Update from the shop

It's been a while since I've updated my progress as a tattoo apprentice. I've spent several months now working at Happy Valley Tattoo and Piercing in American Fork. It's been great to meet so many new people and learn from people who have been doing tattoos for years and years. My down time is spent drawing. Lots of drawing... My next goal is to tattoo a portrait or otherwise highly detailed image to push myself toward realizing anything people throw at me. I'll be doing my first portrait this coming Monday!
 

Happy Valley has been a blast to tattoo at. I feel more confident with each new client, and look forward to more work. Any of you who are interested should head on over and get yourself some work! Look us up.

Here are a few pieces that I have done recently that I needed to get on the blog.

---

Another excellent butterfly. This was actually a cover-up, but I forgot to take the before photo. It was some text that the client didn't care for anymore.

---

Very fun to do. This dream catcher is a kind of symbol of this client deciding to let the stress in her life take care of itself when things get too tough. I used simplified shapes with the feathers and string. Nice dream catcher.

---

Getting much better at lettering. I've been tattooing a lot of first-timers lately!

---

Neck. ... A difficult place to tattoo.After this one was done, the guy went to the mirror and had a troubled expression. I asked what was up and he said, "Isn't it supposed to be 'J' first, then 'R'?" A surge of adrenaline flew to my face for a split second before I realized that he was confused from the reflection reversing the letters. Phew! We laughed.

---

The ear. ... ... even harder spot than the neck. This is one of my favorites now, though. The colors alone inspire me to try mixing more hues and use fewer outlines whenever a client would like something more artsy, rather than traditional.

Pirate Skull

Adding on this guy's arm. He will someday have a sleeve, but it going one step at a time. It's difficult to make out the fine details because this tattoo is actually only 3 inches or so across. The details were a lot of fun, but would have been easier with a larger tattoo. Turned out great!

 

Handprint

I had been awaiting a hand print or foot print for a long time. This client wanted it to look like her daughter actually grabbed her leg with an inky hand, so I was careful to change some of the rules and do a tattoo sans outline. I used a 9 mag for everything except the name and date and the fine details of the fingerprint-sized lines. Luckily, I did not try to do every line in the print, but I do think it looks fantastic.

Lightning addition

Believe it or not, I did not misspell "LIVE" in this tattoo. Ivie is the guy's last name, but the text was there before I got to him.

Stuff I forgot to post

These are a few that I worked on a while back that slipped my mind. Enjoy! By the way, the back piece took me several sessions, due to timing issues and just plain fatigue.

WTF

Pretty much, this blog disappeared yesterday, only to magically reappear today. Why? Who? No clue.

Rat Tribal (embossed)

This is mine. One of the artists at the shop did it for me in exchange for the flower posted earlier. Man, I forgot how much these things hurt! Especially after it's been going for an hour or so. So worth it, though. Oh, and the reason why the top photo is flipped is because I had to take it through a mirror to get a good view.

Goat Eye with Scales

This is old. In fact, since I did this one, a fellow artist has been working on completing this dude's sleeve. However, I snatched a photo of the tattoo untouched.

 

Just the eye. ;)

Firefighter Skull Add-on

Added on the client's kids' names and touched up a few bits here and there that the red ink just didn't settle the first time. I'm liking the idea of doing free-hand tattoos (or at least sections of them). I needed a pattern for the words, obviously, but the flames were done without a pattern. It's really fun and the client really liked it!

Tattoo trading - flower

The other week, I was speaking with another artist I work with, discussing work he's had done on his skin. I mentioned that I have several ideas that I'd like to get and he asked why I haven't yet. When I said it was because of the cost, he replied, "What do you mean? You work at a tattoo shop! You don't have to pay us."

Obviously, I can't ask for much without some form of deal, so I got him to agree to trade work. This is what he asked me to do the other day.

I was surprised at first that he'd let "the apprentice" do work on him, but he didn't even hesitate as far as I could tell. I think it turned out real well. One of the other artists commented on it, telling me that my shading is getting better and better with every tattoo I do. Sweet.