Alone at the Shope Again...kinda

I spent this weekend at the shop with Jay Dee. He's a very experiences artist and it was cool working with him. these are the pieces I did!

The guy had the tree in there already, along with the outlines of the birds and leaves. When I saw it and realized it would be my job to finish it, my first thought was that the tree would look like truffula trees from The Lorax! I changed the shape of the part I did and went ahead and made it look nice enough for my standards.

 Awesome way to put your kids on your skin. The concept was the lady's, using a couple sources. I got to work the hard into the center by request, filling in the rest of the knots as well. Very fun.

 This was hard. But cool.

Rose Addition

I was honest with her and I'll be honest with you: I had problems during this tattoo. It took the client's boyfriend suggesting it for me to realize that some of the issues I've been having with my ink setting right lately could largely be because I am using very cheap machines. It turned out great, and was free-handed with a Sharpie. Anyway, even though this took longer than I expected, here it is:

Before:

 After:

Covering up an Ex

This lady was a lot of fun to talk to and was very happy with how indiscernible the name of her ex-husband now is. I started out with a simple cover up in mind, but couldn't help myself from adding new color and dark lines to make it perfect.

Here is the tattoo before we got started:

Below is the after-product.

Waterfall with "CRC"

The client already had made a sun design with the rays forming the initials of one of his kids, a tree with another of his kids' initials carved into it, and a gravestone of his late mother. What I added was the waterfall, including the initials of another child. I didn't even realize how huge this piece was until someone commented on the size. No wonder it took me so much longer than expected!

 

The art styles were originally going to match perfectly, but I couldn't help myself in making it a little more detailed. I do think, however, that when it's all healed up, it will look much more like the pieces go together.

Blue and Purple Stars

These stars represent late siblings of the client. She originally wanted stars with solid colors, but I suggested mixing tones a bit and she said, "It's good that you can read my mind! Even though I hadn't thought it yet."

Toetoo

How fun! This lady was real cute, and said it was about time she do something outrageous. What I did to test her reflexes was put three small dots near where the design was to be to see if she would flinch--since the design was only to be lines--but she didn't move at all. Very cute and nearly the smallest I've done.

A few additions

These photos have a few issues (not being in focus and having mucho blood), but they are tattoos done while manning the shop by myself this week. Fun stuff, but very different when you need to stop what you're doing to answer the phone so often!

"do good be good"

She said this was an impulsive tattoo. The handwriting it my own, blown up with a copy machine. She also liked the stars when I sketched up a few types I had in my head.

Yoshitaka Amano Illustration

Please forgive the Italics. Blogger wouldn't let me disable it and I don't feel like restarting the post.

For the longest time, I have wanted to do a tattoo of a Final Fantasy character. Yoshitaka Amano is an artist who has been comissioned to do various illustrations for Final Fantasy games, and his art always made me feel connected to the characters in ways the games never did. It's like a suppliment to an already awesome thing. Well, as an alternative to doing an 8-bit character (I was considering Edgar or Shadow for a while), I chose this beautiful painting of Cloud Strife and Red XIII from Final Fantasy VII. the lines are intentionally sketchy, as I was trying to imitate his style as closely as I could.

I'm very happy with it. I was originally thinking of putting more of the background in, but I kind of like it this way.

Wristband of Skulls

This piece was done on a man who is, like I did, getting into teaching. He has way more guts than me, as I am afraid of confining myself to a career of long-sleeve shirts. He, however, is doing this before he's even been interviewed for a job. He'll do awesome, though.

"Live to Ride"

Man, this guy sure had stories about motorcycle accidents. He was fun to talk to and spends most of each year professionally racing on huge bike tracks. This is his right arm; the left will have "Ride to Live" on it some day.

Jennifer Cover-up

This is a cover-up from an ex-wife's name on a man's arm. It didn't work out, so it needed to be fixed.

The man was told by another shop that he would have to turn the shape into a huge black mark somehow in order to hide what was originally there. I told him I could do a few more things than that and he was hooked. He knew he wanted an exclamation mark, so I created one out of broken glass. You can still see "Jennifer" if you look carefully, but if you weren't aware of it being there, you'd probably not notice it at all.

I actually forgot to take a before picture so here's the highlight.

Apple

A pretty cool story to go with this one. The client took this image from the albums created for The Beatles, but turned from green to orange. The reason she changed the color was to symbolize a family member of hers whom was a model for a character on Snow White with Walt Disney. Pretty awesome story.

The details were difficult, but I like the effect when it has. The guys told me this would take 3-4 hours, but the client was only there for 2 total.

Wow... the Christmas season is awful for tattoos apparently. I hope that after people are spending money on others, they are once again able to go back to the art of bodily expression. This girl came to the shop, obviously, but things have been slower since about Thanksgiving.

My 1st Koi Fish

This design was a surprise. I was texted last night by a regular client of mine, informing me that he wanted to meet me this morning at the shop. He, who is student teaching right now, by the way, got this fish on his forearm. I, being a teacher, am very hesitant to put anything on a place that will show at work and have no intention of being required to wear long sleeved shirts my whole career. However (and it sounds like it was teacher day at InFamous Ink), there were two other clients who were getting work done today who teach at various places near here. These women also wear their tattoos with pride at school. I am starstruck.

Anyway! The fish was derived from an image we found online, but changed. I shaded the entire thing impromptu and created the waves based on a few different styles we saw as we were looking for ideas. A complete original! And not bad for my first Koi fish. It only took my a year and a half of tattooing to do a design that is this common. Odd. But I'm very pleased.

"Always Faithful"

This phrase is the English translation of the Marine Corps slogan "Semper Fi." Looking at different type fonts, I suggested that we try out a look that is textured, rather than completely solid. He said he liked it because it was different. I kind of think it looks like a slightly shiny texture with a rigid feel.

Sons of Anarchy

This design comes from a show I have never seen; it's name is Sons of Anarchy. This thing took me forever. a total of 3 hours. I attribute most of this time to the intricate details that the white lines call for, as you cannot cover those with black beforehand. Then the fire. ... The firs took a long time all by itself. Detailed and tedious. However, despite the time taken, the client will be back for more soon. He's thinking of another symbol from the same show.

Recent catch-up from an old piece

I have not had a whole lot of work lately, despite my waiting at the shop. I haven't had the best luck in picking times to do this second job lately. But oh well!

I was able this last week to complete the "strength" kanji started ever so long ago. In fact, this was one of the first ever tattoos by me. It was left outlined for some time. Finally, I was able to meet up again with this guy and finish it. He allowed me to come up with the designs in the middle of the symbol. It's freehand work, and I like it. He loves it. He requested the sword, while the rest came from different inspiring ideas he talked about as we went on. The skulls were a must and the floating dismembered eye were just cool.

 

Brothers in Arms. ... or Brothers on Arm and Chest

The two brothers had a family member who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. To honor them, as well as others they know and love with similar ailments, they got these tattoos this morning. Slight variations make each one unique, but the main idea the same. I'd like to mention that the design was created by the client. He laughed because it was a rough sketch that he sounded like he expected to change a lot, but it ended up being very similar indeed. Minor shading added.

Tree Roots and Branches

This one is finally done! I took the original pieces from weeks ago and finished them all in a unified piece. I love working with tree branches. Somehow, the element of chaos involved in free-handing the lines makes it easier to make a more incredible design.

Update from a week later below:

Heart and Keyhole

The title on this design is the name of the client's band. "Live or Die Trying," such an awesome phrase!
Below it is the sentence, "If we fail, we fail together." With the dates of several people who are pivotal to the wearer's life.