Tengu Sleeve

We got in a pretty mellow session to color all the maple leaves.

Hadn't tattooed him in a while as he took the summer off to enjoy the sun and water, but he's back with a vengeance.  He came in for two appointments with Masa the other week to get the orange chrysanthemum and lucky hammer (uchide no kozuchi) on his lower arm.  We actually did this session the day after they finished.  Looking forward to finishing up and seeing both arms completed as a set (his other side is a 3/4 sleeve of kitsune (fox) images that also has a tebori chrysanthemum at the bottom) as they were intended to match each other.  The placement of the main characters, masks and shrines on the inner arm all match up pretty well.

He's had to cancel his next one due to a freak can opening accident, but wishing him a speedy recovery and hoping to get back to it soon...

Phoenix Drawing

Speaking of all that drawing, here's one from the other night.

This is the first part of what will be a pretty solid sleeve.  He's already got a tattoo at the very top, so this will sit around the bicep, and the tail feathers will end up cascading down the arm.

There will also be a shadowy dragon lurking in the background between all those feathers down below...

Life/Work

Long time no post...

The past few weeks have been non-stop to say the least.  If you've been keeping score, our good friend Horimasa was visiting town and working the past couple of weeks...

...and he was as busy as he could have possibly been.  We worked six days a week for the two weeks he was here, getting to the studio by 10 or so every morning and leaving at 10 at night on average every day. One of his clients got around 35 hours of tattooing done over the course of 8 days!  The fellow above had four 4 hour sessions in a row himself.  It was an amazing and very productive visit, and we look forward to having him again.

After our intensive tattoo stint here, we headed straight to San Francisco to work at the Diamond Club Tattoo Studio together for a couple of days.  I got to do some fun work on some old clients (forgot any pictures of course) and work alongside Masa for a little bit longer.

Again, very long days at the studio and late nights talking tattoos and eating way to much food like this...

Delicious, yes.  Healthy, no.  After several days on a steady diet of ramen and curry rice, I'm ready for a serious cleansing...

It was an action packed, inspirational/educational last several weeks, but I'm pretty worn down.  On top of my regular crazy schedule and doing some serious daddy duties while the wife's been out of commission sick, I've got a lot of serious drawings to do in the near future.  Which brings me to my final point...

-A Note On Scheduling-

 I really do try my best to accommodate all new clients and requests, but it has become increasingly clear lately that this just isn't totally possible.  I realized recently that I'm booked for a good chunk of next year, and won't be able to take on much if any new work for a while.  I would still very much like to hear from folks with their ideas, and see what we might be able to figure out.  In the past, I've tried a waiting list (epic failure), and cancellation lists and there seems to be no perfect solution.  I apologize if I'm not able to give my attention or time to any one's project request, but that has just become the reality of the situation.

I enjoy many styles of tattooing, and do like me a good challenge (although I might complain about it), but I am looking to prioritize larger work, specifically trying to focus on predominately Asian style themes (though I hesitate to say that is exclusive and am open to all ideas).

Thanks for your understanding in this.  My goal is to do the best work that I can, and constantly improve.  I invest a lot of personal and emotional time and energy into this lifestyle, and need to make sure I stay focused, productive and stress free as possible... 

Hagoromo Tennyo

I'm sure I've said it before, but seriously, we're pretty close to finishing.

All that's left is the patterning in the upper yellow sash, and a subtle under pattern in the purple of the lower fabric.

I feel like it's really coming together in these final couple sessions.

I'm looking forward to getting some good photos after it's healed for a few months and everything is really looking like it should...

Peony

Drew this one right on the side of the butt and went to town.

I've been trying new color ideas and combinations lately.  This one is sort of a plum, or merlot I call it sometimes.  I'm trying to go for rich colorful tattoos that aren't so "bright".  I've come to realize that colorful and bright are not the same thing.  Seems to give pieces a more mature feel and not so cartoony and loud...

The outline and color was already healed, and we just did a shorty to finish the leaves this time.

Flowers and Swirls

Been crazy busy lately with Masa in town and the regular hectic schedule, so hopefully some new pics will be coming soon.

This one is on one of our favorite folks around here.  We started with some flowers on her back, and it morphed and grew over the shoulder and down the arm.  The flowers and swirls on her back are all down the right side (I'll remember to get pictures some day) so there isn't much tattoo down the back of her arm.  That way, when she's standing with her arm at her side, it's not just a jumbled mess of tattoo.

It's been fun to just sort of piece it together as we go, and draw on each new section as we go with no real master plan...just let it kind of take on a life of its own.  The dragonfly and peony were done by hand when Toshi Hide was in town a few months back.

It's starting to look pretty cool, and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of her...

Shoki

Got the rest of the left thigh outlined.  That pretty much leaves us with a small patch on the lower back and it's all there.  I'm keeping the right shoulder open for now so that we can tie in the arm seamlessly when it's sleeve time.

If I had just capped it off all the way up the sides, and then done the sleeve, it would look like we did a back piece and then glued on the sleeves.  Doing it this way shows that the whole thing was thought out as a whole, not piece by piece.  Pretty cool opportunity.

And here's the whole enchilada as of now...

Shoki Body Suit

I think I lost count of what session this is, but I'm just happy to be back to it.  After a little hiatus (and very graciously giving his last set of appointments to his lady) we're full steam ahead.

Probably wasn't the nicest thing for me to outline his butt after an extended layoff, but what can you do. This demon was initially slated for the back of the thigh, but it just wasn't clicking.  Then he suggested putting it on the cheek, and it worked perfect. I love it when the client comes up with an idea that totally works (looking back it seems obvious, but when you're in the thick of some creative fog it really is hard to see past it, and some help is always appreciated).  Really reinforces the idea that we're in this together.  Also, the curve of that part of the body gives a really cool effect to the arch of the oni's back.

Took the day off yesterday, but more drawing and outling today.

Here's a reminder of how the other side is looking...

Hagoromo Tennyo

The devil's in the details as they say...

It certainly seems like we're getting fairly close to finishing, but there is still plenty to do.  I've got plans for more patterning and tricking out of the robes.  Think ghostly subtle design work in some of the solid areas.  It might sound like a bit much, but I don't think it will interfere.  Hopefully it adds a real double take element to the piece.  You see it and go "wow, pretty neat", then really get in there and see some cool stuff...
 That plus some skin tones and we might be there.  Stay tuned...

Snake and Hawk

I know this next picture is fuzzy, but it's all I got for now...

This one's a blast from the past.  Started last year or so, and haven't seen him over the last several months (planning a wedding and getting married apparently takes over tattoos on the priority list).  He's super enthusiastic about the piece and fun to tattoo, so it's really great to have him back in the rotation.

We did the hawk a few years ago, and he came back shortly after for the sleeve.  We added the snake and chrysanthemums, and had been starting to get all the clouds going.  This first session back we did most of the shading up the back of the arm.  Still a bit to go go and over the shoulder and filling in the rest of the snake, but it's starting to take shape...

Horimasa Part II

Horimasa will be flying into Arcata tomorrow to stay and work with us for a couple weeks.  I posted some of his tattoo photos here the other day, but realized that they were a bit dated.  Here is some more current work...

I'm really looking forward to working together and learning as much as possible...

Chrysanthemum

Drew on the leaves and got them all colored up to start things off.  

She was very specific about wanting a rich blue/purple flower (not a bad choice by the way) so I mixed in a little purple with the blue to get a periwinkle thing going.

It takes a bit more time to leave the little air spaces of skin in there between all those lines, but I feel like it really gives it a kind of a subtle pop, and lets the color "breath" and not just look like a blob.

Next time we'll be fading a lighter tone out of that blue, then putting a more contrasting purple in the undersides of the petals...