Japanese Waves Sleeve Update

Well, we've come a long way, this blog and I. I started blogging this summer as a person interested in tattoos and practicing on various willing fruit. Now, I'm working at a tattoo shop merely 5 months later. Pretty sweet.

This tattoo has been making progress. I spent 4.5 hours with the client today getting all of the shading done. He will have one more visit to get the waves colored in with blue, but for now I'm just happy t sit back proud of what's already been done. The shading done last time was done with a 7 Round. My mentor has given me tips since then, and the rest I did with a 7 Flat, and boy did it go faster! This thing is really turning out nice.

Bee Sting

I have decided not to put counters on any more, as I have lost count. I don't mean to say that I have done a hundred tattoos since my last post, but I have done several. Working at the shop has been great. This morning, in fact, I opened the shop alone and got us a new client worked on after walking in the door unannounced. It's a bee stinging him to match a bee tattoo his wife has already. It was great to do, and I feel very accomplished!

I suppose that I will blog whenever anything note worthy happens. Suffice to say that this has become more than a hobby. I am now getting paid to do artwork, and I love it.

#31 Joker Card

This client really likes the Joker and Harley Quinn from the Batman series. This card shows a bit of that side, fixed into a personalized design.

This tattoo was also done in the shop. I might have to take a break from my original set of clients fr a while, as I'll be spending a lot of time working and charging people full price for the boss. Pretty exciting!

# 30: Kiss My Lucky Charm

This tattoo marks the beginning of a new chapter for me. I have spent time working on fruit. I have spent time working on people. Now, I am beginning spending time on people in a tattoo shop. That's right, this is the first tattoo that was also an audition to work at our town's local tattoo parlor. I was nervous, and in some ways it felt as though I had never done it before. By the middle of the tattoo, I was much more confident and it felt more natural. Now that this step is out of the way, I'm excited to actually be doing several tattoos a week. It will be a challenge juggling it with my day job, but I'm excited to make them both work side by side!

The client had been wanting this tattoo since she was 12ish, she said. Now when people try to pinch her on St. Patrick's Day, she can just moon them!

#25 Japanese Wave Sleeve (update)

I finally have something to show for this tattoo. This is a sleeve I've worked on twice now. He had the dragon on his arm before I met him, and he was wanting something to fit behind it. Last time, I only did the lining and some shading on the wave crests. This time, I got started on shading the waves. I really didn't anticipate how long it would take to do. Luckily, we ended this step in a place that was faily balanced.

 I remember an artist once telling me that good tattoo artists will rather take their time than do a crappy job. After the third hour, I could tell that I was getting tired, so we're taking another break. I'm really pleased with how it's going so far.

#29 Phoenix

I love this design. She got it online, but I adjusted the coloring just a bit. Rather than having the gradient only go from top to bottom, I made it go from a few places here and there. This was one of the examples of a client who wanted something, but for whatever reason our schedules took a month or two to connect the right way. I think it was worth the wait. :)

#28 "Respect" Kanji

This was a surprise. I came over with the intent of working on this guy's back again after a few months, and right away, he asked if I had ever tattooed on a hand before. So there we went, an unexpected tatt right then and there. Pretty sweet-looking. He told me that the reason he wanted a tattoo on his hand right in that spot was because he's seen a few people with it and loved it. It was playing pool with a man with this placement that got him really interested. Man... If I hadn't gotten myself into a career that prohibits visible tattoos, I'd do it too!

#27 Die Laughing

Simple, but nice design. I like the message, as well as the negative space being used to make the mask jump out of the skin. It also kind of makes it look like I lightened up the mask, but I actually never even touched it. This was with three shades of black. I have been planning on doing this one for months, but the client kept putting it off. I found out today that he was mostly worried about the pain, but ended up not thinking it was all that bad.

#26 Infinity Splash

This design means a lot to the client, but also doubles as a really sweet tattoo. It's a representation of her family and a specific family member who recently passed away. I really like the colors. This whole design is about 2x2in.

#25 Japanese Wave Sleeve

Sorry, folks. I somehow forgot to get this guy's photo before he left. However, I only completed the first half or so of the tattoo during the first visit, so I'll definitely get my second chance at the photograph. It's cool, though.