cltattooing

Kinda sounds like you're gonna go swimming regardless of any advice given...

Thank you for bringing this up! Reading that Robert Ryan interview in TCM really affirmed some personal superstitions about tattoos for me. I don't like to tattoo symbols of evil, as far as my own comfort zone goes. Simply speaking, a symbol is a distilled image intended to invoke a very specific idea/memory/feeling/desire. Because of this immediate association, symbols are very powerful visual tools. Brand logos are an accessible and modern example of how a symbol can instantaneously trigger a reaction in a person. Alphabets are also a good example. I think the reason why most clients have a hard time understanding this is because it is a very ideologically superstitious practice on my behalf, and also because the idea of a tattooed symbol of evil having real-life repercussions seems magical at best.
If symbol X triggers reaction a, b, or c in nearly anyone who looks at it, and all of which are negative reactions/feelings, I don't want to be the means by which that negativity is brought into the world. That's really all that it comes down to I guess.
(on a side note, I think that there is a huge difference between the power of symbols and the power of illustrations.)

piss poor excuse for a picture of the actual tattoo, I'll get you guys a better one when it's healed and not completely crusty.

Freddy Corbin, Temple Tattoo Oakland

new lil dude from Hector Fong at Tattoo 13 in Oakland :)

Rob Mopar is doing a guest spot at FTW through Saturday. Neither of us were doing much yesterday so he made these ladies for me. His instagram is @rwmopar if anyone is wondering.

Aw man, everyone is getting such great stuff lately. I haven't been tattooed this year yet. I think tomorrow I will be making an appointment with some friends to get one existing piece touched up and another finished. Way overdue for that, so there's something to look forward to.
Anyway I think most of you have seen this on the 'gram, but here it is again

Did this one yesterday, 5.5 hour one shot. Tough girl!
@Wilhell I know I've already said it, but I really love your backpiece. The powder blue with the orangey reds looks real slick. :cool:

Some recent stuff:

this was my end of the trade with Olivia. We decided to use her birthmark as a nipple. :cool:

And then this was a medical illustration of a humerus bone. This is actually on a dude who is from the same town that I apprenticed in. It was pretty nuts actually, he told me that he had gotten work done at the shop I was at, and turns out he had a tattoo that I had drawn for my mentor to use. Small world..

Got this subtle vag-rose from Olivia at Mom's Body Shop in SF today. Super fun! Loving the pink and black.
The little 13 is cause this was the 13th tattoo of 2013 :P

Finished this today. Pharaoh's Horses is one of my favorite classic images. Overall pretty happy with it, just wish I had picked darker colors or left it completely black and grey. Luckily this is the first and probably not the last time I will visit this image.

DEEEEEENNNOOOOOOO
at the Bay Area Convention of the Tattoo Arts
Dude was so cool, I had such a great time. I also got to practice my spanish and many laughs were exchanged. I asked about some of his tattoos, he asked about some of mine, overall a lovely experience. Also, my forearm now somewhat resembles a balloon. Ha

fun one from a couple of days ago

This one was a lot of fun to do.
Pluto forever!

Alright, image heavy post incoming! So at @BrianH 's suggestion, I posted a scabby piece, here are some more pictures of the heal and a couple of tattoos I've gotten since.




(healed)
by Sean Perkinson at FTW in Oakland


By Rempe, also at FTW during a guest spot.
and then this one is from a couple weeks ago by Casey O who is new at Chicago Tattoo Co. and spent a week guesting at our shop. One of my favorites so far I think.

@BrianH that's a great idea!

Looking like shit exactly as it should look like shit :)

Apologies for the crappy picture, I screenshotted this from IG. I'll post a better picture tomorrow, but check it out! By Sean Perkinson at FTW in Oakland. Steve Boltz flash.

Whoaaaaooohhh so many amazing tattoos being posted!! Love love love the white tiger and the dragon lamp. I don't know why great tattoos are so romantic, I swear I actually swoon when I see them.
Very hard to follow up on these awesome pieces, but I just wanna post this one from yesterday. One session, 3 hours, lots of fun! Dunno what I'd do without such cool clients, they're always the ones with the crazy ideas, I'm just lucky enough to get to draw them :)

Got this yesterday at FTW's Owen Jensen flash BBQ party. By Jason Phillips. Got a sweet painting of the design too!

stole this from sonju's injungram

@CultExciter awwww shit gurl :o
So I know the Horiyoshi III thing had been dropped, but I've been blessed enough to see 3 of his tattoos in person and they are OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL. One of them is a peony on the forearm, want to know what sort of stencil he used? A square. Drawn on with a sharpie. Let's not forget that the man is in his 70s. Ahem, anyway
Tim Lehi is a great example of a very loose tattooer who delivers with power every time.
And also, to touch on the statement that Stuart Cripwell has gone the more wonky route when he could have been cleaner, I'll just say this. After a certain period of experience in tattooing, your style reflects your natural drawing. Your early years are largely about learning how to put the tattoo in, and then once you kinda figure that out, you can bend the rules of tattooing to suit the sort of art that you want to make. So to me it seems kinda silly to say "oh he could have done this but instead he chose to do this," when I think most of us are just trying to make tattoos that we think are awesome.

Tattoos are definitely more popular and mainstream than they have ever been, but remember that people have been getting tattooed since the dawn of homo sapien.
My parents used to say similar things, but then you realize that when people pass judgement or ridicule upon your appearance, it's usually because you are making them confront their conditioned opinions and they don't know how to deal with that internally so they project it into you instead because you have become a symbol for that. Also when you understand that, it makes that sort of bullshit a lot easier to deal with because it's not actually about you.
If it really does bother you that he's saying that stuff, hopefully you can ask him to be more respectful about it because even if he is right it still sucks to hear and doesn't contribute anything positive to your relationship, especially when it is a parent! Good luck :)

Thou shalt tip your artist on a job well done!

The reason you don't see tattoos like that often is because they look like complete dog shit when they heal. I will attach some examples.
https://www.tattoodo.com/a/2016/03/the-test-of-time-tattoo-styles-that-won-t-stand-it-watercolor/

The reason you don't see tattoos like that often is because they look like complete dog shit when they heal. I will attach some examples.
https://www.tattoodo.com/a/2016/03/the-test-of-time-tattoo-styles-that-won-t-stand-it-watercolor/

Meh, messy tattoo
I'd rather look at a tattoo than read a paragraph. Too much text. A picture is worth 1000 words.