Kris' Tattoo

Detail of pin-up.

A photo illustrating the whole tattoo.

Finished the classic pin-up tattoo for Kris today.  This was a blast!  The tattoo is located on her upper back, making the two photos necessary to illustrate what is going on her.  It was hard to capture all the detail in one photo.  Thanks Kris!

Seahorse

Stacy's, (of Sweeny Todd's), seahorse tattoo.  The photo was taken with the Hipstamatic app.   The tattoo is an ode to her daughter.  The heart tattoo and tattoo above the seahorse were both existing and not tattooed by me.  Fun! This marks a first for me; seahorse tattoo.  I was happy to oblige, especially having been a seahorse pet parent before!  I'm a lover of the sea life...

Jam Packed

Shannon's paisley.

Dawn's trinity knot.

Jam packed with tattoo fun today!  I started the day with a few consults, some script, then Shannon and Dawn got their tattoos which are pictured.  Both really fun little tattoos, a nice change of pace from all the giant tattoos I seem to be doing lately.  I then was able to complete Andrew's half sleeve.  This has been a long time coming.  I am really pleased with the way it looks finished.  The tattoo utilizes many uncommon earth-tones and pastels, which are often avoided in the tattoo arts.  The artwork is from an artist I may have blogged about before whom Andrew brought to my attention when consulting about the tattoo project.  The tattoo is a collage of several of the artist's pieces.  When I find the artists name I will add a link.  Enjoy!

Outside of Andrew's arm.

Back of Andrew's arm.

Front view of Andrew's arm.  

Awh whoooooooooo!

Joe's right fighting guy.  

Joe's left fighting guy.

I post a picture here of some wolves I drew for Eli which upon drawing review I guess I missed the mark.  No worries, in this occasion I can gladly redraw the image to the clients specifications.  In this case I made them a bit too gross and scary.  I thought I'd post them here for the fun of it.  We will finish Eli's 3/4 sleeve next week with some more contemplative wolves.

 I then tattooed some "fighting guys," ala the fighting Irish icon but with a more modern take on the characters.  I'm really happy with the way these turned out.  Thanks Joe, for always coming up with fun ideas!
Besides what the pictures show I tattooed some lettering on a foot and worked on Kaela's upper backpiece as well.  Per the usual, picture to follow upon completion!

Blissful and Free

A custom tattoo for Heidi on her forearm, a traditional-esque anchor and banner with a mantra personal to her.  A really fun piece, it is always nice to tattoo the soft, untainted flesh of a pasty inner forearm, and with traditional imagery as well I'm feeling blissful and free myself!

I spent the remainder of the day working on Dan E.'s backpiece.  Pictures to be posted upon completion.

Emily's arm.

A finished photo of the outside of Emily's siren sleeve. I have some small touch-ups to do yet, but overall this is the finished piece.

Past to the Future

Back on the grind...Tattooed a Mercury astronaut around a client's existing anchor and Kurt Vonnegut tattoo.  Later, I finished Sarah's lower-back cover-up tattoo; the picture is taken at a strange angle so it's a bit distorted but I will add the real deal in al it's glory to my new book, whenever I get around to that!  A very black and grey day, to compliment the weather I feel...

Shears and an Ear Wig

Laura's shears.

Laura's hairdressing shears to commemorate her new career in the beauty industry was the first tattoo of the day.  Ironically, it was a hair-dresser themed day, as everyone I tattooed shared the profession.

Jess' adorable ear wig. 

Ewwww.  Disgusting earwig family; Mom, Dad
and baby.   

After some consultations, I then tattooed Jess's "ear wig," (not to be confused with the far more disgusting and parasitic earwig).  Jess is a hairstylist at Sweeney Todd's Salon.  Then it was a little work on Kayla's forearm for her birthday, another aspiring beauty practitioner.  Kayla's arm is a work in progress, so pictures will be posted at a later date, stay tuned! 

"Evil" skull

"Good" skull.

Completed set of Jesse's good and evil sugar skull tattoos.  Both tattoos are on the outside of her thigh.  I had a ton of fun illustrating and tattooing these pieces.  I'm so in love with Dia Los Muertos imagery...

Girls and Skulls

Back at work with a bang today.  Pin-up girls and sugar skulls was the agenda for today with no complaints from this gal.  I started and abruptly ended a Elvgren pin-up on Kris' back, (as you can see from the photo), we will finish it-just not today!

I then finished the set of Jesse's sugar skulls on her thighs, good and evil, per the theme for her right and left hemispheres.  The pictures are fresh and juicy, we will certainly get better pictures at a later date.  I had to mess with the contrast on the evil skull to blur out the shadow cutting across it, so it looks a bit washed out.



Rounded out the night with some math homework and dog-cuddling, that's about all I had left in me!

Monday...

Bringing the Weekend to a Close

Megan's chest piece, colored.  A little bloody, but you get
the idea!

A little better quality pic, better illustrating the colors.

Saturday I was visited by my favorite South-Dakotan clients, Seth and Megan, who brought some of their friends along for their annual tattoo adventure.  The make the pilgrimage to visit me every year over their spring break for tattoo work.  This visit, Megan got her chest piece finished that we started exactly a year ago.  As always, she sat perfectly and the tattoo went extremely well.  We also outlined and shaded an addition to Seth's lower right arm, a traditional eagle with bombs and bomber planes.  It should be a fun piece to color!  Most people who follow my work may recognize Seth as the owner of the sugar skull/gyspy side tattoo that we completed about three years ago.  Seth and Megan's friends got tattooed by Scott and Erika.

Outside of Brittany's arm, completed roughly
two years ago

The inside of Brittany's arm,
picture 1.  

The inside of Brittany's arm,
picture 2.

I was fortunate to tattoo Brittany's arm again today.  I tattooed her girlfriend, Abby, with the Nintendo tattoo a few weeks ago.  Brittany got a super-original memorial tattoo for someone very close to her.  I am completely in love with this tattoo!  As always, I still have yet to get a great photo of the outside of her arm, but eventually it will appear in one of my books.  Always fun to tattoo Brittany!