Smiling Guy

I wanted to draw a guy smiling, so I looked in the IKEA catalog and found a great model to caricaturize.

Star in Negative Space

This was an accident. I was just sitting there, minding my own business when all the sudden THIS popped on to my paper.

Stipple Self-Portrait

This was from looking at my camera phone, using black and red Sharpe markers.

Card Image

Ultros - Sketched

What an annoying recurring villain. But kinda cute in a way...

Fruit Challenge Complete!

I have graduated! I have been wanting to move on to skin for some time now, considering how different the textures of the fruit and human skin are. That day has finally arrived, and I'm stoked. This is going to kick ass, and I will be posting the results of each of my awesome volunteers on this blog so I can keep organizing my work. The only thing I need now is a camera that can take close-ups, since my phone hasn't been perfect for it. Wish me luck!

B #10: Dice on Grapefruit 30/30

Can you tell I just wanted to finish? Haha, I have an appointment with a guy today for my first skin work. And I had to finish my fruit challenge first, so here is a pair of dice with a ribbon saying, "dice." Hope you're happy! I am!

A #10: Strength Kanji on Grapefruit 29/30

Title says it all. These solid figures are the easiest, for sure. Still, I'm glad I practiced the three types!

B #09: Flower and Leaves on Grapefruit 28/30

I love doing these flowers. Even though flash can be found anywhere in the world, it's still sweet. I'm not saying I'll ever get anything on me that's going to be on millions of other people, but I definitely don't look down on it at this point.

A #09: Tribal Navel on Grapefruit 27/30

This was fun. I drew the design on the fruit with a pen (which is standard procedure now, since the stencil paper does NOT work on fruit surfaces or the wax they coat them with). I inked the outlines with black, using a 5 round needle and filled everything in with my brown ink. What was surprising was that even though I shook the ink before dropping it into the cap, it looks so light! If you look closely, you can see a few dots that I colored with the brown without outlines, and it's just a little bit darker than the skin of the fruit to begin with. I guess if you're looking for a tattoo color that wouldn't be noticeable from a distance, yet still has a unique feel to it, use brown.

A #08: Copyright Symbol on Grapefruit 26/30

The tattoo says it all. This grapefruit is now copyrighted, and may not be copied without prior consent under penalty of law!

Kick ass.

B #08: Firy Skull on Orange 25/30

I have been dying to do some major shading projects. I got this design off of Google Images. the fun part about it was that I didn't need much of a stencil. Just the basic skull shape, really. Then the shading began and I was able t go at it, having fun blending those needles around. I really like where this is going!

B #07: Celtic Knot on Orange 24/30

I was using a design for this one, but ended up making my own twist to it. Rather than let it look like a complete and carefully crafted Celtic knot, I kind of took the fragments and braided them together on the right side. Just kind of fun.

A #07: Tire Tracks on Orange 23/30

I've been wanting to do some tracks for a while. I hope that some day, someone will want to get something like this on their back or something. It was a bit tedious, though. I want to make larger stuff... So tired of small-point and minute details. It kind of hurts my hands.

A #06: Tribal Frog on Orange 22/30

Got this design off of google. Tribals are so much easier than other designs... But man, they take a lot more ink. I got sprayed in the eye during this one!

C #10: Heart with Butterflies on Orange 21/30

Well this one had a surprise. I'm not sure if skin will act this way or not (I think not), but when I went through and shaded everything lightly with black ink, I was setting the base value so that the colored inks would darken where necessary. However, when I went over them with the red and blue inks, it lightened up the black ink to the value of the red and blue! Now, I have been told that you should start with black and work your way up the values going lighter. Therefore, the inks must be mostly translucent. I'm thinking that this attempt acted this way because the orange holds on to everything on top, rather than letting you just see through it. Anyway, not bad for my final color practice! I am sure that I have learned all I can from coloring oranges. (Hilarious.) The rest must be from trial and error on human tests.

... I am considering giving myself a testing area of my own skin that resembles the marks on all printed materials that show what colors of inks are printed on the product. You know what I'm talking about? That way, I would know what they would do and could even use it to show clients what to expect, if needed. Not sure yet, but it might be cool.

C #09: Purple Flower on Orange 20/30

Love this one. Love it! I had to make my own purple by mixing the red and blue inks. It worked well. I know that in the photo, you can't see the color so much as the value, but it's there. I swear.
The black lines on the sides give it a great complete look, too. Abi wants this one now!

A #05: Flower and Vine on Orange 19/30

Small one. I used the single again for outlines and small corners, but filled in the rest with a 3 round. Pretty cool!

B #06: Ribbon Ribbon on Grapefruit 18/30

A ribbon. It says, "Ribbon," on it.I love it, but might not give it a drop shadow next time. Now that I have done a few shadows behind the designs, I am seeing that it is only necessary for a few of them. Some, like this, I think would look better without it. The razor wire, as well. Anyway, the top of this ribbon was with a single, as was the lettering. Both this and the skull were shaded with an 8-round.

B #05: Skull on Grapefruit 17/30

I took this design from the box to my tattooing machine. I thought I'd best get SOME practice with a skull, so wallah! This was also my first time using a single (only one needle on the bit). I used it for the finer details like the teeth and marks on the skull itself and it worked out really great!

C #08: Heart Tramper on Grapefruit 16/30

Kate wanted a tramp stamp design, so here one is. You'll notice that I did the sides differently. That's because I wasn't sure how I was liking the after-effects with the white highlights, so I left it alone on the past part so I could compare. Looking at it now, it doesn't look bad at all... But both are sweet.

C #07: 8-Bit Cecil on Grapefruit 15/30

Wow... I am now convinced that mixing colors is going to be a lot of work mastering. Poor Cecil... Looks a bit... dull. And he hasn't even had time to fade yet! Anyway, in getting varying shades of blue, I will definitely take more care in the future to mix them prior to using them. I basically mixed with the machine itself, and it probably still had pigments in there that made the colors gray a bit. Would this look better after the skin heals on a real person? I have no clue. At least he's adorable, though!

Oh, and by the way, the grapefruit is getting very squishy. Oranges seem to keep their firmness longer. I don't know whether the squishiness is better or worse. It's more skin-like, but it isn't holding color as well. I'll decide later what to use.

This was requested by my friend, Kuh.

B #04: Razor Wire on Grapefruit 14/30

 A friend of mine is almost as excited to let me practice on him as I am. He wants an arm band of razor wire, so I was practicing it today. You can see in the first photo that I hadn't mastered how I wanted to shade it yet. The second picture shows what I settled on.

One thing I think is interesting is my needle choice. I used a 7 Flat for everything, thinking it would make the straight lines even straighter. Then, I noticed that I could not go for very long with the flat before needing to move my hand, which resulted in jagged lines. (You can have a line go continuously for much longer if you just slide along where you need to go.) But now I like the jagged look! I will think about it some more before making a decision. A worse downside of the flat needle for lining is that the 7 needles go in several times by the time you slide it anywhere parallel to its points, where a 3 liner would only repeat itself once if that. My concern is the 7 Flat essentially acting as a scalpel. Maybe I'll line with a round and shade with a flat. like normal people...

C #06: Rain Kanji on Grapefruit 13/30

I noticed that a lot of kanjis (sp?) aren't filled in with solid black, but have this cool color effect. I gave it this try, but realized that I outlined everything, rather than only where necessary. I am SO glad I am making these mistakes on fruit, rather than my willing and wonderful donors.

C #05: Girl on Girl Design on Grapefruit 12/30

I got the inspiration to do this one after going to the Utah Pride Festival yesterday. It was so much fun, and we all felt a great aura of love. Plus, randomly enough, my MTC companion ran into me. He's now out of the closet! I was blown away and very excited for him. It was especially lucky, since he lives in Maine now, that we should run into each other. I used to think that seeing old friends was an act of the holy ghost, and that after denying the holy ghost, things like this wouldn't happen anymore. Lol.

Oh, and the symbol was hennaed on tons of people there, so Abi and I thought it was sweet. Girl on girl.

C #04: Red Heart with Zig Zag on Grapefruit 11/30

I tried doing the very same thing as the gray-shaded heart (not minutes after finishing it), but ran into trouble as I was doing so. First off, the gray heart was with an 8-point round needle, and turned out pretty nice, considering the lines you can see from the bit. This red heart, I used a 7-point flat. The flat configuration really wasn't good for an organic shape (especially not one of this size). Plus, the color didn't work well on the grapefruit. So I tried putting some red with some black and got this. It's not horrible, but not even close to what I had envisioned.

Very good learning experience. Flats are good for larger areas. Don't use them on small, curvy areas. Yet at the same time, rounds are good for shading, so long as you dilute the ink so the strokes don't show up so much.

B #03: Shaded Heart with Shadow on Grapefruit 10/30

Yup, folks. I got my newest fruit. The grapefruit was going to be, hopefully, larger than the orange. I think it is, but it's not by much. As far as the color, it's definitely going to work out well as a lighter color.

Anyway, so this is practice for when Abi lets me fill in the heart outline she has on her back. She was thinking of getting it filled solid red, but I'm playing with other ideas. This was meant to be one of them... but I forgot to switch inks. That's why it's black, rather than red. For the next try, see the next post.

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Skinning the Orange

Well... That was unexpected. I guess I didn't realize just how shallow the needles actually go, compared to just how thick orange skin is! We were ready to see a hideous orange blog inside, but instead found a perfectly good piece of fruit. We would have eaten it for kicks... but figured that we didn't want the risk of ingesting orange communicable diseases. :)

A #04: Character for "Kind" on Orange 9/30

Again, it's simple. Good thing I let myself have room to do simple tattoos during this challenge.

A #03: Character for "Fire" on Orange 8/30

Simple. Easy. Looks great. I even wrote "fire" next to it.

B #02: Rat on Orange 7/30

This one was a bit "spur of the moment." I Abi and I were playing with our rats and I noticed that one was being especially still while eating. So I snapped this photo and slapped his face on the orange!

I primarily used diluted black ink for shading, only using solid black for final touches. I also used a little white just to ring out the shine on his eye and the highlights on his ears and forehead. I think next time, I'd just leave the highlights as the skin's normal shade. (I still think white is a bit unpredictable and need to use a sample on real skin...)

C #03: Triangle Design on Orange 6/30

This symbol comes from a childhood club my friends and I had. I like how the whole thing came together. With the shading portions, I diluted the ink just a bit. You can see a bunch of splotches where I made sure I had the right value. .... don't think I should do that on a real person... Anyway, the only thing I might change it making the outlines just a bit darker. I'm glad the yellow shows up way better than the white does! Again, the contrast helps those parts stand out better as well.

C #02: Flower Wreath on Orange 5/30

 

Holy cow... My first speed bump in this challenge came today. I got this design from a flash page, like I have been so far, and got to outlining it and came into several problems. First off, the smallest needles I have are 3 round, which means that fine details are going to show up as way too thick. Second, I tried to use some solid white (no diluting today) and it looked awful. And third, I discovered that just outlining with the intended color makes the image have less contrast. Not a good thing.

I got on Superior today and ordered a set of 5 singles. Hopefully it will help me do smaller designs like this. I guess bigger is easier?

C #01: Blue Roses on Orange 4/30

Wow... this took forever. Now I know why they charge so much for these. They take a lot of energy! Anyway, the blue ink wasn't supposed to be green. I wasn't sure if it would change color with the orange's natural pigments or not. But alas, it did. the ink isn't at opaque as I thought. Actually, it was diluted, so with full strength, it may have a different result. I'll keep you posted.

Abi and I figured, based on square inches, that this would run for about $250 or more based on local shop prices. I'm thinking when I get clients, I'll start at half price until I get a reputation. Hell, I might just be doing favors for a while, anyway.

B #01: Heart with Ribbon on Orange 3/30

Today while watching a youtube video by Superior Tattoo on shading, I felt the strongest urge to try it out. I must say, I'm impressed with how easy this is! I know it's not perfect, but it's much better-looking than I expected my first attempt to turn out.

This hobby kicks ass.

A #02: Red Sun on Orange 2/30

This time, I didn't even try to use the stencil directly. I used a pen to draw the basic idea and let 'er rip. I am sure now that the stencil will not work on the waxy surface of an orange. Abi told me I can practice THAT on her. After this coloring experiment today, she also said she almost wants me to fill in her heart. Not far from now, I'll feel confident to do so!

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?