tattoosbymarcus

snake with rose done by Marcus Hardy (thats me!) at Planet Ink Tattoos in Hiram, Georgia! there was a terrible light blue and white cross on the wrist, we just blasted over it and will complete the cover with a background once its healed. enjoy!

tattoo'd with attitude

organica

flash from the past

life and times of philadelphia eddy 1 and 2

mike giant americana tattoo volume 1

quite a few tattoo sketchbooks

i have an old scholastic newsletter mini magazine thing from 1994 thats all about tattoos that i got in elementary school haha its prob my fave thing just because i accidentally kept it as a kid.

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i just got reinventing the tattoo second edition with the dvd on ebay for $50 but im not letting that go just yet haha. im still high on the deal i got.

my life was just ruined by seeing this thread is super old.

i enjoy it as mostly fictitious drama. what i despise is Bad Ink. they "do" fake cover ups, its an embarassment to the industry. the artists involved should be ashamed of themselves.

welcome

i must recommend you cruise into the interview section

awesome - hilarious - addictive

favorite is the oliver peck interview

idk if its the same interview on here but i love when he talks about the homemade tape case footswitch and taking sandpaper to fix barbed needles hahaha

when it comes to lady heads, i swoon over emily rose murray and chelsea rhea.

omg genius. id like one in dettol as well.

current im rocking:

Organica

Reinventing the Tattoo second edition (waiting in the mail for it - got it with the dvd on ebay for 50 bucks!)

Flash from the Past (hardymarks)

Whats Not ta Like (joe cap)

ANIMALS: 1419 copyright free illustrations (dover)

treasury of flower designs (dover)

drawing the human head (burne hogarth)

drawing the head and figure (jack hamm)

the life and times of crazy philadelphia eddie vol.1 and vol. 2

paintings by alan david (the blue book)

albus on anatomy

3200 old time cuts and ornaments (Dover)

a few old typography books

bj betts 1-3

an odd collection of tattoo sketchbooks (some all or nothing books, todd noble, freak, ryan downie, etc etc)

americana flash collection, vol. 1 (mike giant)

an ass ton of old magazines (international, tattoo, flash, tattoo society etc etc)

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PS i hate anyone who has any of the grime books because im an envious hag.

i do lip tattoos every now and then but i dont mind them. im tired of people wanting those pesky all white ink tattoos and the stupid anchor that says refuse to sink. ITS AN ANCHOR. ITS SUPPOSED TO SINK.

also, tribal. i do it and i make it look cool but damn.

somehow im not sick of infinities, dreamcatchers, bird silhouettes, and heart monitor tattoos...

the think that probably irks me the most is when people want flower stems to be made out of names or something dumb like that. or how about you was a photorealistic rose? cool. oh but i want a name on each petal THERE GOES THE REALISM ASPECT

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Trust me, if you want to show them to any tattoo artists, print them out on paper to show them - I can you tell, after working the desk in a busy studio, it is truly obnoxious of someone to make you wait for two minutes while they fiddle with their phone trying to find the right reference, plus you then cant leave anything physical with the shop or the artist, or you have to then email over every little thing to the shop, who then have to print it out for the artist, and if you want to show the artist that reference they will have to squint at the tiny screen. We like pictures on paper. A lot.

id much rather be emailed, i do a lot of prep work in photoshop. i can resize adjust contrast make new layouts etc with a full resolution image.

we apprenticed one kid...total idiot (he only lasted about two months)

good artist, but jesus was he dumb. one time he ran around the shop freaking out for ten minutes because he thought there was an alarm going off in the shop, he was like "ITS IN EVERY ROOM WHERE IS IT COMING FROM?!?!" and finally one of our clients ruined the fun and told him the shop phone was off the hook in his pocket.

but when i say that i mean it still took 5 minutes of us all getting pissed and yelling at him that the alarm was the phone beeping in his pocket. all the while, he's like "what? the phone? but its in every room! in my pocket? yea i have the phone in my pocket. wait what? OHHH! dude. it was in every room"

one time we were listening to creed (sarcastically of course) and he chimed in "wasnt creed like the original pearl jam that came out like way earlier"

i smacked him. hard.

he also was unaware of several common terms and phrases in american society. i had to explain what "from the get go" meant. he didnt know was a freeloader was.

ONE TIME i made him freehand copy (not trace) a myke chambers piece in pen (no erasing, u mess up you start over) bc while explaining to him the finer points of traditional tattoos he said "um no offense but thats stupid, im pretty sure a 9 year old could draw that"

i immediately handed him a pen and said "okay do it." he grabbed the lightbox and i said "whoa whoa whoa. you dont need to trace that, youre 18, so if a 9 year old can do it it should be twice as easy for you" hahaha i made him draw that thing like 12-13 times.

i kinda miss that idiot now. he was kind of a loveable idiot.

ive done quite a few 8-9 hour sessions but by far the craziest days i have to recover from are friday the 13th. nonstop stenciling and tattooing with no apprentice help beside paperwork from 12 noon to 7-8 am every time. last event i did 42 tattoos i think? and they werent all 5 minute simple jammers. cuhrayzeee.

29 year old, 7th year tattooer from the Atlanta GA area here. Was not apprenticed, and I am prepared to catch hell for it, but hey stuff happens. since ive started ive tried to absorb as much knowledge as i can from those ive worked with and have been tattooed by. I pride myself on my linework, and i think my other techniques arent bad either. i dont really know what else to say. More Black Less Slack.

I Did this one on a Coworker at a convention this year, its on her thigh. took about 6 hours i think? anyways, Enjoy! i may repost if i can find the healed pic she sent me it healed immaculately. Open to input but try not to be an a-hole haha

so yea, done by me (Marcus Hardy) at Planet Ink Tattoos in Hiram GA

step one is get a better camera. pieces look pretty cool but theyd probably look better in a clearer view! also id work on layouts and designing pieces to fit the body, those hand pieces are interesting designs but id work some background in there to fill space and keep them from looking so stiff.

if youre open to some advice, id say use a bit more black. a lot of those look badass but will probably appear flat as they age. some have some nice saturation but a few seemed loose. im probabaly just being biased because i love old school though haha

look up Tim Beck. Find the insane foot cover-up he did of the outline of a state. INSANE. he packed yellow over black. its doable, but probably with a rotary and probably multiple sessions (which lasering would take that as well)