tattoo

Process: Coleman Painting

Thought I post how I do one of those tribute sheets. 

I start with penciling out the outlines on a light table. I used to just use tracing paper and flip it over and then trace out the same drawing. Leaving a graphite residue, or transfer on the paper.
Only problem is I had a tendency to press too hard.

 
Same reason I don't use too hard a pencil, because it leaves grooves, and you know what happens when you change your mind in the inking part? You get grooves where you want your fades.
Looks bad. You end up just blacking out the grooves. From what I've found there is a lot of black in these paintings, but it's very important where it is.

Then I get my lining on. Start by dropping all pens. No sharpie in my humble opinion.

 

 I find Speedball to be a very good product for lining.

(Feel free to send me some free bottles anytime)

I learned to use a nib that doesn't waver too much.
Pointy tips = Calligraphy. I want the lines to be even. 

I screwed up when I erased it and got a smudge. I'll see if I can fix it with shading.

Use good brushes. It's a lot harder to paint with crappy brushes.
I use the Windsor & Newton Series 7.

So sometimes I do the black first, and other times I do it last.

Here I will do it first to show the process.

 

Sometimes at the end I go clean up the lines due to thick colors covering over,

but I usuallly leave them.

Now if I repeat every week, in ten years my stuff might be alright.

Got to hand it to you.

I don't do hands too much anymore. It's not that people aren't asking, it's just I'm having a hard time justifying people with no, or very little tattoos getting very visible ones. I'm not here to judge if people are ready for that, I can only warn them or straight refuse. That's all I can do. I know society is changing, it's just a big decision. Think about it.

That has nothing to do with this tattoo. Just a mini-rant.

This person was finishing a solid sleeve. That makes sense. He's also a Tattoo Artist.
In a few days we are going to add more blue to the right.

Average Tuesday.

Here's what this Tuesday looked like here at Tattoo Union.

Cohen outlined an arm all day.

You can see more of his work on his website: cohenfloch.com

----------------------------------

And this is the piece I was working on. (2nd session)

Just another average Tuesday.

cutest damn thing ever.

At least I think so.

Bender, Eben.

These are a couple of really fun tattoos. Eben Bender is a multi-talented man, and this all started with the idea of doing a "Tug Life" tattoo. In the end, we left out the lettering, and we opted for the straight design. He got a train to fill out the stomach shortly after.
Thanks Eben, that ruled.
Even if it doesn't say it, these tattoos ARE tug life. That is one Gangsta stomach.

Belmont Barbershop featured in Vancouver Magazine.

Our neighbor and friend has been getting press for his store, and rightly so,
his Barbershop and Haberdashery are pretty amazing.

Vancouver Magazine Article
Issue on newstands now.

The Belmont Barbershop
Mr.Lee's General Store


We would like to say thanks for all the support to the boys at Belmont and Mr.Lee's,
and to Dustin himself.

Here's a couple of tattoos done on Dustin:

Two weeks and Five years later.

 

These photos are a bit better.
Two weeks, huh?

This customer of mine showed up out of the blue with an outline I had done almost six years ago. He wanted to finish it in two weeks. Only problem was it was his entire front of his torso, and I think I outlined it with a 7 mag. (what was i thinking???) It was a struggle to get it completed, and in two hour sessions, it made it even harder. Thanks to my patient customers who didn't mind the musical chairs, (I'm still working that out), and the feeling of completion feels good in this job, which sometimes I never feel satisfied.
That being said, there's another three hours minimum I would have liked to have done, but see ya in five years I told him. You might also notice the varying levels of healing. That wasn't ideal, but I wait on him to e-mail me some photos later.

Irezumi

Irezumi is a Japanese word that refers to the insertion of ink under the skin to leave a permanent, usually decorative mark; a form of tattooing.
The word can be written in several ways, each with slightly different connotations.
The most common way of writing irezumi is with Chinese characters who literally means to "insert ink".
These characters (also pronounced bunshin) suggest "decorating the body". Bunshin is more esoteric, being written with the characters for "stay" or "remain" and "blue" or "green", and probably refers to the appearance of the main shading ink under the skin.

Tattooing for spiritual and decorative purposes in Japan is thought to extend back to at least the Jomon or paleolithic period (approximately 10,000 BC).
Some scholars have suggested that the distinctive cord-marked patterns observed on the faces and bodies of figures dated to that period represent tattoos, but this claim is by no means unanimous.
There are similarities, however, between such markings and the tattoo traditions observed in other contemporaneous cultures.

In the following Yayoi period (c. 300 BC-300 AD) tattoo designs were observed and remarked upon by Chinese visitors.
Such designs were thought to have spiritual significance as well as functioning as a status symbol.

Starting in the Kofun period (300-600 AD) tattoos began to assume negative connotations.
Instead of being used for ritual or status purposes, tattooed marks began to be placed on criminals as a punishment (this was mirrored in ancient Rome, where slaves were known to have been tattooed with mottoes such as "I am a slave who has run away from his master").

Source: Wikipedia

Koi fish tattoos

Koi tattoos are beautiful and wildly hot compensate now. Koi fish tattoos of action get a oblong chronicle and go all the way place to ancient Altaic present and it is a definte Asian or Asian tattoo strain.
For the Nipponese koi fish state strngth and index because they are oftentimes healthy to lift their entire embody up and appear out of the irrigate.
Thence the tattoos that tell koi search ofttimes demonstration them splahing in the irrigate and thing air everywhere which shows of their strength. Advantageous as an added bonus they are an unmixed bonny fish and the flag of them bring themselves to a tattoos.
The bonnie birght oranges mixed witht he megrims of wet hit for an apotheosis tattoo plus since they are tradintally a Asiatic tattoo they bestow a category of forgien secret to their air.
Koi Seek tattoos are now really common among men and women.
Typically men get them on their shoulders or leather and women similar to get them as a minify backward tattoo.
There are a few out there that also get them as good corroborate tattoos with writer of a tradtional Denizen designing.
Add On Ideas: If you are hunt for some way to raise the koi seek tattoo and add more complexity to it you power wantto cerebrate nearly fallen red blossoms also as they are a real sign tattoo also.