Lisa Tattoo Art Blog: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Keone's owl part 3

So I despite his healing issues with the background, I had Keone come in last night to get some work done on the body of the owl before I leave Hawaii for a while. We were able to finish the branch entirely, and start shading the rest of the body. I didn't finish the head, I want to see how the grey heals and add alot more texture next time. This one was so much fun and I got to play around with different types of shaders to get different results.

I'm glad we got some of the body done, that way hes not walking around with an empty owl for a year.

I leave for Philly in two days... SO ready to get back to Philly and get my life on track. New residence, new schedule. NO MORE SALES! So excited.

I have a plumeria coming in today and I'm doing huge polynesian letters across this guy's back, another friend that Noah recruited for me :) Will post more later.

ALOHA

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Parrot tattoo

So last night I got to finish Kris' parrot tattoo on his leg. We worked on him for about 2.5-3 hours. I got to experiment with some color blending and doing alot of color work. Overall I really like how it came out. I know hes going to have to get one more session on this in the future but it's done enough for now considering after I leave the island I won't be seeing him for a while.

Friday, February 25, 2011

New tattoos

So yesterday I was called into work and ended up getting a few small ones. Here's the first. All those swirls really made me sweat!

It's sort of a treble clef and initials hidden in there. This woman came to Hawaii for a wedding and wanted something to remember her trip.

This was a mother-daughter combo that had appointments. Stolfi tattooed the daughter and I got the Mom. She was super nice and let me do what I wanted for the exception of the color combination. VERY specific. One flower for each child. I've decided that I really like tattooing feet. :)

So I bet you're wondering why I havent posted any updates on Keone's owl... Well he came in and had alot of trouble with the healing. So now he has to wait :(

Tonight I'm tattooing Kris's leg again... hopefully gonna finish that Parrot tattoo! So excited!

Until next time...
ALOHA

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

new tattoos

So yesterday the handprint came in.... this was his first tattoo and he wanted his daughter's name with the print. The name was 14 letters long!!!! Hawaiian name obviously. We stuck with black and grey for this one.

This just walked in today, a young woman wanted her son's name on her shoulder. This is what we came up with.

Tonight at 5 I have Keone for the last session on his owl tattoo.

More to come!
ALOHA

Monday, February 21, 2011

some new stuff from the past week

Sorry it's been a week since my last post. I had strep throat and spent the last 5 days recovering.

So these last few tattoos were done in areas that I haven't really worked before (except one) and definitely was intimidated doing them. It was certainly a struggle, however I think that after these experiences I feel a little more confident in what I need to work on to make my linework better.

This woman came in late last week and Stolfi was about to do it then something else walked in that I'm not ready to do, so he did that one and gave this design to me. After redrawing it a bit the client (a young woman) and I came up with this. She wanted alot of color in an area that I've only tattooed once. This was a great experience in stretching.... and how to deal with a person that doesn't sit well at all! Looking back on this there are alot of things that I would have done differently. I'm not going to list all of them but it was so weird trying to blend all of these colors into an area that was so sensitive and she wouldn't stop moving it was very frustrating. After 2 hours she couldn't sit anymore so it knew she had it with me so we ended there. I wanted to blend white into the background but that didn't happen. Overall I would have done this differently, however the linework came out ok and I was relatively happy with the grey.

Anyway enough about that. yesterday was a good day. This girl came in and wanted her first tattoo which was a crown with gemini under it. Other than a few lines that were a bit wobbly this came out ok.

My biggest problem with this one is that she wanted it upside down. I think that if she put it the other way I would have noticed a few things.

After the crown a bit later a group of three guys came in, all wanting one of these captains wheels somewhere on their body. Stolfi did one of the guys on his hand, the other was in this guys ditch (right here), and the last one on his thigh. The ditch was weird, his skin puffed up so quickly and was all wrinkly.

This one on the thigh was fun too however his skin right there was so stretchy and awkward.

In summation this week was very challenging, but I think that after these couple of weird stretching areas I am stoked to learn something new.... everyday is a challenge but so worth the wait.

I have a handprint coming in tomorrow....

Will post pics
Aloha

Javier Campos from Lima Peru... uses Godoy Machines

Javier Campos is a Peruvian tattoo artists. We mentioned his model machine in previous blogs. He has only been tattooing 8 years... look at his work. These are mastepieces. This is what every tattoo artist should strive for. When you have this kind of understanding of your machine and technique, there will be NO limits to what you can do.

I can't wait til the trend of traditional tattooing is over. It will be interesting to see who will be out of work and who won't. Artists with limits are just that. This guy will always be busy because he has the skills.

We met Javier at a convention in Lima Peru about 5 years ago, and saw him again at the following one. Since then, we have become friends and we meet whatever South American events which we decide to attend. Normally we give one of our machines as a prize for best black n grey tattoo, best realistic and best tattoo of the convention. And pretty soon, he was winning all the machine prizes!! We decided to start giving him machines in order to let other artists have a chance to win one of our prized machines.

This is some of the best work to be seen in tattooing. Just compare. Walk around town and take a close look at people's tattoos. Compare.

The subtle shades of greys and skin tones are not the easiest to put into the skin. Over time, the experience of doing this type of realism becomes easier and easier and pretty soon, you get a complete understanding of how to do it, how to deal with different skin types... Training your eye / hand coordination with this type of style will prepare you to handle ANY challenge effortlessly.

Look at the shades of color in the lips. The colors blended to make a realistic tone for the lip color are hard to blend. A knowledge of painting helps to steer you in the right direction. Check the hoop in the girl's nose... very realistic.

Another masterpiece... Remember the name Javier Campos, you may be seeing him here sooner or later...

Inkvaders Tattoo part.1

When I started this blog a couple of years ago it was some kind of shock therapy I had decided to administer to myself... At that time I was a rather unhappy teenage girl, feeling kinda lost in some apprenticeship in the business and administrative field that I really hated. Way back then, every morning was an intense struggle trying to find the energy to lift myself out of bed to head to school... one of the saddest and most frustrating part was the feeling that I wasn't doing what I felt I should have been doing with my life, drawing.

If I talked earlier about "shock therapy" it's because I also was extremely insecure and afraid of what people could think about my drawings... but at one point I just thought that having a blog to expose my stuff would put enough pressure on me to try to draw more and eventually get better at it.

At that time I was already a big tattoo passionate too and secretly dreaming of someday becoming a tattooer...

So I posted my first drawings on my blog... and nothing really happened. No comments, no visits, not much... but I kept posting drawings, doing it for myself.

And all of sudden, and I really don't know how or why, new people began to become a follower of the blog, posting comments and being very nice and friendly to me... complementing my drawings and urging me to continue to post more drawings... Wow!

Til the day somebody asked me to custom draw a piece for her, offering to pay me, because she wanted some design of me to get it tattooed... and me I was like, "Are you kidding...? I've never done something like that... not sure that I can, though... but I'm surely gonna try!"

And then things snowballed and custom orders kept arriving in my email box... Wow!

So by then I wasn't a sad teenage girl anymore! :) I had already left the school and the apprenticeship that I hated and was trying to focus on drawing more seriously and trying to find an apprenticeship I would love and would be committed to... a tattoo one.

Until that day finally came!

I guess that 2011 will ever be remembered as one of the happiest years of my life as it will always be the year I began my so wanted tattoo apprenticeship... words are not enough to describe the happiness and excitation I've been feeling since I started, early January.

And before I post some pictures, I would like to seize here the opportunity to thank all the lovely people who've been following this blog... posting super sweet comments or just stopping by to check my drawings...

All of you who believed in me at some point and asked me to draw something for you... all of you wearing some of my sketches on your skin...

You can't imagine how honored and grateful I feel. I'm completely aware that without you I would never be where I'm today... Thank you so much.

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My first "contribution" to the crew... :)

My working place at Inkvaders ! :)

Some tattoo flashes I've been working on at the studio...

The Inkvaders Crew : Yanni Vera (guest artist), Yang Zhuo (guest artist) & wife, me, Greg Laraigne, Christian Nguyen & family.

Christian Nguyen is a tattoo artist who's been tattooing since 1992. He runs Inkvaders Tattoo studio, in Geneva. He has gained worldwide recognition for his works, being featured in such prestigious media as Black & Gray's Finest.

In addition, he has also worked for top companies such as Burton Snowboards, Tns Industries and Vans, just to name a few...

The gorgeous tattoo Christian did on my calf... :)

Professional business cards... hahaha... ;)

Some new postcards are available at my etsy shop !

Saturday, February 12, 2011

NEW GODOY MACHINES SITE - WWW.GODOYMACHINES.COM

NEW SITE IS UP...

If you are a professional tattoo artist, go to http://www.godoymachines.com to order our book...the most illegally downloaded industry e-book of our time. The one pictured is the second edition. Way thicker and more informative than the previous edition.

Any one of our machines... the only machines in the world who's patented parts are owned by US, it's builders!!

If you are interested in a machine seminar... like this one in Italy, contact us. Over 140 people attended!!

Let's bring professionalism to tattooing, and not tolerate the mediocrity which is now widely accepted. It's overdue. No more egos, no more attitudes...

Friday, February 11, 2011

Keone's owl

So I got to work on Keone's owl the other night... we managed to finish the entire background and I am really excited that I think I am finally getting the hang of grey shading. He bled ALOT that night as well... kinda weird tattooing while they're bleeding so badly.