Sick fuck

Urgh. Been feeling really ill the past few days.... just a head cold/chest infection kinda thing but it seems to be going on forever...

So apologies for the lack of recent blogs, but to be honest, i haven't had much to post anyways, so no loss.

Each artist at the studio is meant to be designing a t shirt, the deadline was today, and i sketched mine out yesterday. Still needs proper finalising by someone who isn't as spastic as me when it comes to computers, seriously... i ended up doing all the key lines and stuff by hand, just coz i can't use photoshop. this is an exact scan, but with the black level turned up so y'all can't see my pen strokes... (except for the top, but that'll get filled!)

so anyways, here's what i got done...

looking forward to getting these made up.

Nothing to hoot home about

So all day cancellations suck. Luckily i've had some walk in's which means i've been keeping busy enough, and sketched this little fella. I'd like to indelibly mark him onto someone, so if anyone's keen on this guy, gimme a shout.

And this one almost got snapped up, but seems like it's back up for grabs, so anyone want this...? (both these pieces will be done at a discounted rate, but i cant give quotes without knowing size and placement)

Til next time y'all.....

Bigger fish to fry.

So this guy came in and wanted a nice coi, he wanted it big, on his back, he wanted it nice n solid.... and he wanted to stick to a very small budget.  There was no talking him into pushing back the date of his appointment to save a little extra, and i wasn't in the mood for arguing. Booked him in, drew it up, tattooed it, fuck it. This has to be one of the best deals a stranger has ever got from me, but i'd rather do a nice tattoo than some poxy little half-arsed goldfish wanna be coi. He was lucky, and at least i got to do a nice tattoo today!

No.... i'm not telling y'all what he paid. :P

Waste not want not

OK, photos from yesterday are spliced together and ready to go! Here it is....

Obviously click through to enlarge.

It's based on a turn of the century novel bout a guy who had well.... too much money and too much time by the sounds of it. So he decided to guild his pet tortoise in gold and then adorned it with jewels.... spangly tortoise ended up dying. Poor little bugger. Hope he looks sad enough!

Super fun piece, but also kinda challenging coz i wanted a definitive light source for the majority of the piece, but also wanted to pack in some yellow glows on stuff to give the epic *aaaaahhhhhhh* kinda feel of something super shiny and almost holy. The yellow wont show through too much til everything is healed but i think the purple and yellow will work nicely together, and the tortoise is a nice dusky cool tone so i'm hoping for some healed pics too. Fingers crossed.

Amen is a 4 letter word

So the gig last night actually turned out pretty good. The support bands all made me want a full refund plus wasted time tax, but The Chariot most definitely didn't disappoint. They were awesome live, super tight and super mental (not metal.... mental) It was the bassist who goes spastic, not the guitarist as i mentioned in the last post.... and i gotta be honest, I'm amazed i didn't see a bunch of guys with split lips and broken noses. The men's bathroom apparently had basins filled with blood though, so maybe i missed some of the action.

Before the gig i went and killed some time in the pub above, and bumped into none other than Lee from OSC! That was a nice little coincidence. His friend had just been tattooed by Simon Erl, and got the best subject matter ever ... that's right.... a monkey!
So a little Morrissey gushing followed, some free stickers and brief chats about all the sweet merch we'll be sending each other soon. Good stuff!

cool stickers.....

So these next pics are for Lee.... to prove i wasn't lying....

The incription reads "To Bald, I hope this book is a source of great influence to you and that you learn from my mistakes , Myra"

I'm guessing "Bald" is Olive Baldwin, from the acknowledgements....

Yup.

Can't complain.

So these past few days have been really good. Yesterday i got the 1st installment of my tattoo trade with the oh so awesome Mr Lord Montana Blue... I'm glad he wasn't keen on doing both sides in one sitting, my knees barely just healed and my back is itchy as fuck from the line work, so i think my body deserves an easy heal!

So here's what he did on my left shoulder yesterday....

Looking forward to getting the other side in a week or 2! 

And today i had a really sweet piece in on a really nice laid back customer.

He sat like a rock. 10 points for separating mind and body. 10 points well earned. I really hope i get to continue this sleeve to the end, i still don't have a full sleeve in my portfolio...

I've come to the conclusion that people can be as transient as their train of thought... so i've kinda given up hope on having a full sleeve project any time soon. (don't get me wrong, i've done a few.... but none that i would put in my portfolio, mainly due to them being stylistically different from the kind of work i would rather do....)

I still need to piece all the photos from today's piece together as it crawls round the wrist (oh the pun is SO intended), so for now, all y'all get is a snippet....

Hopefully I'll find some time to post it tomorrow, but as i have no Internet at home, this may have to wait til Wednesday. We'll see....

Looks like tonight I'll be going to watch the Chariot play the Underworld. (they dont normally look that dapper, but it's a cool photo so that's what ya get!) Don't really know the band, all i know is they are Christian and can verge on metal.... neither of which are in my top 5 favorite things...and from what I've seen on youtube, I'm gonna have a hard time keeping my fresh tattoo away from elbows and the like. 

i think it'll be worth it to see the guitarist go mental though.... oooh he better go mental.

wish me luck....

The tattoo formally known as Tramp Stamp....

weird how it sounds epic now... but when Prince used it, it just sounded ... well.... lame.

So anyways, this here is a big ol' cover up, and i'll be posting these pics in ANTI chronological order, just so the "before shot" isn't the main picture on this here post.

So in reverse order..... tattoo i just did.....

sketch i doodled on her....

and last and by most means least... the "before pic"

so that's what i got up to today. thanks for lookin'!

tattoos are like buses... you wait for ages then 3 come along at once.

So, been a while since i posted a tattoo i think ... well one that i made, not one that i got.....

so here's not one, not two.... but three! Aren't you lucky?

So, in chronological order... (not that it matter to you, but it does to me)

So first up is Dancin Mike/Fruitbag/Mike Only he has a lot of names, yes.

He's playing a gig tonight @ the railroad cafe on Morning Lane. Entry=3 clams, doors 7:30. be there.

So then Lil' Alan came and got this (i'm stoked i managed to talk someone into this, and he aint regretting it. So much so in fact that last night at his leaving party, a girls response to "check out my new tattoo" was "oh my god you're my hero!")

true story.

and finally, catching up to date.... just finished this on Justin from Hong Kong.....

yup. til next time y'all..... have a good weekend.

there's more where that came from....

So, went to sunny ol' maidstone to get my back piece FINALLY started. God, about time i know, but being in Hong Kong kinda limited my ability to start large scale session work. Trust me, i have enough unfinished crap to know better....

So, here's what we got done yesterday... i gotta say, it sucked. the middle and top was no bother, but i have to be one of the most ticklish people ever, so super sensitive skin round the sides, and boy did i feel it!

after the 1st lines, i took a gander at the machine Jay was using. so here's how the conversation went:

Me: "Fucking hell you're liner has a lot of give"

Jay: "huh?"

Me: "The stroke.... on your liner...."

Jay: "Oh that's not a liner..."

Me: "Weren't you just using that on..."

Jay: "Yeah, that's old thumper"

Me: *gulp*

So anyways, i would have loved to have sat for all the bolding up on the head, but i had to tap out. Even half a bottle of wine and some painkillers weren't helping.

Next session is in a few weeks and we'll be covering that lovely tramp stamp, and going down onto at least one ass cheek. Can't say i'm looking forward to it..... but it needs to be done.

Once again, i didn't take my camera, but for all of you who are wanting to put a face to the proud owner of "Old Thumper".... here he is....

i'll be getting him back soon enough when he comes down for the back of his thigh and a night on the town. Double whammy..... we'll see if he can keep up.....

Cinderella syndrome

So started a nice piece today... on a guy who'd planning on leaving the country in a week. See.... I'm under the impression we are starting a sleeve, he's already had the consultation, chosen reference for the pin up he planned on getting on his forearm etc etc..... So you can imagine my surprise and blatant confusion when (as i'm applying the stencil for his 1st session which is only 2 hours long due to his budget) he drops the fact he's moving to Amsterdam next week. Huh?! so not only am i not doing a full sleeve, but most likely not even gonna finish what i was then about to start.

So anyways, here's what we got done in 2 hours.... not all the black's in there, but he only wanted 2 hours work, so that's what he got! (i was kinda expecting him to turn into a pumpkin the minute the clock struck.... but no.)

I'm hoping i managed to convince him to at least let me finish this (Amsterdam aint so far).... but we'll see.

In other news, my blog seems to have an equally awesome effect as the Bat Signal. Yup, tortoise guy aka Chris musta felt this weird niggling feeling that something was amiss.

Who said blogging was a waste of time?!

In other news, i'm getting my backpiece started tomorrow.... then might relocate to another country?

silver lining

so just as my day couldn't get much worse.... (honestly, after that last post i did a name on a girls arse) .... none other than Kent, future superstar best seller crime fiction extraordinaire pops in with CAKES! oh, and healed tattoos.... and CAKE!

First up, his healed plane for his dad....

healed up smooth as eggs, not bad for a rib smash.

and then last but by no means least CAKE!

thanks Kent!

TORTOISE GUY!

random post for any of you who aren't the guy that came in wanting a golden jewel encrusted tortoise....

tortoise guy who lives down the road from the studio, i hope u read my blog, coz ur phone number doesn't work and ur design is DONE! bah.... cant think of any other way to get in contact.... so this is a last ditched attempt. god i hope u have way too much free time and click on random links to peoples blogs through tattoo websites.


for the rest of you, today was lame. had another last minute cancellation. got some designs done (hence above) and had a few little walk in's.... but all in all pretty much a waste of time!

might as well be productive

so today i had a full day free due to rescheduling.... which kinda sucked. got a walk in... but spent most the day doing this for a friend who's leaving London to go back to his native Kiwi land. Shame.
This guy has been the kinda guy who is always in the pub when u need someone to chat to, and always offered up his skin for practise sessions, all those years ago when i needed some live guinea pigs.

hope he likes it.... 

in other news, if u have no plans tonight (basically if u aint going to the Business gig) come to THIS!

looking forward to catching my buddy mike's set coz i only heard a few of his new songs at my birthday... and let's face it, i wasn't exactly taking notes that night.

tape me

So here's a fun piece i just finished on a nervous little chap. It's his first tattoo and he chose a pretty sucky spot, so 10 points well earned there.

Do y'all have any idea how tempting it was to write "MC Hammer" or "Spice Girls" or "New Kids on the Block" on there? Who said i don't have willpower? what?

Fluent in Stupid.

Got my knee cap tattooed yesterday. It really hurts. Meh.

shitty photo i took this morning after the wash... i've gotta say, i'm fucking glad we got this done as a 1-shot... but i cant help but think i'd still be able to manoeuvre if i had tapped out and came back for seconds.

Anyways, hopefully this incessant throbbing will die down a bit tomorrow, and hopefully my leg will start to de-swell and no longer look like a worm that's eaten a tennis ball.

Thanks Andy! 

page two

so started this sketch a few days ago, it's in a new sketchbook.... and it's on the 2nd page. for some reason i'm always a little intimidated when i do the first sketch in a new book, and never find it within my powers to start on page 1. weird.

this is a healthy mix of copic and deleter markers, prismacolours and fineliners. i may make prints of this piece to sell, so message me if u r interested. 

Totally neat, totally sweet, totally knock me off my feet.

(weasel lyrics for those of you who are clearly not into good music)...

So! Total Tattoo just came out with a 5 page article on none other than me! super exciting.... i have to say i'm totally stoked! Sally assured me she'd send out a copy to the studio, but i never got one, so luckily Ely got her hands on one on her way in today. (sorry customer.... but i couldn't wait to read it. i wasn't ignoring you)

So i'm not gonna post the actual article til next months is out.... but here's the cover and the "content" page, with me wearing the best band t shirt ever, and holding the best dog ever, who even got credited!

So a HUGE thank-you to Sally, Al Overdrive, and the crew at Total for featuring me. woop woop.

In other news, and for all of you who actually did check back yesterday for my empty promise of a scan of the new sketch.... apologies. i got walk in's, then my booked customer came in, and before i knew it, the day was done. I took my sketchbook home last night and forgot to bring it to work.... so that'll have to wait til maybe tomorrow? 

So instead, y'all get to see what i did on one of my favorite barmen, and i always get retarded amounts of alcohol in return for tattooing them, so everyone's happy!

I remember when i got my "viva hate" that this was a pretty sucky spot to get inked, so he sat like a champ. Let's hope it's a 1 hit wonder and won't need seconds. X fingers crossed X

wow, this post looks deceivingly straight edge now.... eh?

So to lighten the mood, look at what Kirsty just brought back from the corner shop?!

til next time....

mishmashed

Weird blog coming up.... apologies.

First up, i received some .... err.... weird mail the other day.... behold:

next up... ross is convinced the eggs i bought recently are as freckly as me, and decided to do a super awesome mind blowing photo realistic portrait of me to prove it :

milo has perked up a lot, and isn't limping nearly as much as he has been all month:

made kirtsy the best vegan cupcakes to date:

so that's it for the random day to day stuff....

work wise, i haven't had much custom work this week so it's been slow on the tattoo photo front.

here's a piece i did on an underarm the other day...

and we started a big ol' cover up on kirsty's thigh....

(forgot a proper before pic, but we'll be covering all that black swirly wirly stuff and the skullerfly too...

this is as far as we got 1st session:

yup, so that's it for now. started a sketch yesterday but couldn't finish lining it at home coz the lighting is abysmal in my flat at night....

so i guess it's a good thing i had 2 customers coming in together who thought today was the 29th and therefor didn't make it..... seriously, how disjointed must your existence be if you think it's not only a date that doesn't even exist, and a day before aforementioned fake day?! crazy.

so hope to post the lined pic in a shake of a lambs tail..... check back people.