View larger image of hair comparison between sessions.

Session 01 was outlined in black, but the majority of features within the face and hair were quickly outlined with a light grey wash. I then filled in some areas loosely with a slightly darker wash (around 10% black). The quick outlines healed light enough to go over and dark enough to still see.

Two months later, Session 02, had me fleshing out his hair and forehead. I started with a medium wash in some of the darker spots to give myself some landmarks. Then I jumped straight into a really light wash and blended out the lightest of lights. Step back, take a break, look at it with fresh eyes. I then built up the medium wash into the light. Finally, I ended the sessions by throwing some dark grey into those original landmark spots and up the contrast. (does that make sense?)

It's certainly not for everyone, but tattooing yourself can be great. It's one of the only times I can tattoo and just not care about trying out new hand motions, whip shading, and mess with my machine.

I'm off to Nashville for the week. I may post while I'm gone... I may not.

Anybody else remember tiny Elvis from Saturday Night Live?

I'd love to get a 2 inch tall Tiny Elvis tattooed on me somewhere. That way, every time I point him out, I could do a horrible impression of Rob Schneider making fun of Elvis.

Nice tangent, huh? Not sure how I went from Nashville to Memphis.

After trying to use my earlier arm reference, it became obvious a new version was much needed. So here it is. I lightened the muscle lines for reference. Now it's ready to be printed out and sketched on. I also took some great advice from Markus and made sure to keep the wrist in a relaxed position (as opposed to twisted). The result is much better.

Eventually I'll add a thicker arm as well. Feel free to use!

View or download PDF file (only 38K!) - Three views: rear, direct side, and bicep forward

View from a distance

I used an 11 for the first time today on this koi. The first twenty minutes was like riding wobbly with no training wheels, but once I trusted my hand motions (circles), I enjoyed the extra coverage.

The archives are now organized a little better. The tattoo gallery has been altered and added to - all the images are sectioned off and posted on one page . I've killed the graphics for post titles... all for the sake of ease. Now I can post from wherever, without having to fire up Photoshop every time.

Also, over on the sidebar I've finally added a link to the Elsewhere archives. Then, below all that is a new section of links that are directly related to Allen Tattoo: A new Last.FM music profile, a link to Myspace, and a link to my Twitter.

And yes, I'm a geek.

Tonight and over the next couple of days I'll be working on some Photoshop related tutorials to be used in an upcoming project.

I'm off to North Carolina. I'll be flying out tomorrow so I can attend a tattoo seminar held by Nate Beavers.

I've cut myself off from bringing my laptop. If I find internet access, I'll blog. If not, I'll take really good notes and tell you how everything went.

Oh, and the skin on top of feet... I think it's going to take me awhile to feel comfortable tattooing there. Today's foot.

I'm here, in North Carolina, with a small group of guys. Headed through the rain and crazy winds, we've jumped on planes, hopped in cars, and sold valuable possessions on eBay.

Today was a day of meeting, talking, looking at machines and getting a feel for what's going to happen. It looks like I'll be teaming up with someone to work on a collaboration piece. It's a new process to me, but it sounds like a good time.

Tomorrow we'll be watching Nate work on a color portrait. Something crazy on an upper arm.

What surprises me is that he'll also be watching us and critiquing while we go. I didn't expect that level of attention, so it'll be nervewrecking. But what an opportunity to let myself go and see what happens.

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 forth) over a period of too many hours... let things stir and have an amazing artist oversee the entire process.

We worked on a severed geisha head. Surrounded by black cherry blossoms and some leaking blood, we slowly worked our way through an incredibly long and arduous piece. There was nervousness, tired hands, tension, energy drinks, sweat, confusion, mixed inks, insecurity, energy drinks, contaminants, and a tiny bit of vomit.

One of us even broke up a fight carrying a baby.* Somebody knocked the baby from his arm, so he got picked up. Hopefully the cops don't press charges.

Yesterday, Nate pumped out a color portrait of Salma Hayek on a guy's arm. Once I get pictures, I'll see if I can post examples of everything.

(* not really)

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 life as the two went back and forth tattooing a thigh...

We just watched Mr. Nate Beavers complete this piece on the back of a calf.

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 become more. Based on scheduling, registration, and - Nate will let it be known when another is coming up. There should be ample notice, and I'll make a point to post about it here.

Yesterday I kept going over some of what I've learned. I took notes, but those serve to help me recall what I'm trying retain automatically.

Some of what we went over:

* All of his supplies.
* Finding quality, hard to find references
* How he makes a stencil and applies it
* Color portrait techniques
* Mixing colors: midtones, undertones and highlights
* Color saturation
* Old school tips for hair, feather, and fur textures
* Portfolio critique
* Individual tattoo critique (you tattoo, he watches)
* A little bit of machine tuning

Today I tried some of the color blending techniques on myself. I wasn't planning on adding color to this piece, but things change. And I'm surprised already at how much I've picked up. It'll be exciting to see my progress as I try different hand motions, needles, machines and color blends.

View close up of hair.

I tattooed yellow, gold, brown tones and purple on my leg. A couple a weeks ago I wouldn't have thought to mess with those color, let alone make an attempt on myself. I finished the hair and am actually happy with it. Eventually, I'll use the same yellow/gold tones in the face and neck.

My little one is healthy, the day is beautiful and I've got good news to tell you later...

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 allows for less ink and smaller holes. To test it, I tattooed my leg a little. Yes, it's becoming a common occurrence. As it heals, the thin scabs are even flaking different.

I think they'd take forever to saturate color with, but they sure do help with a gentle fade of grey.

(We happened to order these from Cam Supply. We also have fallen in love with the consistency of Kingpin's pre-made needles. Yay Kingpin. And again - scale is way off in the image, it's just a quick visual for giggles)