one week away...

Had a good day at the shop today.

Had a few walk-ins and got to work with my mentors. I rarely get to work with both of them so I got to watch both of them work all day. Although I was busy with customers and whatnot most of the day, in my downtime I got to watch Bill work on this awesome phoenix on an arborist's ribs and Anna worked on this sweet 1/2 sleeve of lotus blossoms and hibiscus. It makes me miss Hawaii just watching her tattoo those flowers.

I'm pretty bummed that I haven't done any real "art" lately. Did a few sketches, but nothing noteworthy. I guess i've been stressing about leaving for Hawaii... leaving my boyfriend of almost 2 years..... leaving my family and friends. it's just weird. i've spent the last 3.5 yrs of my life apprenticing and now i have to leave. yes, its a wonderful opportunity. yes, who in their right mind would turn down an opportunity like this. i hope that i get to spend time one on one with them.

i'll be gone for 3 months. after not tattooing for 3.5 years, i'm leaving my homeland to tattoo in hawaii, away from everything. i'm so excited that i don't think it truly hit me until now. all this hard work has finally paid off! now i have to man up and let them know that i learned something. this is the true test.... right? 

exactly one week from today i will be in another time zone.

i'll post some art within the next few days i promise.

-T

I just came back from Copenhagen late this evening! 
I went there to get tattooed at Conspiracy Inc.
The trip was quite tiresome as small priced plane tickets mean multiple flight connections and long layovers (5 hrs in Amsterdam... for less than two hours of total flying time!). But I must recognize that Amsterdam and Copenhagen transit areas and waiting rooms are pretty classy and comfy... taking a nap there was a pleasure and now I'm also more than honored to have reached international audiences with my snoring skills (very LOUD).


Anyway, the bottom line is that Uncle Allan made me a flashy flying sushi tattoo on the back of my forearm and that I'm extremely happy with the result; he is an amazing tattooer! 


And last but not least: a BIG thank you to all the people who's been writing and requesting me custom drawings these days. I'm gonna try to answer the pending emails as soon as possible, please gimme a couple of days.  :) 




A nice week end to everyone!


K.







Copenhagen was kinda cloudy and grey...







...but not my Flying Sushi!

Final countdown!

So I have two weeks left before heading to Hawaii to start tattooing. In the meantime I have been busting my ass at the shop and practicing. Here are a few things I've done on the skin....




This one was for a friend/coworker at the shop who gave me the idea for this one.  This was more fun than anything. I strapped the skin to a friend of mine and worked on this all day. Once I put in the color though it started staining the skin and made the thing look super muddy. After that I'm sticking to black and grey for this stuff.




This is one I'm working on for my Mom, naturally. This one was much for fun because I could actually see what I was doing. Also tried out this Infinite Irons machine a friend gave me to use... its still weird tattooing this stuff, but its really helping me with getting used to the weight of the machine for hours on end.

I'm really stoked to get out of Philly for a while and start tattooing. These three years have brought me to this point.

I will post on here more while I am away, letting everyone see the progress as I go along. I will be in Hawaii tattooing at Skin Deep in Waikiki from Sept 15- til the first week in December.

Until next time......
\-Tina

SKATE TATOO AND PUNK.. IN MEXICO... WE WERE THERE

Hi everybody!


I've been very busy drawing these days... a lot of commissioned works from my lovely blog readers! Thanx so much to all you girls who have been ordering me sketches, you rule!!
Above, some of the last sketches I finished recently, a phoenix with cherry blossoms.


I've also been asked to draw a set of illustrations for a conference on european fairy tales and fables (Grimm brothers, La Fontaine, etc.) that gonna take place at l'Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The flyer and the poster of the conference will feature some animal themed graphics of mine... 
I'm so excited to be working on that project!  :)  


A great week to everyone!

...until that day when Mathilda grew tired of accumulating all that dust over her bowed shoulders and eventually spread her creaky wings and flew through Mrs. Titovitch's window.   




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PS: I added 3 prints to my Etsy shop items. 
They are high quality glossy paper prints that I used last year for an expo. They are in mint condition.


A great week-end to everyone !!!  :) 

Maurice in the Lilies, "parce que je le vaux bien" he said with precious enunciation.

Here are two commissioned drawings I worked on last week. 
Lonneke was a fan of my key owl and she wanted a design based on that sketch with some cupcakes, hearts and bows added on the background to get it tattooed on her. 


Lindsay wanted a design with a cat and saguaro flowers to celebrate her 21st birthday, she also plans to tattoo it :)


Thank you very much, girls, you rule! 
Drawing these designs was tons of fun, I hope you like the result... me, I'm really impatient to see those inked on you.


A nice week to everyone,
Cheers!

- to see it bigger just click on it -




My first attempt at watercolor painting in a long time !!!
I'll try to find some time to get back at it...  


Please note that I have a new email address for commissioned work requests :


customwork.kim (at) gmail (dot) com


I have a lot of email to answer to, please be patient! Thank you...  :) 


PS : The talented Sandra Valerie is doing an awesome giveaway on her blog! 


She is sending an original and framed painting to the winner,
You MUST go check it out!

Another geisha sketch I did last night before starting some new commissioned work!


Otherwise, Danielle of Sometimes Sweet just featured me on this weeks Tattoo Tuesday!
Head over there to check out the feature and her lovely blog
Thanx so much to her! 

Owl headed butterflies and one eyed umbrellas, my new thing... ;)


PS: free shipping worldwide on every 3 pack cards order til tomorrow on my Etsy shop ! ! !
-Just click here- 

MODERN TATTOOING...

Ok, Here's a great piece... Juan doing a Bob Marley tribute piece. You will find Bob in it, of course, his Les Paul Junior with a single cut away, a Lion statue... Bob's house... excellent piece. Even Juan is all smiles about it! The guy getting the tattoo was flying to the Carribean during hurricane Katrina! F*ck that!!! Turbulence on a normal flight is one thing, but going from one island to another in a propeller plane during a hurricane sounds about as fun as sliding down a razor blade on your b*lls and landing in a pool of alcohol... anyway, he said it was that trip that turned him on to reggae music.





That was a great day, the conversations at the shop are the best. You can really learn a lot. Because of the open floor plan, everyone has a chance to join in the conversations. There are so many knowledgeable people that come into the shop that you can learn everything from facts to how to do repairs on cars, where to find parts, access services like machining, computer services, hair cuts, where to get fancy shoes... you name it.





The week before, I was in Mexico at tattoo convention. Here's a picture of the plane entering Mexican air space.





This is the first day, in the first 20 minutes of the convention. The place got real full. Conventions in Mexico are the best. It's not a huge money maker but the experience is the greatest. You can't put a price on it, especially in a city as huge as Mexico City!!!





There is some real talent there. Not just in Mexico City but the whole country! Look at this tattoo. The guy who did it, uses our machines. The smoothness of the shading and solidness of the color says it all.





Mexico is known for it's black and grey artists. These 2 pieces (above and below) were done by Kique Sanx from Chilpancingo in the state of Guerrero.





I always use black and grey as a reference as to the artist's ability. The techniques needed to do these realistic images is not only a question of eye / hand coordination, but a question of understanding the techniques needed to make your machine, needles and diluted ink achieve this. Light even shades are the hardest to do. Especially if the areas are huge!


Skin type plays a big role in this as well. There are some types of skin that are very receptive to the faintest shades of diluted greys, others are not so lucky. As you can see from these tattoos, there are rarely outlines, the edges are implied with different grey shades and hard edges. You can see this in the noses, shapes of the eye sockets, eye lids and so on. None of the facial features ever gets outlines, surprising to some of you, not even the eyes!! If you ever look in the mirror, there is a shelf that the eyelashes grow out of. That is defined by shades, not lines...


It takes a real "eye" to spot this. There are tons of artists who attempt portrait work and fail miserably because they tattoo what they "think" it looks like and NOT what they see...


Just a little information for you to chew on...

Darling, let's anchor our love somewhere beyond the blue skies above us... 
was the final, tear-filled, unrequited plea Maurice made to his loved one... 

Etsy Shop Online!

My Etsy shop is finally online !!! 
I also made some new business cards... :)


Here's the link, Enjoy ! 

There was a time in Maurice's life when he was the happiest owl in the world... life smiled at him every morning as he was sure to have found the right companion to spend a life with... 


But blue skies seldom last longer than a summer rose, and before he could realize, coal black clouds were darkening his life again. 


Maurice never felt hatred or some kind of ill will in its broken heart when his darling left him... he just felt deeply miserable to realize he would never grow old hand in hand with the one he still loved so much and to discover the true coldness of its heart...

Timmy and Maurice, an owl love affair... ;)


And don't forget to check out Seablanket ! 
 She featured me and some of my drawings on her blog!
 Thanx so much to her !!!