Tattoos

[Chinorlz]

Well I'll be there in March, but he'll still be in NYC.

Have dinner at Barley Swine. One of the best new restaurants I've been to in at least the last 6 months and that includes east and west coast joints.

[Sombre]

My first session with Thomas Hooper will be this sunday. Let the journey begin.

That's great! Congrats A, I know you've been waiting for this for a while now. Are you having it done in color or will it be all/mainly black?

[Chinorlz]

That's great! Congrats A, I know you've been waiting for this for a while now. Are you having it done in color or will it be all/mainly black?

Thanks my man :)

For now all black ink. I sent him some images of past works that I've liked parts of to start building a concept. I also sent him an abstracted photo I took of the ceiling of the Alhambra when I was there a couple of years ago. Hope that the resulting mandala can incorporate this and this be a type of collaboration/dialogue between him and me.

[bryantyj]

Crazy piece Mike! Anyways I heard Maxime is coming to Asia in march! Looking forward to get something done by him.

[MikeN]

that's cool

[mrbeuys]

Please tell me they're a cover up for a rose and a tramp stamp.
Srsly tho, looks great!

[ES3K]

I'm so totally not into tattoos, but I really like this (as well as Mr B's finger line tattoo he posted some time ago).

[Shucks]

it's funny, when people ask me why i did them the best explanation i've been able to come up with is that i wanted something just like racing stripes for a car. no symbolism or prissy details that distract, just something strong that enhances the three-dimensionality of the body (at least a little).

so when i read through the tattoo thread today i was excited when i found both mrbeuys' post on his "speed stripe" and this post by magic1 which totally sums up how i see it too:

I wish there were more abstract tattoos out there. I think they'd age better than representational imagery and take on more meaning or significance than representational forms. I'd think the constantly changing canvas would lend better to abstraction rather than highlight the transience of representational figures, in which the changing canvas only cements the fact that they refer to an instance in time that has passed. This seems counter to most people's reason for getting a tattoo--they feel like what is being tattooed is so close to them that they want to hold on to it forever...Unless that's the idea: I've put something on myself at this moment and from this point forward it will forever misrepresent my original intention.
Plus I think as far as canvasses go, a flat one (i.e. not the body) better represents the two dimensional than a three dimensional canvas, which better represents the abstract, given that the two-dimensional is inherently superficial and the three dimensional is inherently contextualized in the abstract. I do think the two-dimensional could work on the three-dimensional, but if nothing else, play with that dynamic--don't ignore it. Most often I see (in this thread and in books), the two-dimensional projected onto the three dimensional in a way that ignores that the three-dimensional has, of course, three dimensions.

of course, another bonus is all the WTF's i get from idiots...

[xzacx]

old picture

[Chinorlz]

Stage 1 of who knows how many with Mr. Hooper this past weekend. 2.5 hrs of tattooing after discussion and pattern developments:





The plan is to use the repeating geometry as an underlay and he's actually "faded" it as it reaches the arcs on the underside of the Fibonacci spirals which are overlapped. This way there is a depth to the piece as we move forward. We placed one of his abstract crystal/geometric shapes across the front arm with lines that break across the armpit so the mind crosses that gap and fills in the negative space.

The underlay pattern is done completely with stippling and we will start filling in some of the spaces with stippled fill at the next session. There will be a natural "transition" from skin to pattern since the pattern edges are left "open" instead of blocking off the edges of the repeating pattern.

The plan will be to do a large quarter mandala based on the ceiling of the Alhambra with the centerpoint echoing the six pointed star pattern used as part of the base of the underlay:





That quarter will go on my back and once it's in place, we'll carry through the repeating geometric pattern of the front over the shoulder and "under" the mandala using negative space and shading to build the depth.

Next session will be 4 hours of shading for the front panel and probably once he moves to Austin this summer we'll start on the quarter mandala on the back.


it's itchy.

[Sombre]

^Wow, that's some very intricate work, A. It looks fantastic.


For the itching, try this:

http://inkbutter.com/store/index.php/tattoo-aftercare.html

[VonStraap]

how do you guys find artists specializing in certain things? just browsing portfolios seems awfully time consuming

This is a good one for checking up different styles and artists: http://tattr.tumblr.com/.

[MikeN]

This is a good one for checking up different styles and artists: http://tattr.tumblr.com/.

Wow, I only made it through 3 pages, but this site could be re-named "Gallery of Tattoos That Will Age Terribly"

[lowrey]

I never realized there were that many artists doing this sort of abstract, "messy" stuff, for the lack of a better word.

That site is very one dimensional I have to say, if you are looking for a variety of different styles.

best bet is probably to just ask around who is good with this and that.

[modalsaliency]

Wow, I only made it through 3 pages, but this site could be re-named "Gallery of Tattoos That Will Age Terribly"

This is exactly correct.

Abstract, very fine linework and watercolors are actually my favorite style of tattoos and I came very close to having one done by Amanda Wachob before being talked out of it by a friend who knew what he was doing.

There's a reason all of those tattoo pictures are taken when new.