Elemental Tattoos, Earth, Wind, Fire and Water sleeve

New work on my friend

 Doug's full right arm sleeve tattoo.

Depicting from the wrist going up, 

Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, 

Moon, and Infinity.

First line work on the moon.

Well into shading the moon, first pass.

After about 4 hours, my first 

pass at the moon. 

First line work on the branches wrapping around the 

moon, swooping downward with the wind billowing.

Line work partially shaded 

First shading pass on the tree

Wind, Fire and Water, wrapping around Doug's arm,

closely following his musculature and skin grain.

Deeper shading passes starting.

It is a very high contrast design, 

the dark areas will be quite black,

the light areas very bright and vibrant.

Below I have created colour 'mock-ups',

in Photoshop I've added colour to

photos of Doug's tat,

to see how it will look.

The aquamarine blue contrasts wonderfully

with the blazing orange and yellow fire

I'm excited and can't wait to add colour

to Dougie's masterpiece~!

Back to basics.....

My buddy Bruce is coming by to have 

his two shoulder tattoos touched up,

and make plans for new ink as well.

Both shoulders were cover ups and require 

just a little bit of touch up to make them

really pop nicely this spring.

Bruce asked me for a
"HD Road Glide riding out of the mountains"
Here 's what we came up with.

Bruce's right shoulder is 

A Biker riding out of the maelstrom

of self destructive addict behaviours.

Tattoo porn?

Someone reported this photo I posted on Facebook,

as my profile picture, as 'nudity and/or pornography.

Seriously.

Folks, that's my legs, my arm,

hands and shoulder.....

I could be wearing a perfectly normal bathing suit.

(albeit it would have to be a Speedo)

I think it's a great photo,

simply showcasing my tattoos and freckles...

I found it superbly amusing that someone

would expend that much energy 

being offended on account of my 

tattoo photos...

Wow!

the 'offensive' photo

The original photo shoot, 

with my partner Mariya.

Beautiful shots.

An advertising poster for my tattoo business

'Elemental Tattoos'

New Elemental Tattoo Flash ~Raw Power~

~Raw Power~

A new tattoo design...

PALOMA'S ANKH

So, yesterday it was my son Jeremie getting tattooed,

today it was his Mom, Paloma.

She has wanted an Ankh symbol to go around the 

Caduceus symbol tattoo she already has on her forearm

for years now. She wanted it to be black & white,  as 

sort of a backdrop to the existing colour tattoo.

This is the one she already has, the Caduceus symbol,

that she had done 6 years ago.

So I printed out a copy of a photo of her forearm

and did a drawing of what I thought it might look like.

Paloma liked it.....alot!

I then drew it onto her with a grey marker.

This is NOT a tattoo yet, just my rough under-drawing.

Her the first grey lines are going in. The final look is soft and subdued,

so I am using no real dark blacks at all, mostly soft grey tones.

Here it is with all the preliminary lines and darkest shadows done.

Here it is with all the preliminary lines and darkest shadows done.

And now here it is after the first shading pass.

And here it is finally after the final shading pass, 

although I am planning to add white and fix a

couple of lines tomorrow.

Here it is finally after the final shading pass

Here it is finally after the final shading pass

My Son Jeremie's SoundWave Backpiece

My son Jeremie said he wanted me to do a tattoo for him years ago...

And I finally got the opportunity just the other day.

Jeremie wanted something for his back

that would incorporate a sound wave design from 

a sound editing software interface, blending in with 

my own unique splash designs.

So I started messing around with this idea....

And as I cleaned it up Jeremie said he really liked it.

So I reworked it and made the sound wave look 

more like the actual thing, whereas in the first one I had 

stylized it quite a bit. Then I traced it onto a stencil...

And put it on Jer's back..

Soon the black ink lines were going in sweetly...

After day one, and about 5 hours, we had all the black and grey

line and shading work done...

And by the end of day two and another 6 hours, we had the finished product

After the whole process was said and done

it looked pretty close to the original! 

Here is the comparison between the photoshopped version I initially

put together to show what Jeremie what it would look like.

I made some conscious decisions to change/add certain things

her and there, but I am happy with how much it got to the look 

of the original drawing...

Jermie and I had an incredible time the last few days, 

chilling out and spending some seriously quality time together.

Jeremie's new backpiece goes very well colour-wise 

and stylistically with both of his shoulder tattoos.

Elemental Tattoos Emerging....

tentative signage...

...and more tentative signage. Ought to come in handy for something. 

Great freestyle lettering practice...!

I often forget this tattoo on my right arm is here, 

and seeing this photo for the first time was sweet. 

I rarely see my tattoo this clearly from certain angles.

No I wasn't tired it's just one of those photos,

timing is everything...

Close-up of Nicole's rose cover-up...

Elemental Magic Tattoos Re-Emerging~!

Here are a few photos of my most recent and not so recent works as well. Some are pieces that I may have posted earlier versions of long ago, so in some cases it is a long overdue final version of an earlier piece.

Bruce's left shoulder is a cover up of a fairly faded and  very old earlier tattoo, similar to his right shoulder clover-up. Subtle.
Before and after colour.....

The pure black and grey was very sweet. Black went in very nicely.

Nicole's Rose cover up came out so-o-o sweetly!

Working on Nicole's gorgeous roses, on location in Seyward, B.C.

Crystal's backpiece 'tree of life...'

Crystal's backpiece 'tree of life...' detail

checking out her new back.....

Initial line work on Bruce's left shoulder 'cover-up'

Drawing, old tattoo, and first line work on Bruce's right shoulder 'cover-up'

Initial line work on Bruce's right shoulder 'cover-up'

Final black and grey on Bruce's right shoulder  cover up, before any colour, Rocky Mountain Road Glide (the blueish tint in the center area is the old faded tattoo being covered up)

Final glorious full colour on Bruce's Rocky Mountain Road Glide

Further progress on Crystals tree...

Earlier work in progress on Crystal's tree...

Nicole's roses, before I added the final darker red and blue.