Monday 30 November 2009

Music is what feelings sound like.


So here's what i got up to yesterday. we made really good time with this one too. (i didn't have anyone in earlier, coz i'd put a day aside for this, so i had plenty of time to recover from Macau!) 

This is on Vinnie, a DJ at Kee Club. We had a hard time dwindling his list of about a million different subject matters to a select few, and to be honest, i woulda cut a few more out still, but this is what we both ended up compromising on, and that's fine by me. (trust me, the "unicat" didn't fit into the mix, and once we got rid of that, stuff flowed better! looks like the "unicat" (cat with the horn. sorry i meant cat with a horn) will be another piece down the road!



we managed to get all the lines (there are LOTS of lines) and all the black in 3 and a half hours....so next session it's just colour and any little touch up's that need doing with the black. 
Looking forward to getting some colour in here, but i'm just glad we got all the black in yesterday... i think he was ready to stop after the lines!

for some reason the pic aint coming up larger when clicked on, even through it's 3000 pixels wide.... so here are some details....





(SOMEONE READING THIS MUST BE GOOD WITH COMPUTERS....HOW COME SOME PICS COME UP BIG WHEN CLICKED ON AND SOME DONT....EVEN IF THEY R LARGE FILES?)

I've seemed to have found a happy sort of middle ground now with using mags and RS's which is nice. had 4 machines set up yesterday for this, getting fancy n shit, eh?! 

High-school dropouts don't go to reunions

So, Saturday night Ross and i decided to go and surprise Tom for his Birthday! Tom and me went to the same 6th form college, which was basically a last resort for kids who'd been expelled/dropped out from other schools. We didn't really know each other then, and i vaguely remember meeting him on the day when i went back to collect all my artwork....but other than that..... i'm a blank! Anyways, a few years ago, none other than the guy i went to school with rocks up at my studio, gets work done..... and our friendship kinda started there! it took a few months for us to realize we had already met a good 5 years ago. 

So, Tom lives in Macau, and i wouldn't normally go to a whole nother country to surprise a friend, but Macau aint far, and it's always nic to see an unfamiliar skyline.




 The night started off at Tom's bar, Rascals where we sent most of the night watching him play with his balls....



Then we went off the the "hole in the wall" for more drinks.....and ended up in" Cubic" with a private table reserved. I'll never get used to these clubs that u need to take escalators into. Anyways, Tom was still playing with his balls.....



And here's Tom drinking his *$2000* champagne.



 I'm sure it was nice, but i was already too drunk, and i can't remember what 2000 bucks tastes like.


Cubic was full of the kind of people i hate, and quite possibly the shiniest place i've ever been.....

Anyways, we missed the 3am ferry so hung about til the 5am ferry.... i ended up getting travel sick from standing on a travelator....so i'm sure u can imagine the state i was in on the ferry back.

ok, that's one blog caught up on..... and i'm gonna add some bonus pics to the end of this too! Ross went to the cupcakery today, and brought 2 boxes back with him. even the one that looks like turd tasted good! i love that place!



And last night, we went for another 11:30pm dinner after a long day at work (i finally got a proper blog worthy tattoo pic, but need to join the pics on photoshop, so will post that later!).
We went back to the Chinese restaurant on Knutsford, and on the way, in the window of Ice Fire, i spotted these..... very ugly squirrels. Now....is it just me, or do their left legs.... kinda look like..... a stubby sinewy winkle? that's just some bad design right there..... yup!


OK, i will hopefully blog the tattoo i did yesterday in an hour or 2... it's a good-un! It's the one piece i've been looking forward to since it got booked in a month or so ago! more on that later!

lots to blog about....but til then...

everything i have to blog about is on the laptop, which is in a bag.....a bag on ross' back....and ross isn't here. so til then, listen to Morrissey's interview from last night's radio 4 HERE!
enjoy y'all! 
hopefully i'll have time in between my next customer and my last customer to do a little proper blogging.... so check back later!

Friday 27 November 2009

change of career


ok, so i am no longer a tattooist, i am now officially a "boo boo fixer upper". yup. it's true!

Cyril (a nifty repeat customer who gets fun stuff) came in and got a little addition.... 



we didn't notice til after (plus i was technically "upside down" to this), but the blood soak looks like a cross between Munch's "the scream" and a skull. pretty awesome. other than that, it's been 2 tribal cover-up's in 2 days.... i don't wanna make a habit of this. :(

Thursday 26 November 2009

you can dress a pig in pearls, but it'll still smell of shit.


Yesterday was my day off. God, i wish i got 2 of these a week! I could get so much done, but alas, one it is, and i chose to spend this one exploring Kwun Tong.... just because! We started off in the APM shopping centre, which ...... took me aback with their.... tasteful decorations.....!



Anyway, once my retinas had recovered, we had a wander about. Not much stuff worth buying (which worked out well, coz i'm trying not to spend too much cash right now...coz i've gotta pay for all this stuff i ordered recently!) anyways, this shop was kinda cool, if they had one for chihuahuas, i'da bought loadsa crap i'm sure!



These seats stole my heart a little! Comfortable, probably not.... Efficient, nope.... but cute, yep! I'd have one in my living room. Unfortunately they were very securely stuck to the floor.



I also kinda loved this book, but didn't buy it, coz once u seen one page of grinning fish, you've seen em all!



Oh, i did buy this, and i have decided that every kitchen needs one. It turns sandwich's into pockets, then u can grill them and stuff and have toasties or just have very very tidy looking sarnies! awesome..... we had baked beans and cheese toasted sandwich's for dinner.......



I also bought this weird game, it's kinda half pictionary, half charades..... i'll blog bout it as soon as i get some teams round to challenge me! (maybe me n ross will just have to be "teams" but that kinda defies the point.....) i think another mexican BBQ is in order.....
The whole mall was pretty much filled with horrible tacky overpriced crap. don't get me wrong, i like a bit of tacky, but this was..... tack-a-go-go...... too too much AND SO $$$EXPENSIVE!$$$
Anyways, after getting some food at the food court which was really gross and inedible, we wandered across to "Bonds fun city" (it's not really fun or a city.....)
we played a shoot em up til i ran outta change.


So that's what i got up to yesterday....in short.

Today, did 3 pieces, i'm only gonna blog one though, so savour it....it may be a while til i post anything else tattoo wise..... although i mighta filled a last minute appointment mover with a cool lil' piece, so we'll see..... he hasn't paid a deposit, so may be a big fat no go.


Nice easy going customer, visiting from Scotland. She had a cupcake rib piece, and i started foaming at the mouth thinking about how much fun it would be to do a cupcake the size of my hand. one day..... maybe......

Tuesday 24 November 2009

c(R)iti(SIZE)

hmmm.... where do i start? I guess i better start where i left off.....Roni Size, eh? Wow, what can i say? I just don't get it.... I'd rather listen to the songs he mixed....without the mixing. Yup. There's nothing nice about feeling the pulse of a room when it feels like the rooms having a heart attack, and nothing keeps u more sober than 70 dollar beers (all the people pilling off their faces musn't have minded.... which is why there was never a que at the bar!). Fuck that! (ross thought it was great.... yes i'm talking bout the music AND the fact i went home sober)

Anyways, we did get to see Simon's band (who i tattooed recently....simon, not the whole band!), Violent jokes support, and they were really good. Been a long time since i saw them, so was well worth the small fortune i spent on beer. (Simon's the one who got us in for free so i guess it kinda evened out the "free" with the wallet rape at the bar!) 



There were some very interesting people at the .....can u call it a "gig"?! 1stly, i saw a .....can i call it a "woman"? sporting a WHITE SCRUNCHIE! i thought they were striclty reserved for russian gymnasts, but i must be wrong. 



i also spotted these pants (no that's not camera glare.....that's mysterious stainage) oooh, if u look behind her to the left (our left) u can also see the very stylish bum bag/fanny pack the white scrunchie wearer was sporting.... yup.


This is the only picture of Roni Size i'm posting. aint it great?!




Luckily i had Debra to keep me company, and also be my team partner in the "is it a guy or a gal game". good times. (and that wasn't your fault.....the legs lied!)

Anyways, since then it's been all go at work, been getting home at 3am most days, so not blogged, but i haven't had much to blog about. I can't remember the last tattoo i got to do with some free reign over the design, maybe the nerd-core piece? or the Japanese toys?or my brothers coi...i dunno. don't get me wrong, it's mainly custom work i do, at least it's not all flash day in day out, but there's always so many demands as to how it should look, and which way it needs this...and that....in this particular order.......and BAH! Anyways, in much more important news..... we found milo some non-retarded clothing for the winter! So happy! so cute........... we got 2 lil' sweaters, the other one's dogtooth, really nice! and a little hoodie. HOORAY!


Saturday 21 November 2009

Christmas come early!


So, managed to get lots of goodies recently, all very exciting. 
1stly, new shoes! Me n Ross found a shop in TST stocking TUK, Anarchic and other goodies, so we both placed an order, which should be arriving in the next few weeks. We also just placed a huge order from Lucky 13, as we have some friends over here opening as rockabilly inspired clothing store, so new threads, new shoes....what else? Oh, yeah, i managed to get a friend to grab me a signed copy of Joe Capobianco's new book, coz he's in London this week doing a signing at Lal Hardy's New Wave Tattoo Studio. Exciting! Check out Joe's work HERE and Lal's shop HERE!

Hmmmm....what else is new? Oh, that skull book i mentioned has gone to press, and will be featuring the skull from the t shirt design i did. (can't remember....check it out here)I will post a link to the book once it's released, which should be in about 2 weeks.
WOW, how many links can i fit into one blog, right?!

Oh, and last but not least, i just got the 2008 Snakepit book. I've kinda gotten obsessed with Snakepit, managed to read 3 years worth of his life in a few weeks. check out his books here!
He does a 3 part comic strip for each day, it's awesome. You'll either love it or hate it.... i definately love it, and am super excited to have the next installment!
i've left the camera at home, so i'm desperately trying to think of a pic i can post..... so this will have to do!

We found out Roni Size doesn't start playing til 2am.....bah. I have a super long day tomorrow too. Here starts a downward spiral folks....right here.

Friday 20 November 2009

I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so....

Long day at work today. Long story behind it too.... i'll give y'all the short version! Basically, i had a customer come to me with an unfinished (outlines only) 1/2 sleeve. I told him i didn't wanna finish it, but he was very persuasive, and as he's relocated to Hong Kong, he cannot go back to the original artist for a very very long time. I was still kinda umming and ahhing, and "i don't touch other people's work"..... etc etc. initially, i figured the only way i would be ok finishing it, is if i got in contact with the guy/girl who started it, and asked if they'd mind. So i did. 

So I'm like "who started it for ya?" and he's like, "Chris O Donnell." and in my head I'm going "oh for god's sake, you can't be serious, is this a joke?! there's no way..... BAH!" Chris O Donnell is a little bit of a tattoo god, and i was even more uncomfortable bout finishing it! But I messaged Chris, and he was a super sweet, super nice, awesome guy! So i reluctantly booked the guy in. Today was the day. We only got the background done, and that was 4 hours alone, he's booked in again for the 2nd session 3 weeks from now. If all goes well we'll get it finished then, and maybe one quick touch up afterwards. We'll see. Anyways, here's a very small sneak peak at the piece,


terrible pic, but i didn't try too hard after all I TAKE NO CREDIT FOR THE DESIGN WHATSOEVER....NOTHING TO DO WITH ME! (i'm just the monkey colouring it in) CHECK OUT CHRIS O DONNELL'S BLOG HERE! AND HIS WEBSITE  HERE!
  
Finished up about 11pm and went out to dinner with Ross. We found this pretty awesome new Chinese restaurant (a chinese restaurant, in china.... yeah really). Food was good, which for me, means it was awesome coz i'm so fussy. It's up on Knutsford Terrace, TST. Go check it out! (it's in between like, 4 Italian restaurants, you can't miss it!


The only downer about diner was the crazy old German couple who seemed tpo be trying to smoke us out...... God knows how they are still alive. I mean i smoke, but they were.... maybe embalmed. i dunno. 



I also totally forgot to blog about a little gem i found in Inn's Point (toy mall) in Mong Kok. I found the cutest little shop that sells handmade bags. Really awesome handmade bags at very reasonable prices. (the bag above is my latest buy, it's Alice in Wonderland material. Really cute!) check their website out HERE!

OK, so seeing as i can't really blog about the tattoo i did today (the other 2 i did was a touch up and an add-on, so ....) Unfortunately (for anyone who is already sick to death of me talkin bout Morrissey, i sketched out another piece to go into the mix. Haven't coloured it, and it's in my watercolour hater sketchbook, so..... maybe i'll prismacolour this one!


Tomorrow we got guest list to Roni Size, so Ross will be having fun, and i'll be lost til i find the bar! 

Thursday 19 November 2009

Anarchy

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours."  ~Robert Byrne


OK, so this..... this "punk rock" half sleeve got started the other other day. Bless him, you shoulda seen his reference pics, they looked like the satanic spawn of avril lavigne and johnny rotten got holda some crayons. After i dwindled about 150 things into a few manageable select few, we got started. 



I figured we'd do it nice n bold, so out came the 14RL (a few little bits n bobs with a 5), but mostly 14 through n through. ended up kinda being fun, like the satanic spawn of me and Sloth from the Goonies got holda some crayons. 

I have to say, i really don't enjoy session work that much. Obviously i'll take it any day over tribal or a bunch of stars, but i find i almost forget about them, then i'll be flicking through the appointment book and it's like "oh, god..... i remember that...." then it's like, once i remember the piece, i'm all like "wow, has it really been that long? can it be healed and ready to go?" then i get all "where did we leave it.... what colours was i gonna .....oh whatever, i'll figure it out on the day!"

I much prefer when i'm all "right, we're gonna do this, this, and oooh, maybe some of this will look good next to this and then .....we're done! sweet! photo!....blog! phew and finished."

does that make any sense..... at all?! 

oh i don't think i ever mentioned the back piece that i "have" to finish by christmas, coz he wants to reveal it at his office christmas party! i feel like i should start some new ad campaign, 
"TATTOOS ARE FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS!"
anyways, i hope he's not reading this, coz i aint sure it's psysically possible to finish in time, we'll see. maybe he'll start to heal like wolverine, and we can just go at it for like, 2 weeks day in day out! 

Anyways, just watched "500 days of Summer", and it was really good. Go watch it! It's cute!
It's been a while since i've seen a good romantic comedy, i think the last one was "The Wristcutters", which is probably one of my all time favorite films now (plus it has Tom Waits in it which is always a bonus! ).

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Who does your hair?!


So this is the painting i finished yesterday... couldn't get it scanned, so a photo of my sketchbook will have to do! It's a new sketchbook, was on sale and packaged so i couldn't feel the paper before buying it. I now know it is quite possibly the worst paper for watercolour ever... my god did i have a hard time with this stuff! definitely no more paintings in this sketchbook!

anyways, here she is.....Pantheresa!


In other news, i will be working the Singapore Tattoo Convention 2010, and am taking bookings. pls e mail me @ info@starcrossedtattoo.com with your idea, size, and placement and i will get back to ya asap!

Tuesday 17 November 2009

the walk in's on the bus go round and round....


Today, i had the entire day put aside for a mammoth piece (not like wooly mammoth, like humungazoid gigantic ) but, alas, she had a family emergency and didn't come. So, i was not best pleased about the fact i had absolutely nothing booked in.....all day. But i did get to do 2 lil' fun n easy walk in's, so that's what u'r getting today! i did also managed to finish a painting, but i aint got the photo uploaded yet, so that'll have to wait til tomorrow (which happens to be my day off, and even though i have managed to catch the 1st cold of the winter *a rare and illustrious little thing that looks like a fairy on crack under a microscope i've been told* i am determined not to waste my day off tomorrow....if i make it outta bed.)

ok, so 1st little walk in was these teeny weeny swallows....


seeing as i still can't figure out why none of my pics come up big when clicked on....here's a close up, of quite possibly one of the smallest birds i ever did tattoo!


(oh the irony, this pic comes up larger...... but the other 2 don't ........ BAH!)

and next was this ... love pieces like this, 5 mins doodling with a sharpie and ur good to go! nice n easy...


oh, and in other news, ross got to do some hand picking this week, check it out on his blog (which he never updates) HERE!
alrighty then, til tomorrow y'all!

Sunday 15 November 2009

It'll be a cold day in hell....


...the day Ross gets a Morrissey tattoo, and maybe today was just the tip of the iceberg! Yesterday i sketched this piece out, and had enough time at work to line it all. 


Not sure if I'm gonna colour it, or even use it with the Morrissey flash I'm working on.... coz *drum roll*.... Ross actually likes it so much, he wants it tattooed. Cold day in hell indeed, which seems fitting as today seems to be the official beginning of winter here....finally!

Winter means Milo has to start wearing sweaters ... and before long jackets... he hates clothes, especially jackets. This year, there seem to be no normal dog clothes just weird bumble bee outfits and other humiliating stuff. The closest we found were a grey sweater with "DOG" emblazoned on the back.



 (i know he's small and all....but it doesn't take a genius to figure out I'm walking a dog)


... and a little sailor top which needs tailoring coz it's so long he'll pee all over the inside! yup, i have to get my chihuahua's clothes tailored now! (when i say "tailored, i mean I'm taking them to the curtain shop in town) i need to learn to sew....

In other news, ...dum dum DUUUUM! i got a phone. Me....phone. I hate phones, i especially hate speaking to people on the phone. If i sound rude/angry/agitated on the phone, it's because I AM! But i couldn't not buy this phone. IT'S A MONKEY...me...monkey...phone!

Took the photos in a bar, so they ain't great but u get the picture!
I know it's Paul Frank, but.... i couldn't help it, it's a monkey phone....c'mon y'all!

And there's a lil' chihuahua (among other creatures, like a rockin' raccoon, a chicken dressed as a geisha, and a weird little vampire bat!) on the Menu!


Been listening to a lot of Eddie Bond today, and was gonna post "look like a monkey" by him but then i found this,
which i guess is what that song his was based on...

so thought I'd post this instead...


If u r reading my facebook RSS blog, check it out HERE!
Proves how awesome monkeys are and how retarded people are...
(he doesn't wanna wear the fucking hat)i hope he grew up to maim that guy.

Saturday 14 November 2009

Don't fire without checking the magazine!


So , (i just realised how many posts i start with "so"....) Hmmmm

Yesterday i got an awesome surprise in the letter box patiently sitting there, waiting.... it was none other than the latest issue of "Pinstriping & Kustom Graphics Magazine", with a little article on me! I'm super excited, this is the 1st international feature I've had. (Flash Ink magazine doesn't count in my eyes, coz it's from a stone's throw away in Singapore!)

Here's some pics....

The Cover....(i can't figure out why these aren't coming up bigger when clicked on, they are really large files.... anyone have any advise?! i never used to have this problem til recently....)
2 sweet as a nut tattoos on 1 page....classy! I'm always surprised to see which pics magazines choose to use, this one definitely seems to favor turquoise! (i spotted that donut piece in a couple of tattoo mags in England when i was last over too)

And it even has a link to none other than my blog! Right here! (unless u r reading this on my facebook feed or alivenotdead page...!)

Thursday 12 November 2009

supreme loser

ok, so time to tell y'all bout yesterday. was one of the best days off i've had in a while. 1stly, me n ross decided to go find this chip shop in sai kung we've been hearing so much about.

 We found it, and.... it was ok, nothing to write home about, and funnily enough it's called "camden town". When i was in camden in august, i noticed a chinese takeaway called "hong kong", wish i had a photo of that now. 


Anyways, after our fish n chips, we got the bus into town, the sky looked awesome.



No, those aren't UFO's....they are reflections of the lights on the bus.


Rush hour was hell, and we ended up at the races an hour late....



Steve was already $1000 up and very excited. I know diddly squat about racing, Steve on the other hand..... knows a lot about racing (and a little about acceptable shoe-sock attire)



So, as Steve was the go-to guy with the racing (he'd even printed out info at home, bless him)....Ross and Murray heeded Steve's advise, and won. 


I decided i'd just bet on the long-shots... and lost. (Come on, how could i not place a bet on "Supreme Commander"?!)

Can u feel the tension?

The boys and their winning tickets.

^
I may have well bet on this guy!


Ah, at least Melvis was around to brighten the mood!

Anyways, about to watch Friday the 13th... dial a cliche, right?