Tattoos and Booze

Got to do a fun pair of tattoos on a gentleman yesterday. On the whole I am happy with them and look forwards to doing more fun traditional tattoos on this client. I started painting the flash set and am halfway through the first sheet. Needless to say they will not be done by Christmas.

Two angles of the hourglass.

And his pocket watch.

On a side note, In berkeley I used to occasionally get given weed as a tip. While I appreciated the sentiment I don't smoke and so it was essentially the same as no tip at all. I do however like an occasional drink. And so yesterday my client brought me a jar of home-brew apple pie moonshine. Yeah, North Carolina, you and me are gonna get along just fine.

Behind Schedule

So I doubt I will have my flash set done by Christmas, which is unfortunate, but not surprising; I am easily distracted. I finally got the outlines all finished today, and might get to start painting them tomorrow. Remember, I will be making prints of this set. I will be figuring out the pricing once I finish them but it should be under $100 for the set.

Heres a couple more previews:

Suffer not a witch to live.

Blood for the blood god!

All 5 sheets.

Valhalla

Had a random guy come in and ask for a traditional Viking pinup girl today. Needless to say I was more than happy to help him out. Kyle (the guy who got the tattoo) turned out to be a really nice guy with an interest in fun tattoos. Hopefully we will be doing a plague skeleton on him soon to join his Nordic lady.

P.S. Yes, I know that Vikings didn't actually wear horned helmets, and that her armored bikini would literally freeze her bits off in Norway, but shut up. It's more fun this way.

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More Wizardry and Whatnot

Did this fun black and grey crow on a dude's shoulder today. He sat like a champ and I am happy with how this came out.

Also I am almost done with the drawing for the flashset. I had intended to finish today, but a migraine and actual paying work prevented that.

And finally here is a little wizardly goodness for you guys: 

Wizard! Death Toad! DOOM!

A preview:

Randomness

Just a couple random fun things I worked on yesterday. First a little arrowhead tattoo on a walkin. Nothing special but still one of those fun little tattoos to do. Sorry for the crappy picture quality, I took it with my cellphone:

Also I worked on this drawing for a little bit. This represents about the halfway point with the drawing for me. I still have to rework her face and correct a couple proportions here and there and maybe add a couple of embellishments; but I am excited with the image and hoping to start painting her soon:

Maiden, Mother, and Crone

Did this fun little space filler on Courtney tonight. Also a new flash set is in the works; standard size (11x14) this time rather than posters. I am aiming for 5 sheets, and hope to have them all finished by Chistmas. And if I can figure out how to have prints made I will be selling those, so stay tuned.

Family

My sister came and visited from Portland this week and surprised me with a tattoo request. She wanted a lion but otherwise left the direction pretty much up to me. I am particularly happy with the muzzle and mouth on this one.

Hoka Hey!

Brett gets 70's biker tattoos, likes metal, and will shut up and hold still when told to. In many ways a perfect client. We did this skeleton chief holding the severed head of whitey today ( didn't get a good picture of the head, sorry). The limited color palate worked well for this tattoo, and on the whole I am happy with it. I am trying to talk him into getting wizard next...

Pray for me.

In case you hadn't figured it out, I am exceedingly NOT christian. However, religious tattoos still can be a whole lot of fun; and in that vein I was very happy to do my first praying hands tattoo ever. There are a couple technical issues with it, but on the whole I am pleased with it. Especially the hands and sleeves. Now of someone would just come get some old Eastern Orthodox Icon I would be really happy.

Dead Hand

Just a quick painting I did for a fellow tattooer whose work I admire very much. It was nice to do a little painting that I could finish in a day after several months of only doing large scale projects.

All Saints day

Here is a quick and dirty Halloween special I whipped up. However, since I have Halloween off I am offering the special on Saturday, October 29th. All designs on this sheet are shop minimum ($50) from me and can be done either in color or black and grey. I would really love to do all of these so come in and get a fun evil tattoo on the cheap.

In Progress

 I started a half sleeve today. Chris wanted a mermaid drowning a sailor and I was happy to oblige. We still have a long way to go but he sat like a champ through the whole outline, and was a pleasure to work with. It fits, his arm perfectly and I am excited to work on it again. I also have to thank Paulie for getting me to redraw it all at the last minute, which improved the drawing immensely. Her is a quick cellphone photo of the outline. I'll post better ones when it is done.

In other news I am trying to get some sort of halloween special together for next week. It is last minute I know, but check back Tuesday for details and art.

Reign in Blood

Yeah, wrong use of reign I know, but I've been listening to a lot of metal lately so my mind goes to Slayer for obvious reasons.
Here is another fun tattoo on Courtney. I am fairly pleased with it and certainly had a good time doing it. The body of the corset is a bluish Payne's Grey however the photo washes that out unfortunately.

Wishlist

Some things I would like to tattoo, and that would get a lot of tattoo for less cash than usual:

Draug
Rock Of Ages
Baphomet
Giltine
Danse Macabre/ Memento Mori skeletons
Female Bullfighter
Vultures (always)
Devils

I will try to get some sketches of my ideas together and post them here, but folks should come in and talk to me about these things regardless.

Cheers

Cover-ups

Here is a couple of cover-ups I did in the last few weeks. Nothing terribly exciting, and far from perfect, but they were fun nonetheless:

Tribal cover-up

Mis-spelling cover-up (black and grey tattoo not mine)

Repent

Finished another poster sized sheet today. The same one the various little previews are coming from. Parts of it I am really happy with, other parts not as much. But here it is regardless:

Reaper Man

My wife hasn't had time to get any work done since well before we moved; and so understandably has been jonesing pretty bad. So fortunately we got some time together tonight and I gave her a fun little reaper from my last big flashsheet. I'm pretty happy with the end result, and was pleased, not only to give Courtney a new tattoo, but to get to do something more up my alley. Hopefully I will get to start doing some more fun tattoos soon(on paying customers rather than my spouse).

Progress

Lords of Golgotha

I swear i'm still working on stuff.

Come and get them!

Here is a collection of doodles I would really like to tattoo, so please come get them (some are old I know):

Boredom + Metal=

Who wants one?

Various Stuffs

First another sneak peak at the big flashsheet for you. I am moving slowly on it but hopefully I will finish in the next few weeks:

While I was doing this tattoo, Paulie (my coworker) began telling his buddy about his suspicion that I am a Satanist. My client spent the remainder of his time very quit and very tense. Oh yeah, here is what I was tattooing on him:

Poor kid, now he thinks his Jesus tattoo is infused with evil.

Also I drew this while bored and incredibly tired and now really want to tattoo it. Someone wants it right?

Hail Satan

In the works

A little preview of the next poster size flash sheet full of naked ladies and horrible monsters.

Still here

I'm still alive, just been busy getting settled. It's been a while since I had anything for here; however that should change soon. Work has picked up and I have 3 sheets of flash in the works, with prints forthcoming for at least one of them. Stay Tuned.

In the Nick of Time

I finished the large scale flash sheet that has been keeping me occupied these last few weeks. Foolishly, I thought I would be able to just sit down and bang it out since I am on vacation. However my daughter took great joy in shaking my work table whenever possible, and so painting had to be done in small bursts while she napped. Considering we head to Raleigh on Thursday I guess I finished just in time. The next week will be filled with unpacking and organizing and settling in to our new home, and then back to work!

Oh, and here is the sheet:

Back to Work

Starting on August 5th I will be working Friday and Saturday at Glenn's Tattoo Service in Carrboro, NC. Details can be found on my contact page.

Things to come

Well I have been on vacation for about two weeks now, and while I have been enjoying myself I feel that it is time to get back to work. Hopefully that will all get figured out soon. In the meantime I have been staying busy with a new large format flash sheet. Here is a little sneak peak:

Packed My Bags

Goodbye California.

Finished

I managed to finish Nate's side before leaving. After leaving all to the 11th hour we had to cram to get it done. He came in on wednesday and we did the ship and border, then came and sat again on friday for the flower and banner. He did great and I am honored he let me do such a huge fun tattoo on him.

Also, finishing this tattoo marked my last day of work at Industrial Tattoo. The shop has changed a lot over the years and I am happy to have been able to work with so many good people. I will miss you all, past and present. Cheers

Going Away

Just finished up these little going away gifts for some of my friends and coworkers. I can't believe that after 5 years here I am leaving in less than a week.

More Finished Stuff

Did some final work on Gabe's (Illuminati Eye Guy) girlfriend's arm.  She backs up his claim that they are going to come visit North Carolina, so maybe it will happen. This was a fun piece and she sat great. 

And a closer one:

All Seeing

Sorry for the lack of updates but our internet went down and then I got married so it has been a hectic past week. I came back to work today and got to do a final tattoo on a old client before I moved. Just a fun little Illuminati eye with some stippling. He claims he will come visit me once I move but we shall see.

Smith's Elbows

The only thing that is a bigger pain in the ass than tattooing elbows is getting a good picture of them. Smith is happy though. Sadly these will probably be the last tattoos I do on him before the move.

More Nate

Nate continues on with the fun tattoos. Unholy fire-breathing flying skull of awesomeness:

Also did some random little space filler stuff (the crab in the center is not mine, but was done by my good friend Alex Empty):