Self Portrait!

The shop is closing for the weekend early tomorrow and I've been dying to try out a portrait for ages, pretty much as soon as I started in the shop, so I decided to take my supplies home and give it a shot.  Had a lot of fun doing this one, its a self portrait on pig skin and took just over 1.5 hrs.  Its my first attempt at a portrait so might look really bad to someone that is used to doing them, but for me, im delighted! 

I was at the Midleton tattoo convention last weekend and picked up my own bottle of One ink, I used this along with Kuro Sumi black outlining ink and also three different shades of Kokkai Sumi greywash inks.  I used my Micky Bee with a 5 liner, my Glyn Flew with an 8 round shader and also a custom shader that Alan gave me with a 7 mag.  I pretty much used the round shader for all the shading and only used the mag for softening out some areas.  The pig skin took the ink well, but theres absolutely no judging the different shades of ink without watering them down yourself, overall good bit of practice!

WIP Oldschool Doc Marten Tattoo

Alan had a cancellation this evening and asked if I wanted to do the oldschool Doc Marten tattoo I designed for him last week.  I've been dying to get started on this so was more than happy to set up my workstation! 

Alan couldn't have been more helpful, he gave me a load of tips along the way and showed me a few different techniques.  I once again used the Micky Bee, this time choosing to use a 5 liner because of the size and number of lines in the design.  This was completely different to using a 7 liner, every tiny shake seems to be highlighted and at the start there was more than one.  Alan had a look at the way I was holding the machine and showed me a way to hold it so that I have my middle finger sat into the groove just above the needle tip, this then acted as a kind of guide so that the needle was always at a constant depth and also to steady the vibration of the machine, it also took a bit of weight off!  Paul showed me this technique before but it just didn't feel right, luckily enough after a few more lines on Alans leg it became a little easier!

Just over an hour after starting the linework I was finally finished and Alan had a look at what I did to his leg.  He gave me a few more pointers but overall seemed happy with the tattoo!

Shop Sign

 Quick sketch for a hanging shop sign that I'm currently working on.  The sign is going to be 43x130cm and in 3 colours, black red and white, front and back!  Working in gloss this time which I never worked with it before...nothing like what I imagined it was going to be!

Tattoo Designs

 This is a design I did up for a friend who will hopefully be coming in within the next couple of weeks.  I sketched up this drawing then brought it into photoshop to make sure its symmetrical

 One of the tattooists in the shop asked if I'd be interested in doing a Doc Martens tattoo on his right thigh... I jumped at it! I did up this drawing which is being changed a bit before I go ahead and tattoo it, the bottom rose is going to be raised up to where the boot heel is so it fits his leg better. Can't wait to do this one!

Tattoo Flash Sheets



Some of the tattoo flash in the shop I’m doing an apprenticeship in is a bit dated so I decided to try and get a few sheets together myself from drawings I’ve done in the past. I attempted to do this before but it never happened and seeing as I’m drawing most days now I might aswell go ahead and finally do it! Going to try and do some sheets with oldschool designs, polynesian and whatever else I mostly get asked to draw so keep coming back for updates!

Polynesian Calf Design

I did a Polynesian calf design today which i'm absolutely chuffed with!  I had to put the template on twice as it was a bit crooked at first and also the lines were doubled up so I cut the template in half and applied them seperately.  For the outline I used a Mickey Bee with a 7 liner, and for the filling in I used a Glyn Flew colour packer with an 8 round shader and a Iron Workhorse with a standard 7 mag.  The ink went in nice and easy and Jay sat great, no moving around at all.  I used Kuro Sumi outlining ink and One ink for the filled area.  Paul came over just as I was starting and showed me a different way to hold the liner, I was holding it fairly straight up and he said that if I go in at a bit more of an angle I would have more control over the machine, have to admit it worked brilliant!  The tattoo took 2.5hrs to do altogether.

Dress Harajuku Style

One of the characteristics of Harajuku fashion is layering. Lair sweaters, jackets and vests over blouses and over t-shirts. Dresses may be worn with leggings, and so on. Layering - or giving the impression of layered clothes by wearing ruffled dresses etc.

Dress Harajuku Style

Dress Harajuku Style

 Dress Harajuku Style

Dress Harajuku Style

Dress Harajuku Style

t shirt modis