A #01: Tribal on Orange 1/30

As opposed to the apple, this was a much rougher surface. However, it allows the design to stay in better! All I'll say with that is that I'm glad the needle was able to be reused from the apple. Hopefully, the apple didn't have any STDs.

5-30-10 White Rabbit

That's right. I spent my final design time on a white rabbit on a white canvas. :)
Can you tell that I'm excited to start tattooing those damn oranges and apples?

Tattoo Challenge

For 30 days (starting day pending), perform one tattoo. I want to develop my coordination with the machine, learn how to effectively shade, and gain some skill in coloring. I will be suing mostly fruit, unless I feel really excited and go get a pig carcass (not very likely, since Abi won't like the smell). This challenge will be spread into 3 sections:

A: 10 tattoos that are a solid color.
B: 10 tattoos that include black and a great deal of shading with black ink.
C: 10 tattoos that include multiple colors and shading.

These numbers do not need to be done in order, but should be kept track of to make sure I get some practice in each category. My reason for this month of practice: to prepare for human trials. My friend's brother offered me his skin as practice long before I was really even serious about this hobby, and he's still willing. After I spend some time on him, I should be ready to do some small tattoos for other friends. By then, I will hopefully be confident and gain the same in others.

As soon as I am done with the design challenge, this will start. I may even let them overlap...

5-29-10 Abi and me at the Falls

Rather than tracing anything by hand this time, I did it all with the mouse. I really need a tablet! But this turned out really cool, regardless.

5-28-10 Flashlight

Another quick-fix. I wish it were easier to fix the creativity into an earlier part of the day. This was between 2 and 3am after a celebration of the school year being over. I like the shadows, but want to like even more with tonight's piece.

5-27-10 Biohazard Apple

I gave my first tattoo! To an apple. I was going to use an orange, because I had heard they are a good substitute for the expensive fake skin you can get for this purpose. Well, I accidentally brought the orange to work yesterday and forgot today to bring it back. Yesterday, when I drew the idea for what I would do today, I used the apple because I had it for reference, completely planning on the orange. So here's the apple! As predicted, it wasn't so swell, but I must say it did its job better than I thought. You can tell that it's beveled, but hey... it's practice.

5-26-10 Marked Fruit

I got my kit in the mail today. I am so excited to try this out tomorrow. I have an old, wrinkled apple on my kitchen table, so I used it for reference here. However, I want to use the same design on an orange that I accidentally took to work today and will bring home tomorrow. Hopefully, you'll see a photograph tomorrow, rater than a scan. I'm so excited!

A small slip of paper in the box said, "Money Maker I: Welcome to your new addiction!"
I ordered the kit from Superior Tattoo. I'll make sure I let you know what I think.

5-25-10 Library Window

Crap. I even took time to get started early, but I still didn't like the result. Maybe the reference picture just didn't have what I wanted in the first place. Either way, I'm feeling that I can't make works of art that I like every time. I need practice, but need to be inspired...

5-24-10 Ninja Assassin

Started out as a quick-fix again, but turned into an "I'm awake and want a challenge." So I turned the ink drawing into a vector and messed with its background and lines.


I wonder... Should I be including reference pictures with these?

5-23-10 Matches

 

I know this one is simple. But I spent like two hours on it! Not really, it's the result of my being very tired after a long hike.

Every time I look at this, I love it more. It took only a few minutes, but has a great real-lifeness to it.

5-22-10 Illustrator Stoplight

I had been thinking of lines all day, and couldn't decide what to use them on. This was not what I expected it to become, but it's not that weird after all is said and done. Not that swell, either. But it IS fun. :)

5-21-10 Prisma Clothes Pin

Second try at the Prisma colors. I still didn't notice any difference until I started going over stuff a second time. All the sudden, things started jumping out more. However, I didn't go much further. I think the power was... just too much.

5-20-10 a Law Suit

I was upset because of the misunderstanding at my workplace that may result in a civil lawsuit. Lol...

5-19-10 Prisma Truck

I got a set of Prisma Colored Pencils for teacher appreciation week recently. I had never used them before, so I thought they'd be perfect no matter what. So far, not so. I just don't know how to color yet. Therefore, I will include this same design in a desaturated form. The truck doesn't look that great and the lighting really didn't get captured well. So much for that experiment... :)

5-18-10 Pacific Post Card

This was intended to be so much cooler... I have been jealous of the style of Axe Cop that I have been wanting to try out my own again. I never can seem to establish a style I like. Except with the Photoshop version our last computer had, but I don't have the rights to use it. I'd like to keep legit wherever possible, you know? Maybe I'll have to admit that without an art tablet, Illustrator is worthless. Or maybe I just haven't found that special something yet.

5-17-10 Ralphie

This cat may be a bastard sometimes, but he was so cute the other day when we came over to see him. Obviously, it was because he was asleep, but oh well. This was with Crayola colored pencils, and went rather well, I think.

5-16-10 BG FG Test

Really nothing special. Honestly, this one is kind of cheating, but only because I did two the day before this one was supposed to be done and I literally forgot to do it! So I used the reject one from the other day as today's. Sad...

Oh, it was done with Gimp.

Apprenticeship?

Today, I was spending time at the tattoo shop, watching my artist work on some guy. While he was getting set up, I let him know that I have been looking at kits available at superiortattoos.com and that it was more complicated than I thought it would be. After letting him know that I was still interested, he gave me a document about apprenticeships. Apparently, he's wanting to get another shop opened up and is thinking of getting me in on it in some way.

Looking over it and thinking about it excited the hell out of me. It would be hilarious to be both a teacher and a tattoo artist! But oh so much fun. The time it would take to get into this 'program' won't be easy to come by. I'll have to see what kind of wiggle room there is.

At any rate, I thought I'd throw that in there. that I just might be privy to a job in art after all!

5-15-10 Gimped Moon Bunny

My friend, Kitty, has a friend who is wanting a tattoo of icons from Gaia. I guess it's a game they play. Anyway, I think it looks pretty fun. The clouds are mismatched, however. Some are zaggedy and other are puffy. Since I don't know this individual personally, I won't be too upset if I get turned down. Hell, I am still working on Kate's design, for crying out loud.

5-14-10 Scratch Paper Bottle

This was my frantically realizing that it was 10:30pm, snapping a picture of the first awesome thing I saw, finally getting home at 1:30, and completing this bottle about an hour later. I was thinking of coloring it, but thought better of it. Remember, I count days as sleeping at night until the next sleeping at night, so I'm fine on this one. :)

I felt like the original design had balance issues. That's one challenge with scratch paper, but I think it works a little better this way.

A word about this bottle: Budweiser's 55 is fantastic! If you're looking for low-calorie booze, I highly recommend its taste. Sadly, around here it's only 3.8% alcohol volume.

5-13-10 Ink Smear Number 2

This is the initial job. I was hoping for it to look cooler than it did, but that's what I get for not planning ahead of what I was going to create. However, upon scanning it in and touching it up, I discovered that it has a great other self.

After inverting the colors, I think it definitely makes a better design. It's like a bunch of stars of light particles all aiming for the same spot. I was worried about the two or three stray lines that curve, but now I think it's alright. Maybe even a good thing.

5-12-10 Ink Accident turned Fun (Pansy 3)

Wow... Ok, so you know how when you sketch a design in pencil, ink it in, and erase the graphite afterward? And you sometimes do it too soon and the ink isn't dry? And it smears? Well, this time, I decided to keep it going and found that you can use that as a technique to make some kick-ass effects.

5-11-10 Graphite Car Shine

From the same reference day as the eraser image. I still like the shine and idea. I am not sure which one I like better. This one looks better, but the other is more interesting. Anyway, we're thinking of getting a new scanner soon! I am excited to post these images as beautifully as they look in real life. It may only be something that I can tell the difference about, but who cares?

5-10-10 Colored Pencil Time Waster

this was a fast one. Way too fast. That's what she said.

5-9-10 Scratch Paper Fist

From a photo of my hand. I wanted something that would reflect a lot of light, like those cars yesterday. I liked how this one was turning out until the very end. You see... I went over the white surfaces with watercolor. Don't do that again! The white sections of the knuckles absorbed the paint at varying amounts (which looked crappy) and then when I went over the black one last time with a damp cloth to get it black again, the blue smeared into the yellow of the fist. Needless to say, this final version has some digital doctoring, but oh well. The white looks better than the yellow was going to anyway.

5-8-10 Eraser Car Shine

Being drugged up with antihistamines, I was pretty out of it while being driven home. It was cool being able to look at things not right in front of me (I'm rarely a passenger, you see). The sun was about to set, and was casting the coolest shines off of the cars nearby. The idea sprung to me to put a bunch of graphite on the paper and take it off with a kneaded eraser to make this one. It's not perfect, but I love the idea. I'll be trying this one again, for sure. Light is amazing.

5-7-10 Cross-hatch Fairy

The inspiration for this one was a set of fairies on my boss' book shelf. I used a black gel pen and just "hatched" away.

5-6-10 Pansy 2

I like this one much better than yesterday's. I sent it to Kate and she replied "love." I guess she likes it. I'll still spend one more day at least playing with the species of flower before moving on to other things. I like it a lot. Again, the hard copy is nicer than what the scanner shows. Maybe I just need to learn how to enhance these scans without ruining the image.

5-5-10 Pansy for Kate

Kate wants a pansy for her 3rd tattoo. (I think it's her third...)
I like the colors and I like the vines. I just don't like them together in this design. I'll keep at it over the next few days.

5-2-10 Watercolor Eye

I know eyes are boring and over done. But I felt like doing one! I was trying to get as much detail and value as I could. this one looks much better in person ..... stupid scanner.

Not to say it's anything special, though. It was fun!

5-1-10 Four Butterflies

I have adapter my ideas from earlier to a new level. This is all the same pattern scanned in through Illustrator. The rough edges are from pencil. I chose not to ink in the lines and see what happened if I used Illustrator's live trace with graphite. I had to up the sensitivity a bunch, but look how cool it is! I might do it more often in the future.

This last one was another idea for Dani. she said when I gave her these five ideas that it would be the "hardest decision ever." It's for her first tattoo, you see.

4-28-10 Magazine Model

From one of Abish's magazines. I like using pencil... but it sucks trying to get is scanned in effectively. Is there a better way? I prefer working with my hands, as sexual as that may sound... But this scanner sucks at capturing what these images look like.

4-26-10 Yard Sculpture

This one is cooler seen as a thumbnail. That's because you can't tell how utterly simple it is! I do like the effect the simple silhouettes and gradient make though.

4-25-10 Eric Idle Watercolor

This is from a reference of the "A Witch!" scene from Holy Grail. Looks more....... Asian. Fun to try watercolors again though after so long!

4-24-10 Seagull Feather

Found this at the park with Abish. Feathers have always been a neat symbol to me.

4-22-10 Acrylic Face

I got this from a teacher magazine. There was a set of pictures showing common expressions, and this one was fun. Man, acrylic isn't as easy as I remember it being. Maybe I just didn't lay it on thickly enough.

4-18-10 Vector Jump for facebook

Again... just for facebook profile.Sad how short the last one was up and running.Anyway, I used someone else's body for the pose and just slapped my face on there. Nice illustrator shading though!

4-17-10 Fire Butterfly

Wow... for all the time I put into this one, it sucks! I had envisioned such splendor, but this blows. But I had to have something to show for the day, so I uploaded it. Why the hell is the gradient tool not working the right way on my illustrator program?

4-16-10 Bark Texture

This was really fun, but tedious. My camera phone is really coming in handy these days. I was able to snap this photo while at Athena's house and draw it later. The screen is just big enough to use as a reference most of the time. It took me a few trees before I found the bark I liked. It was actually a lot of fun noticing all the cracks involved, you should try it some time. I might do it again...

The reason I wanted to draw this one was because I thought it would be the coolest thing ever to have a bark-skin tattoo.

4-15-10 Self Vector

This was seriously only to put on facebook. I like it, though. But I also have problems with it. Mostly, it's the color. I want to use more color like this...

4-14-10 Wal-Mart Rose

This was a rose I photographed at Wal-Mart. I haven't used colored pencils in a while. I'm still not sure if I like them... It's either my paper I don't like or the pencils. I also want to be able to use my blending stumps, but they don't affect the lead the way I want them too. The way they do to normal graphite...

However, it's awesome to see color! I should use it more often.

4-13-10 Rachel Sketch

Just a sketch for the sake of sketching. Rachel didn't want to be photographed. She was probably trying to look as if she were vomiting, but it instead looks like she's fapping off...

4-12-10 JC Tattoo

I know it's not that remarkable, but I thought it would be a fun idea to draw Jesus getting a tattoo of a cross on his arm.

4-11-10 Star Designs

Another try at something popular for the sake of getting experience. I played with the idea of making the shape of the star coming off the skin. It doesn't look good with the pen I used, but I should definitely make another attempt at it some day.

Abish and I love the bottom left pattern the best.

Goal Update

After receiving a tattoo of my own, as well as having a person choose one of my designs as a tattoo, I have become quite resolved in a personal dream of one day being a tattoo artist. One of the driving forces that keep me going with this challenge is knowing that this would be one of the coolest hobbies ever! Not only would I be able to create (do what I love) but I would be paid handsomely for it.

I spoke with my first tattoo artist about a bit of what can be expected. He gave me advice as far as where to get my supplies, but didn't really get in to the technique. I think it will be a load of fun finding out and practicing. In fact, My friend's brother said I could practice on him.

We'll see how it goes. It's tough devoting time to designing, especially when I get sick, but this new dream of mine excited me.

4-10-10 Skull

Boring. Just a skull I saw in the mall. The only reason I drew it is because I figure I should get practice doing things I don't like, since most people already know what they want on themselves, and it won't always be something I like.

4-9-10 Attie's Heart

This was for a dear friend of mine. She requested a heart for the purpose of tattooing it on her chest. I spent a little time looking at different hearts people have made and came up with this. She absolutely loved it! It is now a permanent part of her. Nice bond there, now.

4-8-10 Rubber Ducky

This is a toy that my wife bought me for our anniversary. It came with a bride duck to match his groom features. So cute.