Tatmaker

Process

2012-02-10T17:22:00.001-05:00

A lot of people like these kind of posts, so I'm going to go through what goes into the making of a painting for me.

First of all is the inspiration, I was going through an old sketchbook looking for a line drawing for a tattoo, and I was checking out these study sketches for a tattoo I did around 2003. It was some underwater mech I did as a lower leg 'sleeve' from the knee down. It was one of the first tattoos I did like that, and while I would do a million things different now, I really liked those claws.

Next up was some research.....no google or other people's tattoo websites, I'm not down with lame shortcuts.

I settled on kind of a lobster/prawn hybrid.

After that, I made some actual size rough sketches, I have a bunch of 24"x36" illustration board I need to use up, so I decided to fill a whole sheet. I used brush pens for this because they are good for sketching fast.

Moving on from there, I transferred the lines of the lobster, and some of the waves; and lightly sketched the rest of the background right on the board.

Once I was done with that, I began the tedious task of lining this thing out, still mostly brush pens, and a few Pitt pens and tiny brushes for the little details. I wanted it to stand out from far away, but reveal little details and patterns as you get close up on it. Then I started blocking in the water bars and finger waves with watercolor ink.

Starting the color with some light washes.

Many washes later, and time to overlay patterns of opaque liquid acrylic on top.

The final painting, I took this pic before I remembered to sign it. Only thing left to do now is scan this in sections, join them in photoshop, and make any adjustments before making prints.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the original yet, maybe sell it, or hang at the studio.

Butterfly Prints

2012-02-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

Hello, I have some new prints from my butterfly painting I made last month. They are on Super A3+ (13x19) Epson Velvetfine paper. They are $40 shipped in the U.S. Email me @ tatmaker75@gmail.com for my paypal info. Thanks.

update fest

2012-01-21T16:28:00.001-05:00

Gotta crank the pellet stove if I want to get any painting done this time of year.

Starting a new painting amidst the technology loop.

Main office at Tatmaker Industries.

It's important to sync bbqing with painting.

Prints of this real soon.

In prog. 7/10th sleeve.

Glenn's arm, part fresh, part healing, part healed.

In prog. mech coverup sleeve.

X-ray shells

In prog. St. Mike sleeve.

This is what happens when my appts. don't show up...

Print final help...

Finished up most of the Aaron Cain add on piece.

Thumbnail study and lines for some mech I did last year.

I gotta get finished pics of this thing.

Flowers are fresh, waves and lines still pealing.

Ballpoint boredom madness, this is usually happens when I'm on the phone.

Tattooed my take on the old jim phillips cory o'brien graphic, that was fun, did a lucero one too, but didn't get any pics.

It's the motion in the ocean, or something like that...

2006

Dug out some flash originals from 1997, the designs on this sheet alone are literally on a few thousand people.

2003, hangs in my foyer...

Represent.

New painting maybe?

Bye!

New prints again

2011-11-26T19:13:00.000-05:00

Hey, I have some new prints of the watercolor mech skull I just finished. They are printed on epson velvetfine paper, a square image on a 13x19 sheet. They are $40 shipped in a tube, so they don't get jacked on the way.
If you want one, email me at tatmaker75@gmail.com for paypal info.
Thanks!

The last few months

2011-11-26T18:45:00.000-05:00

I've really allowed a backlog of work to pile up, and I'm going to start chipping away at posting it now.

I finished Bill's Tiger half sleeve a little while ago, I think we'll be going down onto the forearms soon, too. Bill's other arm is the giant green dragon with huge claws also on the site.

I finished the outside of the Moby Dick half sleeve, sounds like it may be turning into a full sleeve, too.

Finished up Glen's hanya samaurai, and I've almost finished the other arm with a girl head masqerade feather jewelry deal. Pics of that soon.

Worked on Eric's dragon koi leg some more...

Tibetan fire sword jam...

These guys...

Really fun Ryukin add on...

Finished Jason's 3/4 sleeve-add on, he had a few small ones to start with...

Worked on Zoe's roses, still more to come...

healed r2 from a little while ago...

more on Ben's koi...finish in december...

starting to add on to an old Aaron Cain tattoo..

still piecing this one together

some celtic butterflies, gotta get healed pics of all 4 at once...

some newer paintings...

More soon!

New Print Set

2011-05-05T13:40:00.000-04:00

Hey, I have some new prints of the 'tatmaker' and 'tatfink'. I'm doing these as a set for $40 including shipping (in U.S.) As always, they are printing with archival ink on Epson Velvetfine paper (very nice, thick, textured stuff).

I think I'm going to pair up the red guy with some cool lettering for some shirts in the near future.

The green guy is a definitely a nod to some of the weird little green characters I would see from awesome skateboard artist Jim Phillips. I also tattooed it on my longtime coworker, Uncle Pauly.

On the original, I used metal flake green, and it came out sick.

Anyway, if you are interested in the prints, or getting tattooed for that matter, hit me up at tatmaker75@gmail.com, and I will give you the paypal info.

Thanks.

odds and sods...

2011-04-10T20:36:00.000-04:00

so i finally tattooed uncle pauly the other day....

worked on ronnie's fishing half sleeve, one more sitting to go.

made this guy for part of my new site i am working on.

he should be in print form too (and maybe shirts), along with a finished version of the tat fink at the top of the page.

currently i am working on a new site that will be combining my portfolio site and this one into one, on a new platform, under the domain www.tatmaker.com

all the old blog posts and content will be imported into it, and so will the ability to follow.

the new site will have more features, maybe have some video, and be designed with devices like the ipad in mind.

i've also added the twitter plug in to the right side of this column. i will be posting a lot more random photos on there, i've already been on there for a few weeks.

a little walk in eagle.

worked some more on bill's tiger sleeve, next up: some giant paws, rocks, and more bamboo.

lines for some recent random tattoos....

found this shellmech sketch from 2002 while i was cleaning out my art room, thought it was pretty crazy.

half sleeve of roses design from last friday's appt..

remember when all your customers looked like this guy??

Lupe!!!

2011-03-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

Lupe is the new part of my crew, she, like one of my other dogs, Brisket, comes from New Jersey

by way of the animal alliance foster network. she tips the scales at a whopping 5 lbs.

busted out this snake dagger jam the other day.

finished the back of my new business card, the front is actually the header of this blog for now.

just threw down the first sitting of another half sleeve/chest panel deal.

this samarai hot stuff was fun, not the best photos though, love doing this kind of thing.

speaking of new jersey.....

Glen finally came by for a few healed pics of the tat i finished up a couple of months ago...

next blog should be up quick, got a whole bunch of new tats and drawing ready to go!

bloggatron:2011

2011-02-02T16:15:00.003-05:00

After a lot of pre print work, including piecing together 20 scans, I have prints of this dragon koi I painted this past summer.......17 x 22 textured art paper $60 plus shipping. Contact me at tatmaker75@gmail.com if your interested.

I received these awesome hand made machines from john moniz in an art trade.....they run as awesome as they look.

in progress half sleeve, still gotta finish the inside and touch up a couple spots.

I've finished a lot of new stuff in the last 2 months, but I need some people to come back in and let me get some healed pics. it's always dark out this time of year when i finish up, and i'm only good at getting fresh tattoo pics outdoors in the sunlight.
so, until then, that makes for blog posts of a lot of sketches and line drawings....

just finished this phoenix on a girl's back, still need some healed photos....

outlined this on a forearm, the start of a sleeve.

busted out this reaper in one shot....

outlined and black shaded this for red chris's ginger sleeve, those are ginger flowers in the hair.

some sketches for my new business card. the little machine and the lines are for the back.

the front.

been fooling around with some tilt shift on some photos i took.

A st. michael tattoo, and the line drawing from another.


what another hanya?

some weird eyeball flame deal i did on a chest.

just fit this skull pile in between some other tattoos on the forearm.

part of a guy harvery inspired fishing sleeve i'm doing, should have pics up of this soon, it's super bright!

some hot rod action on a bicep.

koi half sleeve sketch, just finished it up.

More New Prints!

2010-12-14T01:39:00.000-05:00

This time I have 2 new paintings, and four new prints.

I'm doing 20 of each: a hanya, bird, or the two machines featured in my last blog.

They are on 13x19 archival art paper, the machines are on smooth ultra premium matte, the others are on textured velvetfine paper.

They are $40 each with shipping (in U.S.)

$140 for all four.

Hit me up at Tatmaker75@gmail.com and I'll give you PayPal info.

Here's a little tattooing also, I'll have a big tattoo photo update very soon,

along with another even bigger print.

mega coil!

2010-10-06T18:48:00.001-04:00

In the last 2 months, i've been invited to participate in 2 art shows. this drawing is on it's way the the 'love thy neighbor' art show at mcinnis tattoo co in providence rhode island. it's one of john moniz's awesome jumbo single coil machines about 10 times actual size.

framed up and ready to go!


this one was for the 'maryland my maryland' art show held by bill stevenson of the baltimore tattoo museum.

it's one of seth ciferri's microjones tattoo machines done up paul rogers style

a little size comparison with another microjones.

finished up the upper half of bill's jumbo dragon sleeve.

finished out slade's koi.

worked on red chris's ginger sleeve some more, also outlined a woodpecker on the other side. still need to color in the pickled ginger in that jar.

martin stopped by to get some pictures of his sleeve a did a little while ago.

started another, you guessed it, koi half sleeve.....

did this sushi tattoo on christy from jack's bistro.....great restaurant in canton!


someone wasn't too into the ocean.

not sure what was going on here...

Linefest.

2010-08-12T17:34:00.000-04:00

I outlined some mech a few weeks ago, shading coming up soon.

Another little practice painting.

I think I do one of these every summer.

A newly outlined mum/fern/water half sleeve.

A regular client of ours requested a Swampy skull on a swan body.....

It was a pretty big thigh piece, but we knocked it out in one sitting.

I found a line drawing of a peacock feather I did a year or two ago. It's from the side of the knee all the way up to the side of the hip, and partially incorporates/covers up a heart/name design the was already there. I need a finished pic.

well, it's a band aid.

For my dogs....

Juana vs. Shark

A hanya/samurai(??) I just outlined.

Tiara's roller derby pin up. Can't wait to finish this.

A tree full back piece I just outlined tues.

Gina's first tattoo, 6+ hour sitting, whew!

just some random ball point madness....

100 Degrees

2010-07-07T13:29:00.000-04:00

100 Degrees is the temperature outside right now and a great Kyuss song....

I finished my fourth watercolor painting, I started it during the blizzards this winter, but it got sidelined for a while when I got really busy with appointments. It's really big for me, a whole sheet of illustration board, like 30"x40" or something like that. Got another one that size started now. This was like one big watercolor course for me, though I think it took about 50 or 60 hours from sketch to completion.....there are a ton of sloppy mistakes, but I figured out a lot of things I wasn't capable of before.

I got to work on the Moby Dick tattoo I started a few months ago, I still have the inside of the bicep, some pale tones to add to the gray in the whale next to the white parts, some sky, and leveling the background out around the bottom.

Another in progress shot of Slade's koi half sleeve....this was just his second sitting and we really hammered out a lot this time. Once again, the inside of the bicep, more waves capping off the top of his arm, and the fins are some of whats left, should finish it this month.

This reaper was really fun, but the pictures suck....the lines and black were already healed, the rest is fresh...I posted the sketch for this in a previous post.

Just another older line drawing I found in a drawer the other day, this was a half sleeve covering up an armband that had a little lasering done.....I like the way the head is looking back....Well that's all for now.

summer blogbuster

2010-06-20T21:46:00.001-04:00

Well, once again I am terrible at frequently posting less pics, just piling pics up and posting them all at once for me.....

This is the first tattoo as part of a lower leg sleeve of high performance auto parts....he started off with a Garret turbo.....

Here we have some water lillies, waves, kanji, and clouds.....the kanji was pre-existing.....still have one more flower to add to the inner bicep....

Oni time..

Black and Gray butterflies.

Names, flowers, banners, butterfly action.

This is the beginning of the ginger sleeve on Red Chris, one of our shop guys, he is a genuine ginger.....

I added this decoritive bio mech back round to this pre-existing pocketwatch portait tattoo.....I still have more to add, along with going back into the original tattoo (done by someone else).

here's the line drawing for a '67 chevy II nova tattoo I just did, I need to get healed pictures.....probably my favorite muscle car..

I just did this pig/rooster foot scenario yesterday..

I just outlined and black shaded this koi half sleeve a couple weeks ago, will post some finished pics....

Colored in some roses I outlined a few months back...

Curving dragonfly walk in tattoo...

Bunny's bird......back of the upper thigh..

Got Krampus??

yard friend.

What is she waiting for???

Line drawing for a penguin I did a while ago I just found.

Part of a phoenix I outlined on a dude, and never saw him again, awesome.

A reaper, calling you out.....

Another reaper, this time a little cover up.

Poison dart frog and lotus I just started, it's in between some other tattoos, hence the odd shape.

Peony.

I added a back round to a white tiger I did last year....

Just some fun, more tradtitional walk in stuff....

microwaves.....get it?????

These roses surrounded a pre-existing cross.

I wish I had finished pics of this, I shaded the face on the shell so happy it was creepy...

This guy's got a big family, hence all the initials.....

I have been getting a lot of requests for some throwback smokey biker skull and bone piles, some with added maggots, and always between other tattoos!!! very late 80's!!

This koi had a sweet stache....

We took a little vacation to Ft. Lauderdale in the beginning of June, it was awesome...

We had a sweet suite....

These trees are rad.

When we came back, we had to get our dogs out of the kennel, they were super tired.....

Unfortunately, we had to say good bye to friend when we came home......RIP Chile....

spring zaps!

2010-04-13T16:49:00.001-04:00

Well time for some more posting, I've been letting the work pile up, and not just throwing it down on here.

We had a ton of snow in feb., so that screwed up a lot of appointments. Lots of just outlined tattoos out there, but not many finished pics. I did just do this cool pear as a walk in on saturday!

I finally finished Dwayne's leg, this started as just a Phoenix about a year ago, but later turned into a lower leg sleeve. Very fun! I'd say Dwayne is a good 6'4" or so, making this a very big tattoo! All rotary!! This pic is healed, healing, and still fresh.....

These are some roses I just outlined around a girl's bicep, fitting underneath another another tattoo...

I also just outlined this dragon koi on the other side of the leg as the gold koi I previously posted on here, this thing is wacky, I'd love to do stuff like this everyday!

This is some black and grey biomech i just started on the back of the arm in between another really big tattoo of a pocketwatch with a portrait inside.The elbow is where the big shiny thing is. I got about halfway through the shading, and should be finishing this in a few weeks.

Here's a dove with some impatiens I just did on Annie:

A little Grandpa tribute walk-in...

Worked on a gambling half-sleeve that I started like 2 years ago for a little while again, long ways to go, the dice and the chip were a lot of fun.

This train was painted for me in a trade by my friend RAMS, it's pretty big, about 16" long.

Working on a really big painting(for me at last), hopefully I don't screw it up too bad.

Time to break out the Big Green Egg!

Late!

Snow Weasel!

2010-02-06T16:16:00.002-05:00

Some January action.......

I finished the Gheep

(see older posts for progress)

I think it took four sittings, maybe 16-18 hours or so.....

I got a 50mm lense for my rebelxt1...

now I can make portraitness.

not of people though, I don't know any of them...

got a mini watercolor sketchbook in Charleston, just now started using it.

Did these 3: the pumpkin, skull, and racing banner

as some on the spot drawing/tattoo action.

the photo for the jack-o-lantern is horrible, but you get the idea...

Added this ryukin next to a tattoo i did more than 5 years ago, to finally finish out a 3/4/ sleeve I started in 2004-5.....the pic doesn't show the completed elbow though...

added this biomech to this guys inner bicep to finish a half sleeve

started by someone else a while ago....

another on the spot drawing. with a crappy picture.

part of a 3/4 mech sleeve sketch for a disappearing

client, top empty part is an existing tattoo, i'll finish it out if he resurfaces....

lowrida....

2010-01-04T23:32:00.002-05:00

time for some non tattoo art.....when i was a teenager, before i started driving, i was obsessed with cars. every month, i would pick up magazines like car and driver or hot vw's. my favorite part was always in the front of the magazines, where an artist would render new models or concept cars before the company would release any pics of them. they usually came from spy photos and their imagination. most of the mags featured art by guys like thom taylor and chip foose. the medium was usually prismacolor pencils and pantone art markers(no computers yet). this led me to purchasing my first set of prismacolors about 20 years ago, and trying to figure them out. up till then, all of my drawing were usually in black and white,and usually copied pushead and m.c. escher art, or jim phillips(santacruz) and courtland johnson(powell peralta) skateboard graphics.
trying to figure out all the surfaces, reflections and paint finishes of the cars was really challenging. soon after this, i discovered the art of robert williams and ed roth in books and later attending the kustom kulture art show in 1993 which featured paintings and actual cars from these guys, it was sick!
so leading up to the time i started tattooing, cars and hot rod based tattoo flash was my favorite thing to draw, never mind the fact that i could never afford the kinds of cars i was drawing. when i first saw flash by dave waugh, little vinnie, aaron cain, and eddy deutche, i flipped out about the way these guys were using prismacolors.....
so flash forward to a month ago, a friend of mine commissoned me to draw her boyfriends mini truck, which has been featured in many national publications, for a christmas present. she didn't even know i used to draw so many cars. mini trucks have never really been my thing, but this was really fun to draw, and i hope this may lead to doing more things like this...

contrast this with some old ones. i did this '65 falcon for seth ciferri in 1996...

a couple tiny ones from 1994ish...

an audi tt for an add in 1998? i think...

Fall Review...

2009-12-02T00:12:00.001-05:00

took a roadtrip to charleston, sc around halloween.

lots of in progress pieces this month.

part of a leg sleeve i got goin' on, along with the phoenix on the back of the leg, the dragon has a body now, with inky sky backround....

another leg sleeve, a dragon koi will be on the other side...

a crazy russian dude got this snake, he's doin either another snake on the other side, or a wolf.

this is his first tattoo!!!

sketch for a raven half sleeve i've started.

this guy's going half sleeve with this, i already started the rocks and waterfall/bamboo backround.

based on some redrawn brian bruno flash....

poppy time.

admiral nelson's ship the hms victory from the battle of trafalgar, a damaged, sinking french ship will be on the other side.

another one of those 10 ideas in one piece tattoos, but i think i made it work.

moby dick half sleeve i just started, outer portion.

New Prints!!

2009-10-19T15:45:00.003-04:00

Hey, I got my new skull prints and tatmaker prints.... The skull is 11" square image size, and the tatmaker tools print is 6"x10" images size......they are printed archival style on epson velvetfine paper...super nice stuff. The skull is $40 plus shipping, and the tatmaker is $25. My paypal is at 1juana@comcast.net

Summer Wrap-Up

2009-09-24T23:41:00.020-04:00

all right, here is some randomness of the last month or so....
got to work on the jelly fish knee/ leg some more this pic shows a few hours worth of sitting 2, but i've since started adding the tentacles down his leg but i don't have those pics of that yet....

did this little mech skull behind jordan's ear, that was fun...

hooked up a wren on kelsey's shoulder...she's coming back for another version on the other shoulder...

started another koi on eric's leg, there will be a dragon koi on the rest of his calf when we finish this side...

got to do a more traditional style piece with this eagle/snake fight deal, i'd like to do more traditonal stuff, just never get asked for it, probably because of having brady duncan down the hall from me, heheheh..

started adding backround behind a few tattoos i did on spicy mike, (a hanya and a shark attack)
this is the first stuff i did completely (line/shade) with a rotary machine, still have some more left...

i didn't do this tattoo, but this guy came into the shop and had this tattoo to commemorate his DUI inside a virginia walmart on a beer run on a rascal scooter that resulted in his arrest and permenent walmart ban, sweet!

back to stuff i did, this tattoo was completed in four different short sessions. it started off with a snowflake, which was the first try using a rotary ever, then a cover up of a not so great horoscope tattoo using the purple waves, which were drawn in place, followed by all the backround also drawn in with pen first.....not very planned out, but i think it looks pretty neat...

just a little sketch for an oriole tattoo the last guy is getting....

after sticking with colored pencils as my medium of choice for almost 20 years, i've decided to give painting a serious try, and really put some time into practice and learning. tattoo flash is mostly watercolor, sometimes pencil, and i don't really want to have any limitations on the way i produce that kind of imagery anymore...
so this is the 2nd try at a watercolor painting i finished a couple of weeks ago....a few battles won and lost on this piece, but i think i'll be able to wrap my head around this stuff with practice...

i'm giving oil a shot, too, and it's definitely tricky, and i have never taken any kind of painting class in my life, so this is just me trying to check out info on the web or in books to try to get a clue...
but this rose is my first attempt...

july part 2

2009-07-29T15:10:00.012-04:00

hello, i guess i'll start off with a 'gheep' update....i almost finished it this time, but after getting tattooed 6 hours the night before by brady duncan, and then another 5-6 the next afternoon by me, crispy mike tapped out ( i was about ready to quit myself, but don't tell anyone). well, mike will be back from cali in the fall to get about the last hour or so finished from me, and the little he has left on his chest from uncle pauly. i just nedd to finish the horn on the left, and a couple tiny pod things on the upper rear of his arm.

as an added bonus here is the tattoos the other guys at the shop have been putting on him, too.
uncle pauly is finishing up the reaper and vulture on his chest....

brady duncan did this big eagle on him the night before....the pic doesn't really convey the size, it's from wrist to a little past the elbow.

next up, i got this little mech sketch from a walk-in tattoo i did in between a bunch of other random pieces, it was fun, but shaped really weird...

speaking of oddly shaped add-ons, i just did this japanese water drawn on with a pen first...

this was from a few months ago, but i just found this pic, right on the trachea....ouch!!

here's the line drawing from a phoenix i just outlined covering the back of a really tall dude's calf...in case you haven't noticed, i never take photos of just outlines on peeps.

this one's probably the oddest idea of the bunch, a city that's had it's ass kicked by trees, it's been outlined, and a lot of details like windows, etc. haven't been added in yet. it is also on the back of a calf.

as a non tattoo related topic, i replaced my old canon digital rebel 300d with the new rebel t1i and it rocks. i'm not any kind of photography expert, but it's been fun to use....

summer tat zaps.

2009-07-11T00:20:00.009-04:00

Whoa, I've been slacking on this thing...too much time lurking on other peoples tat blogs. Anyway, here's a few tattoos and a bunch of sketches from the last 2 months.
First up is probably my first dog portrait which I did on a walk-in of a boston terrier named gemini.

Next up is the line drawing for a bonzai tattoo I did on a girls back. I gotta get a healed pic of the tattoo, but I like the sketch.

Heres another Koi tattoo, had to fit 2 in a tight spot...

These are 2 Half sleeve drawings, the Tiger I've outlined, the Dragon appointment flaked....anyone need a dragon/water half sleeve.....?

This next project is in it's beginning stages, the client wants a giant jellyfish that starts on his thigh, goes right over his kneecap(yow!),and all the way down his calf/shin with twisty tentacles that will turn into syringes(!!!?), and then jam into his leg all gross like. So that's a pretty crazy request and takes a big drawing. So far, I've outlined and colored the top portion, all on the knee in about 5-6 hours, this part alone is about the size of a letter sized sheet of paper. There's gonna be a lot of black/dark blue back round behind this part, and the lower part will get lighter.

This sketch was the early idea for the jelly, but didn't fit as well...

Lastly, I have the line drawing from this little skull with water I did near an elbow, surrounded by other tattoos, explaining the odd shape of this.

Gary is a Turd.

2009-05-06T17:14:00.001-04:00

There you go buddy.

Second Post- The Gheep

2009-05-04T15:34:00.008-04:00

This is an in progress piece I am currently working on. Our shop guy, Crispy Mike, took a cross-country graffiti and sign painting trip, and returned from his adventure with this scary goat/sheep cross breed skull. At first I just wanted to score this thing from him, but when I realized that's not going to happen, I talked him into getting it tattooed instead.

The next step was to take this thing home and get some good photographs of it.

I set up to take a few pics using a warm and cold light source, to add to the creepyness factor, I think that worked....

I took that photo, and started to work on the drawing, Mike is a big fan of biomech, so I figured these horns go really well with it, kind of a 'artforms in nature' look to it, mixed with more smoother, metallic forms for contrast, and in the end, I added teeth and bony jawlike formations to them to kinda tie everything together. this is my line drawing:

These are after a couple sittings, maybe 2 longer ones, and a mini sitting. All the color parts are healed, the black shading is fresh.

First Post

2009-04-21T22:25:00.010-04:00

Well, after reading a handful of other artists' blogs over the last 6 months or so, I decided I really like the format to accompany my regular website and the myspace page (which I started to direct more traffic to my website, but I don't like posting too much work on there.)

I 'm going to post a lot more in progress projects from sketch to finish, and tattoos or drawings that I might not use on my website or want to post a little more info about than I would have on there.

Another goal is to at least post some random stuff that other artists at Little Vinnies have going on, too. There is a lot of sick tattooing going on there these days, but the rest of the crew is oblivious to documenting anything they do. Hopefully I can turn them around and perhaps start a shop blog, because there is a ton of custom stuff happening here.

I guess I'll kick it off by throwing out a sampling of projects that I've been busy with in 2009....

I did this thistle flower in Feb., it was her first tattoo, and my first thistle. This was one sitting, about 5-6 hours. The design is about 8-9 inches high, and stretched out quite a bit while I was working on her lower back....

I did this biomech skull on this kid in about 9-10 hours, over 2 sittings. The drawing on paper was probably about 9"x 12". These photos kinda suck, his arm was pretty beat up near the top when we finished, but there tho inly ones I got.

This is the first half of a full sleeve a started a couple months ago. He is getting a florida everglades related scene, this half features a snook fish,(his father's nickname was 'snook') along with some mangrove tree roots. The upper half is going to feature above and below water angles, along with a manatee and other stuff. He has pretty big arms, I'd say this was about 16 hours.

I just finished this green koi a few weeks ago. I couldn't find any examples of the existence of green koi, because I prefer to base tattoos like this in reality at least as far as authentic colors or markings. She insisted on this color combo, and I think it came out looking pretty cool. This was pretty big, from hip all the way down to the side of the knee. I split it up into a few sittings, and i think it took about 9-10 hours.

Another koi, this time a 3/4 sleeve. lots of fun, first time doing mums or an acorn, i think this took about 5-6 sittings, not sure anymore.

A little rose walk in action....

Business card design....I drew this for my business card, which embarrassingly enough, I've never had my own of in 11 years of tattooing (I'd lazily use the shop cards).
Thing is, I didn't like this design when it was shrunk down to card size, i drew it at around 5x7......so, I drew something else, and I think this is going on a tshirt and prints, with some lettering added in the banner....oh well.

alright, I think that's a good start, I got a few thing to add tommorow.

Eric