here we go...

alright so i figured it'd been a while since id blogged the process/progress on any project. that in mind i thought id follow along with Zach's new piece we are starting thursday.

the tattoo we'll be doing is not only the biggest tattoo that he's had done, but the biggest thing i have personaly have ever dove into. the being said we're both pretty excited about it.

i forget the names of the parties involved but we will be putting the japanese story of a man killing a massive killer centipede at the request of the dragon king. hopefully in a blog down the line ill be able to find my links and post them here for you.

edit: here's one i found quick, scroll down and youll see the print.

http://www.kunisada.de/Kunisada-musha-e/mushae-3.htm

anyhow, this behemith will be from the top of Zachs shoulders all the way down to nearly the back of his knees, i think thats turtle back style if i recall correctly.

so were do you start on something like this? after scowering mine and my freinds referance material as well as the web i sat down and did a realy rough composition drawing in my sketch book trying to figure out were things should go. i dont have it handy but ill post a picture of that later as well. i know, im so un prepared to make this post :P

but after that was done i moved up to a not much larger sheet of tracing paper and started putting it together.

i realy like large tattoos that you can look at from aross the room if not the street and be able to read whats going on. so i drew it this smaller nearly 1/4 size figureing if it looked good at that size it would translate well into a bigger size. i feel like it i were to draw it larger right off the bat that i would get to detaily and end up making the 'across the room' view to muddy to read.



this is the first of those drawings.



trying to fill out the space i added a Kappa on the left thigh, it was a tough challenge to keep in mind while drawing that such a drastic shape change would be in the middle of the tattoo. unlike just flowing something from elbow up over the shoulder the transition from back thigh to butt cheek is a pretty drastic one. i figured that at this angle he would read as peaking out from under everything once tattooed.

at this point i was still trying to find more information on the story and had not yet find that a dragon was involved.



thinking that might look better, and though a kappa isnt an unreasonable thing to include in this image that the dragon is actualy mention so i thought id give it a shot. im glad i did as i think it looks much fuller and fells less like to much filler.

it just fits better.



i made some smaller photo copies and took some pens and markes to it trying out some differnt ideas. figureing itd be faster ata smaller size and i wouldnt ruin what down the road would have to turn into my line drawing.



after i had something i liked i went for it and blew it up to the correct size to realy get a good look at it.

next time i do this ill try to remember that we have a print preview function on our copy machine, itll make it way faster to piece all the bits together haha.



i then hung it on the wall in the drawing room, somewere i could look at it from a bit of distance and glance at it as i walked by everyday.



with a rainy afternoon to kill and some color ideas running threw my mind i thought id paint a lose representation of the tattoo to see how they played out.



not quite finished but at 2x3 ft you kinda get the idea



with our start date officialy a week from today i decided to get back to it and attack it like a high school english teacher. red ink style.



after having time to be away from it, away from being 3 inches from it drawing it at that. as well as showing the design to some friends for some outside thoughts i went back in with the marker and made some little changes and notes to myself on what needed work before it got put to skin.



i also losely shadded in some of the darker areas and drew in were some patterns and ect would bein the future to get a better idea of the feel of the piece.

and there we have it as it sits today.

in the coming days i will redraw nearly the entire samuria and fine tune the piece. i will also be faced with the task of making a stencil this huge!

check back in a week or so and hopefully ill have more for you!

realy?

$100 non refundable deposit and home boy stands me up?
lame. moneys nice, but even more money and doing a cool tattoo would be better.
oh well, his lose. literaly.

anyways, knocked out some lettering tattoos quick today and started looking threw vimeo and fecalface.com finding neat stuff.

heres some of that random stuff :)



henry lewis studio pix





so imaginging that behind that short wall is a tiny kitchen unit and that door leads to a small bedroom with a closet/bathroom.

and behind you- if this were your own view- is a wall facing the street, a door to the hall to your left, the wall has windows reaching all the way up to the at least 10 ft ceiling. maybe on the 3rd floor? a view out to a street with oack trees and rain.

this is were i want to set up shop and be productive.

for real.

Jayne Doe Tattoo : April 2011 : from Jayne Doe on Vimeo.

Gypsy Gentleman -Episode 1- Teaser from Kinetic Science on Vimeo.

NY Adorned “Tradition” from Evan Owen Dennis on Vimeo.

vids i found that i enjoyed and wanted to share :)

anyways hope your days going well :)

Sleepy

My 'Monday morning' at the shop and I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Im booked nearly solid, everythings drawn up and ready to go. But I'm still feeling antsy. Oh well, just need to get that first piece started and I'm sure it'll be smooth sailing.

Driving from Omaha I kept thinking about what an environment my kids will grow up in. A place chock full of books, a library of art and photos. Paint, wood working tools, fabric, yarn and old mechanical things.

How could you turn out anything but creative?

I'm looking forward to road trips, vacations, museums, camping, riding bikes, forts, playing catch... And that's just this summer think what fun stuff we'll do when it's time to have kids! Haha.

Part 2:
Today went pretty well, quick too. Did two tattoos and other then being knit picky I liked them both. Pretty sleepy but I've got drawing to do before I can crash and taxes to pay :P

Been a minute :s

12:50 Monday April 11, I'm sitting at the borders book store on 72/dodge in Omaha and I've got to say it's been a pretty alright day so far.

Had a tasty bagel with Sarah before dropping her off at school and heading to my oil change appointment. That in itself ended up a little hassle but I was gouged money wise less then normal and the cars running great so I'll mark it down in the winning column.

Headed to dick blick thinking about grabbing a roll of water color paper to do my color studies on. I'd though maybe that'd be faster then color pencil and a fun change of pace. They didn't have rolls just huge sheets and tablets. I suppose a tablet will work, I havnt any money due to a slow slow week but after wandering every isle day dreaming about having loads of cash to spend I decided next time I'd grab a 18x24 pad. The $15 one not the $97 one, I mean come on. I suck at water color and theyll probably end up in the trash let's not let this get out of hand, haha.

Any how before I headed out the door I thumbed threw a copy of the juxtapose tattoo book and it turned my brain back towards thoughts of my work.

Not the place I work, but what I produce.

The more I get into finally working with others again and really trying to better my work daily, the more I think.

Is this the best tattoo I can do? Is it the best version of what was asked of me? Is it an appropriate amount of challenge for the day? And more and more the growing thought of what will this look like in 5, 10, 35 years?

Watching my own tattoos age as well as seeing how amazing old old Japanese tattoos age has really put this in the front of my brain.

As I walked into borders I some what randomly came across an interview with shige in a magazine were he was talking more about his ideas, morals, and ethic with his work rather then the standard fair of tattoo interview 'conversation' 

He touched an separations between fine art and tattooing. While recognizing that it's obviously a medium of art it's so different from anything else. Out side of all the interpersonal aspects and the fact that it's only going to be around until death. In my mind it read as it's got to look good in 30 years. Your medium of skin in context of the life of that person.

Not only that it's going to remain on them but that it will change over time with them. I'm not sure the thoughts are translating into words in a legible understandable way. But hopefully that all makes since.

Any how, it's something I look forward to committing more time into. Especially as I begin this next very large piece I've been working on getting ready for a Freind. I want to see it in 25 years and be just as excited about it then as when it was just completed, if not more to see how well it's aged. 

Tattoos are not static, when the tattoo artist is finished the tattoo is not. Hopefully that's not to 'hippy' of a thought line for you, ha.

Any how that's a piece I hope to spurn more blogs from me with. We plan to have at least bi monthly sessions so I hope to post a progress and thought blog after each sitting. Maybe it'll be fun to watch it come along, maybe it'll be a lot of my rambling to myself. Maybe both? Guess we'll see.

Anyhow walking threw borders I was so excited to see so many graffiti and various art books, travel books, photo reference books, books full of photos of artists studios. - I love studio photos if you didn't already know that.

Such a well stocked store in what I actually tend to look for, and not the same 2 books I see everywhere! How have I driven by so many times without stopping in? Way better then the B&N in SXC.

Still killing time I thought I'd sit down and hammer this out before grabbing some 5guys burgers for Sarah and I for lunch and heading to pick her up for our first afternoon using our new zoo pass!

I'm excited :) 

8:58 pm
Part two.

So I grabbed our lunch and after getting los.. Urm, misdirected I found my way to Sarah and we headed across town to the zoo.

Super nice out, and with Sarah feeding me fries as I drove I realized being able to just pop into the zoo for an hour or so would be the greatest thing we'd... Ok,she had come up with for a while.

We chowed down in the parking lot, I liked my burger not so much the fries. They were a little different then what I typically get from them. Sarah however loved the fries and the burger not so much. After some thought and experimenting we came to the conclusion that it was the bacon. 

Yup, somehow 5guys has figured out how to make something worse by adding bacon. Perverse.

Anyways, a bottle of water in hand we headed in!

As planed we hit the big cat house and watched tigers for a while, I've seen enough "how to draw a tiger" or cat, horse, whatever books to last me the rest of my life. I get it. But what you cant get any way other then just watching them is how they move. Their flow. The mannerisms that make things look correct. If you have a nicely rendered tiger but it's walking all weird down the path you've created then it's still going to look 'wrong'.

Anyways, there were a few sorta active cats as it wasnt to late in the afternoon or warm out. And we found out when they feed the tigers! 2:30 :)

Having checked that off our list we went to see the penguins. They show boated a ridiculous amount for Sarah, I even posted a few videos on YouTube of it. If you'd like to see some penguins, some sharks, and me being a dork as well as video snips from our trip to Portland a few weeks ago you can search for timm95create as all the videos are tagged with that :)

The zoo taken care of we headed home for a little laying around before taking a walk for some ice cream and checking out the little shops and old houses in sarahs neighborhood. It was a nice stroll, im loving this spring weather.

After making it home and looking at garagejournal.com nerding out on work spaces - yeah I even look at the books/ magazines highlighting peoples work spaces from painters to chefs. I decided to find the couch and finish this entry off.

Feeling pretty good and looking forward to grilling, warm weather and a very busy upcoming week.