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!