Traditional

Finished this ship on Rachel's thigh and started a sacred heart on Bart's neck. Pretty excited about both.

For My Sweetheart

This week I had two gentlemen come in to get something meaningful to them for their wives. Both we're interestingly enough also not from the area. Woody from LA got a cute take on Beans and Rice we came up with. While Joey from Orlando,FL got a single imag e from Norman Rockwell's Day in the Life of a Boy that we stylized a bit.

A Lil' Bit of Traditional

Below is some fun small traditional style tattoos I've gotten to do recently.

A bit behind

Man I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. Shame on me as a blogger. I do have some fun goodies to show for my absence though so all is not lost. Enjoy some of the work from the past few weeks.

Cover ups

Been doing quite a few cover ups the past 2 weeks. I like doing them because they always leave you with a sense of accomplishment and pride knowing you helped make someone feel better about themselves through a lot of careful planning and hard work. Below is a sampling of some. I was able to get before pictures of all of them but the calla lily cover up. It was a cover up of an old english letter B on her wrist.

Newbies

Today I only tattooed first timers. Sadly I didn't get a photo of the first one of my appointments today but Michael got his favorite college team logo. Hurray for North Carolina State University!

The other two lady's got things on their sides and we total champs about it. I I am bummed I don't have a better picture of the cross but you get the idea.

Robot koi

This tattoo for Spencer was super fun.
I looked at a lot of robots to make sure the two were as robotically yin yang as possible. Color theory and textures is mostly to thank for that. Hope to do more fun stuff like this soon. :)

Not forgotten

So sorry it's been a minute since I posted. I have been swamped with work which is a great thing for many reasons but it does tend to make you fall behind a bit with the rest of the things you do in the world.

Anyways here are a few things I have done recently that you all might enjoy.

1. Bride of Frankenstein, 2nd session on Araceli
2. Gambling man, 2nd session

Gypsy

I loved designing and tattooing this gypsy for Christina. Traditional tattoos are defiantly some of my favorite to do. They just have a timeless feel that I can't easily explain. I honestly believe it goes beyond it being the main style of early tattoos in the modern era.

Traditional tattoos evoke the same qualities as folk art from cultures all around the world. The bold lines, simplified but strong designs paired with a very primary color palette really works toward that nostalgic timeless appeal.

Anyways both of us were very happy and Christina was a trooper to get it all in one session

A few inner arm beginnings

These a both first sessions I started last week. The bride of Frankenstein is on Arceli's inner arm and the Saint Micheal stain glass is the start of a religious sleeve on a GI who has some pre-existing religious inspired work on his arm and wanted to add to it with polynesian tribal. We're compromising by going with some stain glass motifs to fill the larger open areas before we fill in the remaining open spaces with more basic patterned designs; though I don't believe when we are done it will look very Polynesian it will still have a very stylized black and white feel.

For our Lord

This was an angel design for a walk in. I'm pretty happy with it. Defiantly makes me glad when people are willing to listen and put down a little bit more for a lot cooler product. :)

It's been busy around here this week. Here are a few of my favorites that I've done.

One for you and one for me ...

I've had a lot of BFF or mom and daughter tattoos lately. Here are just two sets of the few I've done lately.

Celtic > Tribal

The top image is what Tyler originally came in wanting and the bottom is what we finished today. :)

I do have to say though that Gerhard Weisbeck of Time Traveling Tattoo in Germany has been making me really admire and respect tribal designs. I have been attempting to convince my tribal fanatic walk ins to get interested letting me try something in this direction. No biters yet but maybe one day. Still check out Gerhard'swork if you haven't already. It's mind numbingly beautiful in its execution and style.

Deutschland

For his 18th birthday Andrew got a tribute to his Omi and Opi :) I hope they like it as much as he and his mum did.