The planets are referenced from Dinyctis. His work is stunning. And the trees are from, well, photos of trees. I didn't want a normal border on the bottom, so I went with negative trees, positive/stark trees, then a soft scene.
Rob suggested I fade off the top of with some more negative clouds. And dang I wanted to, but I ran out of time to plan it. No matter though, I was happy with it, so all is well.
*Sorry about the glare. Geez.
My name is David, and have joint problems...
I'm a little uncomfortable standing up here, in front of you kind folks. But I guess that's the point of this meeting. So, um, where do I start?
Okay, well. I've been sitting in front of computer since I was twelve. Heck, I hacked my first telco at thirteen. I remember yelling out to my mom in excitement. It was nothing spectacular—an unchanged default password—but I had to tell somebody. She came over and all she did was comment on how bad my posture was... "boy, you need to take breaks". What gives, mom?
But she was right.
I'm twenty-eight now. Dang, that's almost thirty. I'm aching already. I hear that around 40 my under arms will sag, let alone other parts. That scares the hell out of me.
Anyway, I suffer... like so many of you... with throbbing, inflammation, and stiffness. It's only debilitating when the stiffness sets in. I can't even play Guitar Hero because my joints will be jacked up for four days and it sucks. So I do my thing and stay away from pain killers that'll mess with my head. Ibuprofen is my life mate, but occasionally he brings his friend Naproxen over and I can only hang out with that guy in doses.
So why am I here? Because, even if it doesn't come, I feel like I can see the end of being able to do what I love. It feels like I've got about five years left of fine, detailed work in these hands... then I'll have to turn into Matisse and start cutting shapes out of cardboard. I guess that worked for him, but I'm not sure how I'll handle it.
Now, don't take me coming up here and spouting off as complaining. I'm lucky to have contributed to many fine people and projects. These hands and arms are slowly building a future for my family. Now I have to figure out how to prolong the process with preventative measures. You know, a calculated measure of sorts. So why is adopting a new routine so difficult?
I guess it doesn't help that I've jumped into tattooing with a 90 pound machine. But I'll figure something out. Anyway, thanks for listening.
A client came in and wanted a murder sleeve. Stunning photos from Suzi9mm (suzi9mm.com) were chosen. Separated by police tape and foreground blood, the sleeve is a scene of murder and murderer.
To capture the women, I chose to draw the outline within Photoshop. By zooming in, I used an outline and crosshatching technique to create a visual key. To help even more, I printed out a copy with the outline over it as reference. It was almost like paint by numbers, but without the, um, numbers.
Here's the top outline, and the bottom outline.
She wanted it to look relatively realistic mixed with freedom to do whatever I feel. I can admit now that I was a bit intimidated trying to figure out how to outline this. Once I sat down, I knew it called for less outline and more precision shading. My goal became capturing forms so I can go in over the next sessions and feel comfortable.
I'm pretty excited about this one.
I've been tattooing for a year and half now. In that time I've come across people that have difficulty during parts of the entire, um, procedure.
Now I've heard stories of people freaking out, but I had no idea—let alone compassion for—the difficulty when it takes place.
But all is well in the world, because today was the day.
A lady wanted a detailed guitar on her hip. Right after I placed the stencil, I started to sense trepidation. As if her death were eminent and I was the guy walking her off the plank. Her skin took on a yellowish hue as she crossed her arms as tight as possible.
I made a point to remain calm and stick to my routine. You know, configuring my machines as usual. I forced the last needle bar onto the paper towel, making for a snug fit around the pin. Just as it popped into place, I felt the entire table start to wobble. The poor lady was sitting there, eyes wide open in fear and shaking uncontrollably. Tattooing was the unknown and nobody likes not knowing.
I stepped up with more information, hoping to allay her worries. I explained fight or flight and how, in this situation, one could do neither. It was matter of accepting the process and easing mental agitation - an itch that couldn't be scratched.
She listened and appeared partially soothed.
Quickly, I tested a tiny line with water. Instantly, she elbowed my arm and machine away. Waiting a few seconds, I tested with another line in a less sensitive area. Again, she elbowed. She screamed and instantly started to shake, as though she was shivering. All of the reactions were tremendous obstacles, but none of which could be taken personally. It was how it was, so on with the program.
We talked a little more and did my best to explain what was going on. I expressed my strong hesitation to actually tattoo with ink. She understand, but was adamant to continue despite her fear.
So we did it. I kept the outline minimal and tried to create a semblance of the guitar shape and strings. By adding little bits of color, her desire of having some was met. And adding a drop shadow helped to mask some of the twisted lines that had no chance of straightening during the tremors. It took triple the amount of time, and plenty of breaks, but we figured out a flow of pain, management, tattooing, and recovery.
The tears and sweat were left on the table, as she stood up happy to have her first and last tattoo.
I couldn't wait any longer to unveil the new site, so I'm launching with it only partially completed.
Traffic has been incredible, I can't thank you enough. So I wanted to spruce things up around here. I've thrown the "Elsewhere" links into the main blog area, added a few sections, updated my About page, and then put in an action stream of my activities around the internet.
Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be adding content to the gallery, reference, and gear section. I've had so many people ask me what products I use, I figured it would be nice to have a page I can keep updating.
Seeing as how today is Valentine's, I'm off to enjoy my family...
And here's another crappier image of it.
This one felt great to finish. We started over a year ago and her visits were sporadic. But today we knocked it out.
I'm slowly getting used to having partially finished work walking around. While I know, full well, that it'll get finished... the puzzle of how I'll complete stuff haunts me, occasionally, until it gets finished.
*Sorry about the glare and distorted angle.
The South lost, but that doesn't mean you have a right to judge the guy getting a rebel flag on his throat. But you have every right to make fun of him in the back of the shop.
*eventually = God only knows. So in the words of Tupac Shakur: "girl, keep your head up."
And thus concludes our three part series.
I've heard about, and have slightly experienced, extreme sin skin. But today I tattooed a lady behind her neck. Well, slightly at the top of her spine. The stencil went on perfect and life was good. I setup a 7 to line. As soon as my needles went into her skin, I knew something was odd. With my left hand, I could tell the vibration was off. Even more obvious, was the instant blood trail. It was as if I had just sliced her open with an X-acto knife. Her reaction was normal, which was good. No screaming is always nice.
Instantly I inspected my needles. All was good. Next up was the power. Again, all was well. So I went back to it.
I checked my depth and it was fine. Nowhere near blow out, yet true and solid enough to really be in there. But the blood continued. Pardon this, but it was like I was carving a bloated turkey.
About twenty minutes in I began filling solid black areas. Instantly I realized the blood seemed to be effecting the consistency. As if it was seeping and bringing ink along with it.
Crap.
All I could do was press on. Once you're in, you're in. Which is always the case. Yet, somehow that tattoo was the most stressful of all. You can't really control the canvas... you just sort of adjust to it.
The final product was alright. Some of it was spotty, but I wasn't about to chew her up. I just made a point to push the free touch-up and chalked up the entire experience as a lessoned learned. As an instant reminder that, no matter how confident I feel, I've much to learn.
For his first tattoo, this guy picked a flesh rip from an old flash book. I took the rip and added some Dan Hazelton flare to it. His skin tear outs are incredible.
I found a good reference photo for the scales. I needed something with obvious lighting differences, as opposed to a straight on shot where all the scales would be shaded the same.
This week I had almost finished an outline and I wasn't happy. Instead of a solid, clean line, it was a variety of thicknesses and wavy.
What had happened? I concentrated on my stretch... it was fine. I wondered about my needle depth, so I set it so I could ride the tube. After trying a couple of more lines, I was getting the same result. So I chalked it up to me having a hard time. I was ecstatic to switch to shading and coloring because I feel comfortable with a mag. I then a made a point to render the butterfly as smooth as I knew how.
Then, at the end, I picked up my liner to add some white highlights. I attached my clip cord and noticed the mistake: I had forgot to pull my rubber bands down around the needle. Now, I've always been cautious to not have too much rubber band tension; but with no tension at all, you just get a messed up outline. (#61)
Nice.
With no visible alarm, I kept a poker face and quickly cleaned up the outline. None was the wiser and I was able to get up from that tattoo with both a lesson learned and no worries that I had completely forgot how to line.
I've been working hard lately. From tattooing to web design, my hands are tired. Then, when I need a mental break, I go and play Xbox. It doesn't really give my hands rest, but it takes me away for a little while.
Right after the holidays ended, tattoos picked up big time so I've got some stuff to post. And I'll be doing so soon. It's just that I'm also retooling this site. So bear with me for another couple weeks if the posting seems light.
