It’s typical for someone to walk in with a drawing or photo of what they want tattooed. Certain people are dead set on the picture in their hand, others (thank the stars) are as flexible as snakes. This is an example of a client trusting me enough collaborate on the final product.
This is what she brought in.
After a consultation, some sketching, feedback on my drawing from the client and feedback from my mentor there after, this is what we finally ended up with. Thanks again Queenie!!
So I’ve not forgotten about the internet… believe me, I’ve wasted far too much time on it in the past several months. However I have been really busy.
I am working at Inkman Tattoo on 18th ave now, I’ve been there almost a year at this point. And I can’t thank everyone there enough for what I’ve learned so far! Here are a few of the things I’ve done in my time there. There are a few pieces I’ve been working on lately that I’m stoked to show everyone once they are done.
Peace,
J.
Spent this weekend working on new and older projects. Did my second start to finish color piece and was pretty happy with the results. There are plans afoot as well that I hope to be sharing with you all soon.
Thanks to Sean!
And thanks to Matt!
Thanks for stopping by.
Peace,
J.
Seems like I’ve fallen off the face of the internet blogosphere in the last seven months, my apologies. I’ve been busy working, riding my bike (and blogging about it), drawing, painting, teaching my self how to skateboard and generally getting my life figured out. The last one, as always, is a continuing work in progress.
Drawing about riding a bike in New York City.
I’ve been focusing on painting and developing my watercolor skills. I’ve always admired and respected tradition americana flash and tattoo style for many reasons. However, from an artistic standpoint I struggle with viewing it as too refined and underdeveloped. Because of this it is challenging for me to output work of this nature. My first real efforts at a page of flash were based off of designs by deVita and Bob Shaw (below). This sheet was definitely a challenge and I’ve gotten some good feedback on things I need to work on.
Vice tv just finished putting out their series Tattoo Age, which provides a fabulous look at 5 very different very talented tattoo artists in the industry right now. My favorite part were the episodes on the artist Grime. I’ve always admired and been drawn to Grime’s work. What I really enjoy about it is the perfect harmony between the traditional bold design, outline and color world and the very lose illustrative and graphical world. Watching and re-watching his episodes sparked the direction I’m finding my self moving towards. The below painting was the first result of that epiphany.
I’ve also been tattooing as well. Since I did Kari’s tattoo I’ve been privileged with tattooing Drew, Matt and my Wife. Since I’ve started using 5 mags I’ve been getting better results and more confident with my shading.
I greatly appreciate everyone’s support and to my reader’s thanks for your patience with me not up dating this site recently. There will be big changes in the next months to this site as my current web host for my external site will be disappearing, more on that later.
Peace,
J.
I see that we meet again. My wife and my self are now residence of Sunnyside Queens in New York City. We made the leap a month ago and what an adventure it was/has been. We love our new apartment and the city has been fabulous, although a lot to take in. We only just got plugged back in a week or so ago thanks to some screwy strike at Time Warner.
But alas here we are. I’ve been able to start a tattoo on my wife and do one on my friend Kari (bottom picture) the other day. I’ve also been busy rebuilding my portfolio (inset picture). And I’ll be damned if I don’t break out my water colors soon, boy has to learn some time.
Here is yesterday’s labor. Oh and I did it backwards, shaded first then tightened it with liner afterwards. I know, I know, but it worked and hell I wasn’t as stressed out because of it.
J.
A little bit back I got to take another stab at lettering. Believe you me nothing makes me more nervous than tattooing letters. On top of it everything technically speaking that could go wrong, went wrong. I broke the rear spring on my new liner mid tattooing, which unfolded a series of lessons learned. That being said I am happy I got to do it, appreciate what I learned and I think it turned out well.
J.
I took the liberty to book several tattoos in a row to test my endurance. It was a really fun and a good learning experience.
Janet was my first this weekend and a return client. We got to do an illustration from Ferdinand the Bull on her right ankle.
John showed up again for another session on his family crest. We worked on the outside filigree of his family crest. I got to try out a new grey wash set, Silverback Ink, and am excited to see the healed results.
My last tattoo if the weekend was a work lo g in the process. My buddy Jessica and I were finally able to setup a session and we knocked out a set of bird tracks on her forearm. Again I used the Silverback grey wash set exclusively and am looking forward to the healed result.
Enjoy
J.
Thanks for stopping by. Here’s an update on what I’ve been doing. Updated my website a little for 2011, nothing major just some esthetic tweaks.
An old buddy from college hit me up to do a piece for her that she’s been wanting for some time now. She was a champ sitting for this one, as it is the largest tattoo I’ve done yet.
Got to do more work on my buddy John’s family crest.
A buddy of mine Keith had me draw up a seraphim to match his other tattoos. It was a bit of a challenge but we were pretty happy with the results.
Hope you enjoy.
Peace
J.
I got to go hangout with some friends at Black Thorn Pub & Pizza and eat the remaining slice of pizza they had and sip some warm beer by buddy Andrew failed to finish. Since I had wanted to be some what productive that evening I brought along a sketch book. As I’m known as the one who always seems to get distracted mid conversation I began drawing as we were chatting. Side note; my wife’s best friend’s boyfriend has requested I work on a idea for a tattoo he’s wanting. His request was for a feathered serpent, or Quetzalcoatl, around his wrist. As any proper artist will do I started some research and have begun sketching out ideas. Here is my bar sketch, more to come…
J.
I got to tattoo a friend from work last night. He had been wanting the roman numeral six on his wrist.
The drawing I did for him. Again I drew this on him with a sharpie as the stencil. Still have no stencil machine.
The finished tattoo.
Thanks Vince!
