's nothing that'll humble you more than cleaning a lovely tattoo shop toilet. And I, as an artist, need that proper perspective. Sure I may have dreams of grandeur, but come on, it's not like I'm a musician.

1. After sketching out the drawing, come up with a solid outline.
2. Make a copy of the outline, then render the black areas with a pencil. I now skip this step, but it initially gave me a great understanding of the piece before I went into coloring.
3. Trace the original outline onto the vellum with a standard pencil.
4. With Prismacolors, shade from dark to light. Lay down the black softly then build up the gradient to the really dark area.

* If you want to see the outline again, go over it with a thin black Sharpie. The tip will quickly pick up some of the waxy pencil, so you'll have to wipe it off occasionally.

The process takes some time, but it helps me piece together the color puzzle long before I dive into the skin. Which, because it's so new to me, is a necessary help.

My first attempt with Prismacolors didn't turn out that well. I didn't realize how creamy the colors would blend over each other. On my second try, I made a point to fade the colors together softly and with a steady circular motion. Hit up the above image for a larger version.

She asked for a specific Tattoo Johnny (flash) butterfly with an American flag in it. Because I couldn't find the flash image here, at home, I grabbed some samples of it from Google:

And here's the reworked version. Outline, then colored with Prismacolors on Vellum paper.

We both weren't into the shine on the right side of my coloring, so we killed it in final tattoo. An outline/shaded photo of it is in the gallery along with Tattoo #04.

I'll be turning a full color painting of big George Washington into 3 distinct shades of black.
Create a new document (atleast 300dpi if possible), and paste in Big G to the size you want. You may lose detail making it larger, but that's fine...

Create two new layers with the same image. One way to create a duplicate of an existing layer is to drag that layer to the new layer icon.

Hide the new layers (click on the eye to the left of it). Select the bottom layer and let's find a threshold to start with: Image > Adjust > Threshold. This will be the base black so slide the bar left or right to get the foundation you're looking for.

Now select the layer above the bottom one and click the eye again to reveal it. Before we find another threshold for this, change the opacity of the level to 50%. This will soon enable the standard threshold black to become half of itself as a medium shade of grey. Slide the threshold bar to reveal more of the image... whatever you deem as the midpoint of the image.

Last, reveal the last, top layer, and change the opacity of this level to 25%. Now pick the last threshold to your liking... obviously reveal more to complete the three shades of black.

Now we have a guide to help understand the lay of both prominent and obscure facial features. It's a powerful tool, so do with it what you will!

Nothing is a substitute for life drawing or honing those skills. This is just another tool to assist.

(View larger image)

*Quick addendum: before you run the threshold, if you put a Gaussian blur on the original image then your final lines/shades will be rounded and a bit more stylized. Also if you wish to add more levels, just create more layers and gradually decrease the opacity correspondingly.

I've posted my first three tattoos in the Tattoo gallery. I'll be keeping it update as I progress.

Oh, and I've gotten a ton of great emails from everybody. Who would have thought a tattoo blog charting my progress would spark interest. Keep them coming... dutchpink@gmail.com

I've been at this for some time. I only recently decided to blog about, but there is some time under my belt. You know time filled with scrubbing tubes, cleaning stations, licking the cat's butt... well, a ton of stuff.

I came in to the shop really early and it took awhile, but here we go...
Yep, it's a drunk piano.

Better pictures after the jump...

And for apprentices, you'll have plenty of time before your first tattoo. So I whipped this practice pencil up ghetto style. It's purely for weight purposes. There is no cord attached or vibration. Sure some of the guys in the shop will have choice words after seeing this, but why not let your hand cramp up now instead of during your machine practice?

I've been drawing with this every day for outlines and common stuff around the house. Alright, so get the stuff up above together:
Duct tape, two C batteries, a steady mechanical pencil, and an eraser (or whatever works) to support the batteries.

It's pretty easy. Just piece everything together and duct tape the heck out of it.

1.  Tape the batteries together first, then place and tape those onto the big eraser. I left room for the eraser to slide out for use later, but that's your call.

2.  Wrap the duct tape around the pencil evenly for a thicker grip. (or grab a Red Rat grip and slide it on)

3.  Tape the pencil to the contraption. Just tape an "X" to support it. And make sure to leave space for the pencil's eraser to click.

Later, I added more weight between the eraser and batteries. Ah, ghetto.

View large image of diagram.

So the point of this outline exercise is pretty obvious. Get used to drawing something you have no connection with, and draw it well. I have come to terms with the fact that I will be tattooing the Tazmanian Devil, evil clowns, butterflies and tribal memorials for dead animals.

Suddenly doing an anime outline doesn't seem that bad.

View larger image