Needles

I order needles from Cam supply because it's easy, they have a huge selection, they're never out and they're cheap.  I have heard a lot of people talk crap about the quality of their needles, but I inspect every needle with an eye loop before tattooing, and I have never found a bad needle from them.  So either I have no idea what I'm looking for (which is not the case) or people are just assuming that they're bad needles because they are cheap and their logo is embarrassingly terrible!

 I keep on hand Supertight 3, 5, and 7 rounds (I don't like the triple tight) and an 8 round shader, which I often line with and also often color with.  It's by far the most versatile needle.  I can get smooth gradients with it and sharp clean lines.  When ever possible I try to use at least two different lining needles on a tattoo.  The variation in line width gives tattoos more dimension.   This variation can often be created by double lining certain areas, and some times that will give the line a more natural organic look, but that natural look is often misconstrued as week, or sloppy line-work.

For mags I use 9s, 11s, 13, and a couple types of 7s.  Anything bigger than a 9 has to be curved for me, or I hate it!

These are 17 mag bugpins with a curved end.  It's what Niko Hurtado makes to do his full color portraits.  They're available through Cam supply for about $15 (box of 50, that's like .30 a needle).  I've used them a few times already, they're amazing, they lay color in so smooth, you barely have to push it in, I use my black and gray machine mostly.

Another thing I've always wanted to try is testing the difference between long and short taper needles.  The theory is that the long taper (sharp) needles will make smaller holes and smoother gradients in color blending and B&G work, while the short (natural) taper needles slam in color and are great for solid blocks.  I also have shown here a bugpin 9 mag (which is going to sit in a 7 mag tube).  If you don't know what bug pin needles are, they are actually smaller diameter pins laid in the exact same configuration as larger ones, so each needle pokes more, smaller, closer together holes in the skin.  I had an opportunity to use the bugpin 9 on my chrome wrench, piston memorial tattoo yesterday.  I was absolutely thrilled to death with it, I hope I get to do some more ink today!  I have a customer who came in yesterday asking about a half sleeve with a landscape.  It would be perfect for these new needles I've been playing with.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRUUGHGHGH!  I'M SO FRUSTRATED!

Cover ups are hard.  The classic go to cover up is a black panther.  Today I had the challenge of covering a black panther! This is exactly what the customer wanted, and she was very happy with it.  I would have prefered to  put in more flowers and try to work some color in over the cat instead of solid black.  She's happy . 

7/6/12

This guy came in with the bracelet, the writing and the food prints.  He was looking for some black and gray filler to complete a sleeve.  He didn't really care too much what it was, he just "liked my style" and let me go to town.  He had about 2-3 hours to get something started so I just started making stuff up.  I like it,  It's just a start though, I still intend to work those gradients out, darken up the darks and bring out the highlights.  I want to go back in with a liner and sharpen some of the edges as well. 

This was done in memory of her dad "Harv".  I think the shading on the banner is too dark and that it should have been done with different colors maybe.  IDK, I thought having it match the colors in the chrome would make the chrome look more reflective.  I'm sure I'll get to see this one healed because this customer is a regular.  It was a fun piece to do.

I didn't do this tattoo,  I drew the machine (outline) though.  I would have liked to spend more time working on the sketch, but this guy was really anxious to get the tattoo done.  My co-worker Alex is wearing it and Nicole tattooed it.  Also... he has an Elmo tattoo, I had nothing to do with that!

Stuff I've been working on

Fat and naked

This is a short 2min vid of some of my ink.   I don't know what I've been saving myself for but I need to get covered up!  The right forearm I want Megan Hoogland to do someday... if I can ever afford it.  The last tattoo in this video is hard to make out, sorry about the poor quality.  My it's like a witch doctor woman... kind of weird.  Anyway.  Thanks for watching please leave a comment or subscribe!

Pics n' Thoughts 7/3/12

Apart from tattooing my wife and I also run a non-profit called Mission 21 that is dedicated to the restoration of children who have been forced into a life of prostitution.  The average age of entry into "The Life" in the US is 13yo.  We do a lot of fund raisers and awarnesess events to teach people about how big and serious child prostitution is in the US.  We're trying to open a safe house for girls, we already have an advocacy center open and run a street outreach campaign, but what we really need is a place for these kids to go. 

Today we're a featured org at the Freedom Fest in Spring Valley so we stayed up last night painting some signs and stuff to put out at the event to try to attract some attention.  I know this isn't a masterpiece or anything, I spent probably about 3 hours on the painting.  I usually wouldn't want to use gray made from mixing black with white (it's so lifeless and drab, I like the gray you get from mixing complimentary colors much better) but I didn't have much time to play with more interesting colors on this one.

I had a customer come in to get a bunch of spot tattoos tied together with BnG filler.  This was some brainstorming stuff I was doing to figure out how to fill the space.  Kind of fun just scribbling and turning what you see into "something" what ever the something is.

Pics n' Thoughts 7/2/12

It's really important that I mention that I am not keeping this blog because I think I am amazing and because I am showing off.  I think I'm pretty terrible, with potential.  I know I can be good, even great if I keep trying hard, learning as I go and looking criticaly at every tattoo I do.  I'm trying to post these so I can ask myself, "What could I have done that would have made this a better tattoo?"  And, "What elements make it a strong tattoo."

I started this the other night.  It's actually a logo for a clothing company called Crooks and Castles.  It has come out pretty good so far.  I'm looking forward to getting some more color and shading in it.  There's some little bullets in the crown that would have looked better if I would have done them with a smaller needle.  I did most of it with a 7 round, but that part should have been done with a 5 or something.    This design really makes me want to design my own Medusa tattoo.  Something that's Cthulhu inspired, with the snakes coming out of the face.  The other thing it makes me want to do is design something with a technical aspect, like the bullets, that I can use little lines on.  I don't really like so many lines, but the guy really liked the logo exactly as it is so that's what he got.

This sucks.  I did an OK job on the tattoo, but should have spent more time on the design.  This kid was so anxious to get started and he had this Cherry Creak tattoo design.  He had a pic of a finished tattoo he found on the internet and I based my sketch off of that.  I could improve this tattoo by spending more time drawing it.  I should have explained to him the fact that he would benefit from letting me find some better reference art.

I try to put every tattoo I do on this blog so I can analyze them and force myself to acknowledge every mistake and improve as much as possible.  This tattoo is not my favorite.  It is really hard to pull lines that aren't black for some reason.  This lady wanted this Gems tattoo to be very colorful.  I should have spent more time making sure no residual color was left in the tube tip.  It does not take much to tint the new color, especially on a tattoo this little.

Tribal Ram.    Not much to say.  It took about an hour.  I lined it with a 7 round and filled it with a 7 mag.  He might come back and get the same thing on the other side of his chest.  Normally I'd blow a comment like that off, but this guy has been coming in every 3 or 4 weeks to get tattoos in the 70-200 dollar range.  It took an hour and I think it looks clean.  I could have made it better by... um... well maybe it would be a better tattoo if it was filled with a round shader.  I don't know.  It went pretty well.

Some ideas I have been kicking around.  I want to do a like... sad flower princess thing and some crazy skulls.   Oh  I did a piercing too.  I'm not going to post all the pictures of piercings I do, but I will be talking about my education in that field.  I don't really care much about it.  I will not be doing anything really artistic with it.  I am not a body modification artist (in that manner of speaking).  But if I can make an extra 60 bucks a day by poking holes in teenage girl's noses, I'm going to do the best damn hole pokin' I can do!