This guy is awesome. He's headed off in a week and will be going to sea. Yep, sea... heh. He just wanted an eagle and a flag... the rest was up to me.

Sometimes I love that option. Sometimes it's a stressful blank canvas with little direction and a lot of worry. So many customers know what they don't want, but can't tell you at all what they do.

But he loved the idea and sat in the chair for four hours.

...

So instead of just shading shapes, I've been really inspired by Tom (at Insight) lately. He does a lot of his work with a seven. The tiny details with pinpoint accuracy. I made a point to shade big areas, but then come back and add the details with a seven. It was a matter of treating the seven like a mini shader... dipping in wash and applying based on depth and speed as if I was shading. Maybe a seven round would be good too...

Oh, and it's a photo from my iPhone. Luis dropped the Nikon (oh no) and it's in for repair. For the first time it was smart to get the Best Buy insurance crap.

I'll be tattooing this year's Musink Tattoo Convention & Music Festival in Costa Mesa, California. (February 20-22)

Tattoos and Music. (Hello, Danzig!)

I've open availability if you'll be around the area - It's Feb 20th through the 22th.
Connect with me through email: david@allentattoo.com

I'm excited to be working in the same room with some absolutely incredible artists. Is it possible to just float around, buy people drinks, and pick their brains? Maybe. But I have to squeeze some tattooing in as well.

Also, it was awhile ago, but I spent some quality time in the land of In & Out. I think I'm going to fly a little early and spend some more with friends.

I've only tattooed conventions around Chicago, so jumping into the Baltimore convention was new to me. I know the depth of my clientele at home. Who knows if that'll really transfer elsewhere?

A small booth costs money. The travel and lodging costs even more. So it was a small leap of faith; you know, I went all in.

Then, a week after signing up, I got all nervous. What if nobody wants an appointment? Baltimore is loaded with some of the best traditional work around... I don't specialize in that stuff. Hmm... will I even get people walking up? How busy will it be?

So, to ease my concern, I promoted. Nothing incredible. But I made a small post on this site and sent out a Myspace bulletin. It was a matter of taking extra time to say "hey". I'm not too keen on doing it, but I knew it had to be done.

A few hours later I had my first appointment. Days later I was filling up spots. Then, who knew? I was booked solid. Now, I wasn't going to say anything until after it happened. But the response was tremendous.

And I say this not to boast (who cares?), but simply because I had no idea. Some photos, a website, an updated Myspace page and links from a convention site were enough to capture attention. Sure, I work hard on my tattoos. And that counts. But the combination of it all worked. So much so that I wasn't ready for it really. I wasn't prepared for the effort involved in scheduling.

Most contacts started via email. Then it was a matter of staying on top of the ideas and, if I wanted to do it, I had to buckle down and put things in stone. I opened up iCal and kept everything synced with my iPhone so I could have info on me when I was at the shop. I tried to give myself extra time between tattoos because of the environment, but will make a point to allow for more next time.

And, to top it off, I actually enjoyed each client I met in Baltimore. They couldn't have been a better group of people. And for those of you that specifically came up, introduced yourself as a reader, and gave me love... thank you!